As a third-generation family member practicing law at 100-year-old firm Douglas, Haun & Heidemann PC, Kerry Douglas is maintaining the tradition.
Douglas followed his father’s and grandfather’s professional footsteps, joining the Bolivar-based firm in 1972. Today, Douglas is president and senior attorney at DHH, which he co-owns with his son, Patrick Douglas, and Craig Heidemann.
“I have lived by the precept that everyone has a duty to return their God-given talents to the community that has supported them in their business or professional endeavors,” says Kerry Douglas, whose other son, Thomas Douglas, is president and CEO of Springfield-based JMark Business Solutions. “That is a precept that was taught to me by my parents and that I attempted to instill in my sons. It is a legacy of which I am extremely proud, and one which I expect to continue well beyond my lifetime,” he adds.
The elder Douglas has helped grow DHH from a two-man rural firm into a regional practice with 10 attorneys and 2011 revenues of $2.7 million. The firm handles individual and business matters in areas including family law, estate planning, class action litigation, criminal law, personal injury and bankruptcy, and Douglas’ efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.
“In our profession, it is very important to have good legal representation, and we feel we have one of the best in Kerry Douglas,” says Bank of Bolivar President Brad Gregory, who notes Douglas’ firm has represented the bank since its 1997 inception. “He is responsive to our needs and has been important to the overall success of our bank.”
Douglas also has helped enhance health care in Bolivar, serving as the first board chairman of Citizens Memorial Healthcare and filling that role until 2006.
“During my tenure as a member of the board, CMH grew from a small rural hospital with a budget of $3.5 million to an integrated health care system with budgeted gross revenues of well more than nine figures,” Douglas says. “The CMH system is now the primary economic engine for Polk County and a large employer in five adjacent counties.”
Douglas also has served as Bolivar’s city attorney for roughly four decades and has been an advocate for education. He led a group to create the Bolivar Educational Advancement Foundation, which supports the Bolivar R-I School District and has served as the foundation’s chairman since its inception in the 1980s. “That organization supports the public mission of the school district and provides more than $40,000 in [annual] financial aid to Bolivar R-I students and graduates,” Douglas says.
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