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Overview

Rob likes to help people with trust problems.

While he advocates for clients in all kinds of litigation contexts – from traditional commercial litigation to product liability cases – Rob’s practice involves a significant focus on fiduciary litigation.

Individuals and businesses facing lawsuits involving wills and trusts rely on Rob to bring clarity to a process that most find unfamiliar. He has worked as lead counsel and as part of a larger trial team for both beneficiaries and trustees on trust contests, breach of trust actions, accounting actions, and estate administrations. In addition, he handles other financial and fiduciary disputes for banking and lending clients.

Rob’s work also involves managing the defense of entire dockets of product liability and premises liability cases for Fortune 500 manufacturing, chemical, and petrochemical companies. Rob has practiced in multiple state and federal courts, and he also routinely represents clients in arbitration.

Whether serving as first-chair at trial or helping clients resolve disputes in mediation, Rob finds strategic options for clients that lead to favorable outcomes. He is experienced at drafting and arguing pleadings and motions; deposing and examining witnesses, both at deposition and at trial; and all levels of discovery, including eDiscovery. He also has represented clients through the appellate stage, working on both the briefing and oral argument.

Industries

Services

Recognition

  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America
    • Mass Tort Litigation - Class Actions - Defendants, 2023-2025
    • Product Liability Litigation - Defendants, 2021-2025

Education

  • J.D., Saint Louis University School of Law
    • magna cum laude
    • Saint Louis University Law Journal, Notes and Comments editor
    • Academic Excellence Awards in civil procedure, evidence, healthcare, negotiation, and Brandeis seminar
    • Order of the Woolsack
    • Theodore McMillian Endowed Scholarship
    • Samuel I. Sievers Writing Award
    • Dean’s Select Scholarship
  • B.J., University of Missouri School of Journalism
    • magna cum laude
    • Bob Broeg Sportswriter’s Scholarship
    • Kappa Tau Alpha, national honor society

Admissions

  • Missouri
  • Illinois
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana

Professional Memberships and Certifications

  • Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
2024 Pro Bono Achiever
Experience
  • Served one-year secondment, performing assistant general counsel duties and overseeing all U.S. federal and state court litigation for Fortune 500 company as in-house counsel, including engaging in significant work directly with the company's entire C-suite.
  • Obtained jury verdict for beneficiaries in three-week undue influence trial regarding $35 million estate.
  • Represented trustees in complex trust contest for trust with assets exceeding $80 million. Matter was successfully settled through mediation.
  • Drafted and successfully argued motion for summary judgment in toxic tort case for Fortune 50 company.
  • Defended banking client on breach of fiduciary duty claims and positioned it for favorable settlement through successful motion practice.
  • Won motion for directed verdict for financial client during one-day trial on negligence claims.
  • First-chaired weeklong bench trial for beneficiaries seeking recovery for trustee's breaches of fiduciary duty.
  • Secured favorable motion to dismiss and summary judgment rulings from federal court that saved manufacturing client millions in potential damages.
  • Served as first-chair for jury trial in breach of contract case after getting more dangerous negligence claim dismissed on summary judgment.
  • Leveraged counterclaim to obtain federal court voluntary dismissal with prejudice for banking client, less than a week after plaintiff demanded $500K settlement.
Outside the Office

A former fantasy football and baseball writer for The Sporting News, Rob remains an avid sports fan who roots for the St. Louis Cardinals and Missouri Tigers. Besides sports, Rob enjoys American history and traveling.

If you’re looking for suggestions on presidential biographies, ask Rob. The virtual book club he helped start in 2020 has worked from Washington through Eisenhower, reading numerous Pulitzer Prize winners along the way. (Would you believe his favorite is James Garfield?)

As for other bucket lists, Rob and his family (wife, Danielle, and their two daughters) are roughly one-third of the way through their tour of the 63 U.S. National Parks. (Yes, his red Jansport backpack has made all those trips, too.) They no doubt have plans to check off a few more this year.

When not working, Rob likely is at a swim meet or dance competition with the girls. He also serves on the board of aldermen in his city (Warson Woods) and on parish counsel at his church (Ste. Genevieve du Bois).