Former Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown shareholder dies

Courtesy WalnutLawnFuneralHome.com

Clifford Brown practiced law for nearly five decades.

Clifford Brown, a former shareholder at Springfield law firm Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown PC, has died. He was 79.

His Sept. 24 death was disclosed yesterday in a newsletter sent to members of the Springfield Bar Association.

An attorney for nearly five decades, Brown started at Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown in 1987 and retired from the firm in 2015, according to his obituary at WalnutLawnFuneralHome.com. His cause of death was not disclosed.

Prior to joining the Springfield law firm, he practiced in Kansas City at the firm of Watson, Ess, Marshall & Enggas for nearly 20 years. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri.

"For forty-seven years, Cliff devoted his time and energy to the practice of law, beginning his career with a focus in family law, and later in the areas of probate, estate planning and trust litigation," Springfield Bar Association officials said in the newsletter. "Among his greatest talents was his ability to explain the complicated in terms anyone could fully grasp, from first-time clients to seasoned attorneys attending one of his countless seminars."

Brown served as the local bar association's 84th president in 2006. The Missouri Supreme Court in 2003 appointed him to the Board of Law Examiners, and he was the author of myriad publications, according to CECB.com.