Kansas City’s Husch Blackwell recently represented Duke Energy Renewables in its $330m closing of a joint financing arrangement with Sumitomo Corporation of America.

The arrangement will finance two wind farm projects in Kansas: the 131-megawatt Cimarron II Project in Gray County and the 168-megawatt Ironwood Project in Ford County.

Husch Partner John Crossley led Husch’s energy and infrastructure team on the project.  Husch attorneys working on the project from its Kansas City office included Partner John Brungardt, Senior Counsel Gaylord Smith, and Associate Ellen Pantaenius.  Partner Bob Wilkinson and Associate Megan Fuchs from Husch’s St. Louis office also participated.

The [...]

The Missouri House of Representatives has passed two pieces of legislation aimed at curbing workplace rights.

One bill would restrict protections for whistleblowers.

The other legislation would prohibit lawsuits against co-workers for injuries that occurred on-the-job.

Governor Jay Nixon has vetoed similar legislation, once already this year.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal: The current bill would restrict when to bestow whistleblower status, limit who can receive the reports and cap punitive damages if an employer retaliates, the newspaper reports.

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From the Kansas [...]

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil approved a settlement as part of a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corp. yesterday for allegedly perpetrating a nation wide “hot fuel” scam.

Attorney Robert Horn of Kansas City’s Horn Aylward & Bandy, along with attorney Thomas Girardi of Girardi and Keese in Los Angeles,  represent the plaintiffs.  Attorney Tom Bender of Kansas City’s Walters Bender Strohbehn & Vaughan PC serves as liaison counsel.

As part of the settlement, Costco has agreed to convert gas pumps that will compensate for [...]

Polsinelli Shughart has announced its recent addition of attorney Aaron M. Kroll to its Overland Park office.

Kroll will focus his practice on real estate transactions, zoning, land use and development, and incentive financing matters.  He will work closely with Polsinelli Shareholder John D. Petersen, who chairs that practice area.

Kroll received his juris doctorate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 2001.  He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Laura Denvir Stith when she served as a Judge for the [...]

Kansas City’s Lathrop & Gage, LLP has added a new associate attorney to its Overland Park office.

Andrew Ricke will join Lathrop’s tort department in Overland Park, Kansas.

Ricke earned his juris doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2010.  While at KU Law, Ricke received the Payne & Jones Lawyering Award for excellence in legal research and writing.

He previously served as an associate attorney at Harris McCausland, P.C., which has offices in Kansas City, Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, and Overland Park, Kansas.

At Lathrop’s tort department, Ricke will focus his practice in Federal Employer’s Liability Act [...]

Sanders Warren & Russell, LLP has renewed its lease in its current Indian Creek Parkway offices at Corporate Woods.

The mid-sized firm boasts 25-lawyers, three of whom serve as of-counsel.

With a concentration in litigation and business services, Sanders Warren & Russell represents companies, governmental entities, and carriers providing coverage in all insurance lines.

Sanders Warren & Russell was founded in April 1999 and has offices in Kansas City, Missouri and Springfield, Missouri in addition to its Overland Park, Kansas location.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal: [...]

The Kansas City Business Journal‘s prestigious Best of the Bar publication is now accepting nominations.

The deadline for nominations is June 15th.

A list of those attorneys chosen as Best of the Bar class this year will be published on September 28th, 2012.

The Business Journal only accepts nominations from bar members in good standing in private practice in Johnson, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Jackson, Cass, Clay, Platte and Ray counties in Missouri.

Call Jonna Lorenz with the Kansas City Business Journal at [...]

Jackson County Circuit Judge Brian C. Wimes, of Division 18 of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Jackson County,  was confirmed for a seat in Missouri federal court yesterday by the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. Senate voted 92-1 to confirm Judge Wimes after the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination in December 2011 and President Barack Obama nominated him for the position in September 2011.

Former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt appointed Judge Wimes to Division 18 of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Jackson County in 2007.

Before his appointment to Division 18, Judge Wimes served as an assistant [...]

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has been ordered by Jackson County Judge Ann Mesle to turn over records to attorneys representing Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese.

Judge Mesle ruled that Bishop Finn’s defense was entitled to decades of SNAP’s information on repressed memory of those abused by priests.  The information would be limited to broad categories related only to abuse of priests in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

Defense lawyers requested the documents to discover whether SNAP was coaching plaintiffs to state that they repressed their memories of abuse for several [...]

What makes your practice different?

There must be something different because of the response I get from clients and my referrals.  That difference is me.  People do not just get a law firm, they get me.

I am 55 years old and I have run a business since I was in high school.  I was 42 when I went to law school.  I was an engineer for Pizza Hut and a general contractor for 10 years in my family’s company.  I have 16 great-grand kids, 10 grand kids, and 75-80 people in my family who all have [...]