The best way to get to know me and find out why I love being a trial lawyer is to understand where I come from. I grew up with a single mother and three sisters. An inquisitive kid, my family pushed and challenged me, helping me develop a passion for learning. With their support I graduated college and started teaching classical and quantum physics at Kansas State University by the age of 20.One of the side jobs I did as a kid was yard work for a local retired lawyer. I didn’t know what lawyers did, but I admired this man and wanted to be like him. Physics and teaching intrigued me, but I could not get the idea of being a lawyer out of my mind.There are three primary things that have made me who I am as a trial lawyer. The first was an opportunity to get out of Kansas and attend Pepperdine University School of Law in California on a scholarship. For me—a small-town Kansas boy—this was an eye-opening and horizon-expanding experience.The second career-defining opportunity was lucking into a job during law school with the Los Angeles firm of Erin Brockovich, Delta Force II and The Twilight Zone fame, Engstrom Lipscomb & Lack. At Pepperdine I learned “the law,” but at EL&L I learned how to be a trial lawyer litigating catastrophic injury cases.The third, and by far the most formative event in my life occurred on Valentine’s Day in 1992 when my 16-year-old sister Marlee and two of her friends were struck by a train, instantly killing all three of the girls in the car. Going through that devastation with my family at the time and in the years since has given me a personal understanding of the crushing pain suffered by those who have lost a loved one. My professional and personal lives bleed together. I am on the National Board of Directors for MADD. I also volunteer time with the United Way, Red Cross, Interfaith Housing, ABATE, and the Training and Evaluation Center of Hutchinson. I handle motor vehicle, medical malpractice, defective product, and premises liability cases. My wife of 27 years, Amy, and I have two amazing, compassionate, and driven daughters, Lauren and Hannah. Lauren works as an SLP with the Blue Valley School District in Kansas City. Hannah is a senior at Kansas State University with plans to attend law school after graduation.
