Polsinelli

Headquarted in Kansas City, Missouri with 20 additional offices throughout the US, Polsinelli “provides excellent legal advice,” one peer observes. Another confirms, “Polsinelli has really made its mark.” This commentary speaks to the firm’s “astonishing” expansion plan, which has confounded many observers who marvel at the success Polsinelli has had with this strategy, which many others have failed to replicate. More than 800 attorneys provide legal counsel in approximately 100 practice areas and 70 industry areas, making it one of the most comprehensive firms serving individuals, corporations, and institutions. The firm is described as being ‘very responsive” to coincide with their “depth of experience [and] knowledge of the local regulatory environment.” William Quirk, hailing from the Kansas City office, serves as Chair of the Appellate Practice Group. His practice centers on appeals and trial motions in state and federal courts. Russell Jones defended client Pioneer Financial Services in a $150 million Telephone Consumer Protection Act class-action lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Nevada in a true bet-the-company litigation requiring depositions across the country. Both Jones and Robert Henderson served as lead pro bono counsel to assist a man at the center of a high-profile deportation case. The client, Sayad Jamal was abruptly arrested and detained while he was taking his daughter to school in Kansas in January 2018. The arrest garnered local, regional and national attention when he was suddenly taken from his family and nearly deported to Bangladesh. The firm partnered with the client’s immigration counsel to release him from a detention facility and the Polsinelli team later began working to obtain permanent resident status for him. Roy Bashhas significant litigation experience and currently heads the Construction, Energy, Real Estate Litigation practice group, as well as serves as the Industry Litigation Division chair. Todd Bartels’s practice consists of significant trial and litigation experience in commercial and bankruptcy litigation, as well as class action and multi-district litigation matters. R. Dan Boulware is the lead attorney that led 372 plaintiffs, farmers, landowners and business owners, to victory in a mass-action lawsuit for flooding against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In March 2018, a federal judge in Washington, DC ruled the Corps of Engineers bears responsibility for causing recurrent flooding and damaging farmland and property in four Midwest states along the Missouri River. The ruling states the government must compensate plaintiffs for the flood damage, which has been estimated to exceed $300 million. Commercial trial lawyer Thomas Kokoruda represented HCA HealthOne d/b/a Swedish Medical Center in a case in which he successfully resolved a mass action and class action arising out of the diversion of fentanyl by an operating room tech at a Colorado medical center. HCA provided free testing to all patients who underwent surgery at Swedish Medical Center while the tech was employed there, and the results revealed that no patients were exposed to blood-borne pathogens, as alleged in the complaints. These arguments were persuasive and helped resolve the matter favorably for the client. Nancy Rafuse, Chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Group based out of the firm’s Atlanta office, is a seasoned litigator who is often called upon to counsel clients in the most high-stakes, high-profile employment-related disputes. Fellow Atlanta partner William “Hill” Hill regularly represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters, with a focus on contract disputes and business torts. He defended Rene Glover, former head of the Atlanta Housing Authority against Racketeering Influence Corruption Organization Act claims and other claims brought by the City of Atlanta for allegedly conspiring with a developer, who had worked with the AHA on a number of redevelopment projects, to allow the developer to acquire certain AHA property at a price substantially below fair market value. Hill filed a motion to dismiss requesting that all claims against his client be dismissed. On the eve of the dismissal hearing, the City of Atlanta dismissed all claims against the client.

Located across the US, but with Missouri origins, Polsinelli maintains a national presence in the labor and employment realm. The firm handles both traditional labor issues and employment disputes. The practice is comprised of over 50 dedicated lawyers with experience in handling matters for various industries. Within the labor and employment realm, the firm’s lawyers regularly represent companies in class and collective actions, trade secrets disputes, discrimination claims, and many other practice-related matters.

Nancy Rafuse serves as the labor and employment department chair and resides in the firm’s Georgia office. Rafuse frequently counsels and represents companies in complex and significant class actions and individual matters.

Chairing the firm’s traditional labor relations practice is San Francisco’s Michele Haydel Gehrke, who successfully defends clients in both labor and employment disputes. Haydel Gehrke is frequently called upon by airline companies for her exceptional experience in handling disputes brought under the Railway Labor Act; most recently, she represented Southwest Airlines in two separate matters brought against the client by a former flight attendant who sent graphic social media videos and messages to the union president and was terminated. Haydel Gehrke successfully arbitrated the matter, and she continues to represent Southwest Airlines in a companion federal case in Texas. 

Kansas City houses star partners Denise Drake, James Sullivan and Eric Packel. Drake, chair of the employment disputes, litigation, and arbitration practice, is a highly experienced litigator and arbitrator, having defended companies in numerous lawsuits. Sullivan is the vice-chair of the employment class actions group whose central focus is on defending companies against an array of employment claims. Packelchairs the restrictive covenants and trade secrets practice and was recently retained by Red Rock Packaging, a meat film supplier, to represent them in a misappropriate of trade secrets case that is ongoing. So far, Packel has been successful in obtaining a TRO and then a Temporary Injunction on behalf of the client until a trial on the merits scheduled for July of 2019.