Gary Powell made a big splash this summer when he and five other Husch Blackwell LLP partners left the firm to start a Springfield office for Kansas City-based Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP.
Powell, along with former Husch Blackwell attorneys Charles Cowherd, Mike Nichols, Jason Smith, Richard Walters and Shawn Whitney, launched the new-to-Springfield law firm on June 16.
A Springfield attorney for roughly 34 years, Powell now is involved with a local office that collectively offers more than 100 years of legal experience in the areas of real estate, business, litigation, construction, estate planning and development, and incentive law.
At Spencer Fane, Powell focuses his practice on financial services, corporate law and estate planning, according to SpencerFane.com.
A former managing partner at Husch Blackwell in Springfield, Powell had worked at the firm since 2008, and for the Springfield office of St. Louis-based Husch & Eppenberg LLC 1997–2008, before it merged with Blackwell Sanders LLP to create Husch Blackwell. Powell also served 1980–1997 as an attorney for Farrington & Curtis PC in Springfield.
“I have had the privilege of working with many clients in our community, advising them on their business and estate planning matters,” Powell says.
Powell’s work has earned him industry accolades.
For the years 2011–13, Best Lawyers named Powell among the Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers and as one of the top attorneys in America 2012–14.
Powell has served on a number of boards of directors for area organizations, including the Salvation Army, Springfield Symphony Association, the Springfield chapter of the American Red Cross, the local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Springfield Mid-America Singers.
“While serving as president of the advisory board of the Salvation Army Springfield Corps, I worked intensively on the beginning and planning stages of the new emergency shelter and transitional housing for homeless men and women in our community,” Powell says. “I also worked very hard to revitalize the advisory board, bringing several new board members.”
In the business community outside work, Powell has served on the boards of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and its subsidiary, the Springfield Business Development Corp. He’s also on the chamber search committee to find a successor for 26-year chamber leader Jim Anderson.
Powell also is a member of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association and served as its board president in 2011.
“In my capacity as president of the SMBA, I wrote the president’s letter for the monthly SMBA newsletter. I worked hard on these articles, and I believe that I motivated members of the SMBA to be better lawyers and citizens of the community,” he said.
Powell also serves on the board of directors for the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, Boys and Girls Clubs of Springfield – for which he is board vice president – and is an active member of the Rotary Club of Springfield.[[In-content Ad]]
