Foulston Siefkin LLP has been recognized in the 2013 edition of the U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers™ rankings of the “Best Law Firms” in the country. The firm received the publication’s highest Best Law Firms First-Tier rankings in the areas of antitrust litigation, appellate practice, bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights, bankruptcy litigation, commercial litigation, construction litigation, copyright law, corporate law, elder law, employee benefits (ERISA) law, employment law, eminent domain & condemnation litigation, energy law, environmental law, health care law, intellectual property litigation, labor law, labor & employment litigation, legal malpractice law, municipal litigation, medical malpractice law, mergers & acquisitions law, mining law, natural resources law, non-profit /charities law, personal injury litigation, product liability litigation, real estate law, real estate litigation, securities litigation, tax law, trademark law, trusts & estates law, trusts & estates litigation, and workers’ compensation law.
The annual “Best Law Firms” publication, a collaboration between U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, features all of the top ranked U.S. law firms by practice area and includes a breakdown of firms ranked nationally and by state/metropolitan area. The rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes client and lawyer evaluations and peer reviews; incorporating 3.9 million evaluations of 41,284 leading lawyers collected by Best Lawyers in its annual survey.
The Wichita Business Journal announced today that Andrew Thengvall, a partner at Foulston Siefkin LLP was chosen as one of its annual 40 Under 40 winners. Mr. Thengvall’s practice includes an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, franchise, general business law and corporate practice.
Foulston Siefkin LLP, a business and litigation law firm with offices in Wichita, Topeka, and Overland Park, has announced that Kevin Arnel has been elected as Managing Partner. He succeeds Doug Stanley, who recently passed away.
Arnel, who works out of Foulston Siefkin’s Wichita office, joined the firm in 1987 after receiving his law degree from Washburn University and a B.A. from Southern Methodist University. A partner since 1992, Arnel has been a member of the firm’s executive committee for over ten years. In addition to his new duties as managing partner, he will continue to serve the legal needs of the firm’s clients, focusing upon tax exempt organizations, real estate, general business, and estate planning law.
Asked about his new role with the firm, Kevin Arnel said: “I am humbled by the opportunity to serve as our managing partner. Doug Stanley left the firm in a great place, and I look forward to furthering his legacy. The firm remains committed to expanding its capabilities and better serving our clients around Kansas and the Midwest.” Foulston Siefkin is the largest law firm in Kansas based on number of attorneys located in Kansas.
The Foulston Siefkin law firm is very saddened to announce the passing of Douglas L. Stanley, the firm’s Managing Partner, at the age of 57, on Tuesday, April 2 after a courageous battle with cancer.
“Doug was an extremely kind and caring individual,” said Foulston Siefkin Executive Committee member, Jim Armstrong. “His service and leadership touched everyone in the law firm, as well as the community, and he will be dearly missed by all those who knew him.” Stanley began his legal career with Foulston Siefkin in 1984 after receiving his law degree from the University of Kansas where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Kansas Law Review. His practice focused on employment and labor law matters, including serving as a trusted advisor to Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. His honors included being named Wichita Labor & Employment Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America®, selected by his peers as a Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyer, and by Who’s Who Legal USA as a leading employment lawyer in the United States. He was elected as a Fellow to the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers.
Doug cared deeply about Wichita and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Wichita Business Coalition on Health Care, the Wichita Chamber/GWEDC Leadership Council, and Exploration Place, as well as numerous other community organizations and Bar Associations. He was also Chair of Newman University Board of Trustees, a past chair of the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition Steering Committee, and a past Board member of the University of Kansas School of Law.
Memorial contributions have been established in Doug Stanley’s name with the following: Newman University Facing Forward campaign, 3100 W. McCormick, Wichita, KS 67213, or Kansas University School of Law Endowment Fund, Green Hall, 1535 W. 15th St, Lawrence, KS 66045, and St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church Building Fund, 11000 SW Blvd, Wichita, KS 67215.
