2015 Trusted Advisers Lawyer: Paul Satterwhite

Paul Satterwhite is a risk taker who likes to avoid risk. After 13 years as an attorney and four years as a partner in the Springfield office of Husch Blackwell LLP, Satterwhite took a risk and joined the new startup office of another Kansas City-based firm. Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP recruited six Husch Blackwell partners in June 2014 to launch its own Springfield office and in October of that same year, Satterwhite and two other Husch colleagues joined the fold. Satterwhite now helps lead Spencer Fane’s local labor and employment group, for which he focuses his practice on risk management, counseling employers on labor law and how to avoid risk.

“I believe that my approach to proactive training and ‘ounce-of-prevention’ advice has helped create more productive workplaces for the clients,” he says. “It is also my hope that by working to minimize or lessen the likelihood of an employment litigation, this ... helps clients reduce their total legal spend, allowing them to increase profitability.”

Satterwhite says he hopes his proactive approach allows clients to feel confident about their companies’ employment law practices and allows them to focus more on business operations.

Satterwhite is taking his risk prevention method to the streets, regularly developing and delivering supervisory training programs to national, regional and local employers. He says he recently helped develop a series of seminars for clients dubbed “An Ounce of Prevention Equals a Pound of Cure.”

One of his 40 clients, Diane Hatch, human resources manager for The Carlstar Group LLC, says she’s benefited from Satterwhite’s legal advice and counsel for years.

“Paul is someone who listens first, then thoroughly considers all alternatives before guiding me toward optimum resolution,” she says. “His understanding and application of the law has consistently demonstrated a keen intellect, sound reasoning and objectivity.”

Satterwhite says his proactive approach also helps if, in the end, the risk can’t be avoided and litigation is needed. His skills were proven in 2012, when he led a team that obtained a full defense verdict in Greene County Circuit Court following a three-day trial of a multiplaintiff case claiming sexual harassment and retaliation.

Satterwhite’s work earned him the Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers Employment and Labor Rising Star awards 2009-11 and Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s Up & Coming Lawyer Award in 2011.

Outside the courtroom, Satterwhite has served on the Discovery Center of Springfield’s board for the past five years, most recently as president, and seven years on the board for Harmony House. He’s a past Foundation for Springfield Public Schools advisory board member and will join its board of directors this month. He also serves on the Mayor’s Commission for Children.