Scott Pierson personally invests in each client he represents.
“I treat my clients like family, and yes sometimes that means being hard on them,” says the associate attorney with the Law Offices of Dee Wampler and Joseph Passanise PC. “As my father used to say, ‘I am hard on you because I care.’ I care about my clients and their futures.”
Pierson counts his ability to relate to clients and invest in their outcome as one of his top assets as a lawyer.
“In law school, they don’t teach an individual how to face a person who is looking at spending multiple years in prison,” he says of his clients’ most vulnerable moments. “I see my role change in those meetings from someone educated about the law to someone who takes personal investment in their case.
“Once I learn about the person, I can properly advise them.”
It’s a process Pierson says sometimes takes months, but one he takes seriously.
“The effect on my clients is often very real and direct,” he says. “It is important that a mistake made in college doesn’t end up impacting them for the rest of their life.”
Representing more than 300 clients in his first year with the 10-employee, Springfield-based firm, Pierson says specializing in criminal defense allows him to be an educated advocate for each client.
“Yes, I’m one of those attorneys. Insert bad attorney joke,” he says of the stereotype.
“Specializing in criminal defense affords me the opportunity to be on the leading edge of criminal defense trends without having to keep myself updated in other areas of law.”
It’s an approach Pierson credits his mentors with instilling in him and a strategy that garnered the up-and-coming lawyer inclusion in the National Trial Lawyers list of the Top 100 Criminal Defense Trial Lawyers in the region.
“He has a reputation for being prepared in the courtroom,” says firm partner Joseph Passanise. “Judges often comment Scott goes above and beyond and is a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom.”
“He is able to ferret out the issues being litigated and is prepared to offer a very cogent, precise argument.”
Pierson also takes a personal interest in bettering his field.
He’s a member of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association and Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. Nationally, he’s a member of the Order of Barristers and National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.
Outside the office, Pierson gives back as a big brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks.
“It’s a blast; it is an excuse to do kid things and provide a solid role model for youngsters,” he says.
He’s also a member of The Network, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s group for young professionals, on the Ambassador Work Crew, which seeks to keep young professionals in the Springfield area after they graduate, and a member of the board of directors and campus advisory board for the Theta Chi-Iota Beta Chapter at Missouri State University.[[In-content Ad]]
