YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY

Springfield, MO

Log in Subscribe

Lathrop Gage leases a portion of the ground floor in BKD's headquarters.
SBJ PHOTO BY CHRISTINE TEMPLE
Lathrop Gage leases a portion of the ground floor in BKD's headquarters.

Lathrop Gage closing Springfield office

Posted online

Kansas City-based law firm Lathrop Gage LLP is closing its Springfield office by July 26, the company announced this afternoon.

A statement issued by managing partner Cameron Garrison cited the decision of six partners to leave the Springfield office and join Kutak Rock LLP, a national law firm with 500 attorneys in 17 offices. Kutak Rock has a Midwest presence in Kansas City; Wichita, Kansas; Omaha, Nebraska; and Fayetteville, Rogers and Little Rock, Arkansas.

The six partners in the Springfield office listed on LathropGage.com are:

  • James Jeffries;
  • James Meadows;
  • Dan Nelson;
  • Joseph Reid;
  • Michael Textor; and
  • Randell Wallace, the partner in charge.

Wallace was not immediately available for comment.

Lathrop Gage employs 15 professionals in Springfield, according to its website, and the office contributes to the firm’s $150 million in total annual billings. Lathrop Gage has operated in Springfield for 20 years, the statement said.

In early 2013, Lathrop Gage signed a more than five-year lease at 910 E. St. Louis St., Ste. 100, on the first floor of the downtown headquarters of accounting firm BKD LLP, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. At the time, the law firm had 40 local employees and occupied 19,000 square feet.

“When Lathrop Gage first opened its Springfield office 20 years ago, it was part of our plan to service clients across the great state of Missouri,” Garrison said in the statement. “As law and technology have evolved over the last two decades, however, that goal has become possible without maintaining an office in Springfield.”

Meanwhile, Garrison said the firm has added more than 50 attorneys and staff this year, in such markets as Los Angeles, Boston and Denver. Closer to its headquarters, he said offices in Overland Park, Kansas, and St. Louis also have expanded in the areas of cybersecurity and intellectual property specialties.

“The partners departing our Springfield office have chosen a different direction for their practices,” Garrison said. “We wish them well in their new endeavor.”

SBJ will update this story as it develops.

Comments

No comments on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
Editors' Pick
Business Spotlight: The Right Focus

Helping people is the foremost purpose in business for Angela Stephens. The idea for Re-Focus the Creative Office was born to help her son, Drake Stephens, who had started struggling in school in fifth grade.

Most Read
Update cookies preferences