Patricia Voth Blankenship, a partner in Foulston Siefkin’s Wichita office, has been elected to membership in the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL). The College is the premier organization of U.S. real estate lawyers. Attorneys are elected based on their outstanding legal ability, experience, and standards of professional and ethical conduct, and for their contributions to the real estate legal community through speaking, writing, teaching, and mentoring. Election to the college is by invitation only and occurs following a rigorous evaluation process. ACREL has about 950 members in the United States.
“ACREL stands for the highest standards in the practice of real estate law, and it’s an organization I’m proud to be a part of,” said Ms. Voth Blankenship, who co-leads the firm’s Real Estate Practice Area. “I am honored to have been selected to be a member of ACREL and look forward to the opportunity to contribute further to this outstanding organization.”
Ms. Voth Blankenship has been practicing law for 15 years. At Foulston Siefkin, she represents developers, investors, and lenders in negotiating and closing transactions, deals, and leases, successfully operating and managing developments and assets, and improving investment and financing positions. In addition, she heads up the firm’s wind energy and development practice serving as both developer’s local counsel, joint venture party local counsel, and landowner’s counsel regarding several wind energy projects.
Ms. Voth Blankenship has written and lectured extensively on real estate law. She is a member of the American Bar Association - Real Property Section and the Kansas Bar Association -Real Estate, Probate and Trust Section.
She is a graduate of Washburn University and Washburn University School of Law.
Our good friend and partner Mark Biberstein passed away on February 13, 2013, in Wichita, Kansas. Mark was born on June 25, 1966, to Mike and Gail Biberstein in Emporia, Kansas. He graduated from Santa Fe Trail High School in Carbondale, Kansas, in 1984 and then attended Emporia State University, where he met Kimberly A. Riley of Elkhart, Kansas, whom he would later marry on May 26, 1990. Mark and Kim had two children, Devon Nicole and Mason Riley, both of the home. While at Emporia State, Mark served as the student body president and was an active member of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity. Following his graduation, magna cum laude, from Emporia State in 1988, Mark worked briefly at Koch Industries before deciding to attend law school at the University of Kansas, where he served as an editor of the KU Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif in 1992. After graduation, he went to work as an associate attorney at Foulston Siefkin, where he had clerked one summer while he was in school. He was elected partner in 1998. Within the law firm, Mark served on a variety of committees, mentored several young lawyers, established and maintained a successful litigation and trial practice, and more than pulled his weight. Outside the firm, Mark did the same. He was active in both the Wichita and Kansas Bar Associations, including serving on and chairing several committees. He also was active in the community, having served on the boards of Communities in Schools (also served as a mentor to a high school student), Andover Advantage Fund, American Heart Association (also served as chair of the board), and Emporia State University Alumni Association. Mark fulfilled each of these responsibilities with the same diligence and determination that defined his legal career. In his spare time, Mark had a series of interests-poker, team roping, no-bake cookie eating, organizing (and drafting the rules for) the law firm holiday ornament exchange, learning to play guitar, listening to country music, fly fishing, quoting lines from Animal House-many of which persisted for years and each of which commanded Mark's passionate-some would say obsessive-attention. Mark is survived by his wife, Kim; two children, Devon and Mason; mother, Gail of Andover; father, Mike of Las Vegas; two sisters, Sara (Troy) Gott of Wichita and Laura "Lucy" (Rick) Holmes of Wilmington, DE; mother- and father-in-law, Alice Faye and James Riley of Durant, OK; sister-in-law, Melody (Lew) Thomas of Elkhart, KS; and his beloved nephews and nieces. Visitation with family 6:00-8:00 PM, Friday, February 15, 2013, at East Heights United Methodist Church, 4407 E. Douglas Ave., Wichita, KS 67218. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 16, 2013, at 11 AM, also at East Heights United Methodist Church. To honor his service to our community, a memorial has been established with Communities in Schools of Wichita/Sedgwick County (ciswichita.org), 412 S. Main, Suite 212, Wichita, KS 67202. Share online condolences at www.CozineMemorial.com. Services by Broadway Mortuary.
1.28.2013Experienced Kansas City business and real estate attorney, and former Shareholder of Polsinelli Shughart PC, Jack Epps, has joined the law firm of Foulston Siefkin LLP and will be located in the firm’s Johnson County office in Corporate Woods. Mr. Epps has devoted his law practice to helping clients be successful in their business and real estate ventures in Johnson County and across the U.S. Mr. Epps will lead the firm’s Kansas City area Real Estate Investment, Development and Transactions practice.
1.28.2013 Foulston Siefkin LLP has elected Tara Eberline as a partner in the firm. Ms. Eberline joined the firm’s Johnson County office in 2006 and represents clients in employment law and litigation matters. She advises employers on all aspects of the employment relationship and defends companies in discrimination, restrictive covenant, and other employment-related lawsuits.
18 Foulston Siefkin LLP attorneys have been named a 2013 Lawyer of the Year in their practice areas by Best Lawyers. Attorneys are selected based on peer-review and have received particularly high ratings in surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity. Inclusion in Best Lawyers is regarded as an outstanding honor.
James Armstrong, Wichita Bet-the-Company Litigation
Vaughn Burkholder, Kansas City-KS Employment Law- Management
Charles Efflandt, Wichita Litigation - Environmental
Jack Focht, Wichita Criminal Defense: White-Collar
Jay Fowler, Wichita Litigation - Trusts & Estates
Jim Goering, Wichita Energy Law
Douglas Hanisch, Wichita Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
Wyatt Hoch, Wichita Litigation - Construction
Scott Nehrbass, Kansas City-KS Litigation- Intellectual Property
James Oliver, Kansas City-KS Appellate Practice
Scott Palecki, Wichita Health Care Law
Larry Rapp, Wichita Corporate Law
Jay Rector, Wichita Litigation - Labor & Employment
Harvey Sorensen, Wichita Tax Law
Douglas Stanley, Wichita Employment Law - Management
David Traster, Wichita Environmental Law
Charles Woodin, Wichita Mining Law
Wyatt Wright, Kansas City-KS Litigation- Labor & Employment
Foulston Siefkin LLP, is Kansas’ largest law firm, providing a full range of practice areas that cover the spectrum of the legal profession, including civil and complex litigation, business matters, employment and labor and health care. For more information, please contact Matt Knoblauch, Chief Marketing Officer, at (316) 291-9789, mknoblauch@foulston.com, or refer to the Foulston Siefkin web site at www.foulston.com.
Eleven attorneys from Foulston Siefkin LLP are included in the 2013 sixth annual edition of Benchmark Litigation, a definitive reference guide that identifies the top litigation firms and attorneys in the United States. Foulston Siefkin has the most attorneys in Kansas included in the annual listing for the third consecutive year. As quoted in the publication about Foulston Siefkin, “The firm garners unanimous praise from peers across the Great Plains and southern Midwest region.”
Foulston Siefkin also was named one of three “Highly Recommended Firms” in Kansas, the premier designation for local litigation firms included in Benchmark Litigation.
The following Foulston Siefkin attorneys are identified by peers as “Local Litigation Stars” for work in their respective practice areas:
Holly Dyer – General Commercial, Insurance, Professional Malpractice
Jay Fowler – General Commercial, Product Liability
Jeffery Jordan – Bankruptcy, General Commercial, Product Liability, Construction, Professional Malpractice
Stephen Kerwick – Appellate, Insurance
Amy Lemley – General Commercial, Personal Injury
David Rogers – General Commercial, Product Liability
Mikel Stout – General Commercial, Labor/employment
Todd Tedesco – Antitrust, Intellectual Property, Labor/employment
“Local Litigation Stars” are identified by Benchmark Litigation as attorneys recommended by peers and clients for their consistent reputations as trial attorneys. Focused exclusively on the U.S. litigation market, the publication’s rankings and editorials are the result of extensive interviews with private practice lawyers and in-house counsel. Additional information about the firm is submitted via questionnaire.
The following Foulston Siefkin attorneys are identified by peers as Benchmark Litigation “Future Stars”:
Craig WestScott NehrbassToby Crouse
