Kenneth E. Siemens

Areas of Practice

Ken is the managing partner of the firm and oversees the overall operations of the firm while also overseeing the corporate and business practice areas of the firm. Ken currently concentrates much of his work in the areas of business and commercial law, contracts, real estate transactions, real estate finance, corporate formation and governance issues, employment law, commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, estate disputes, and estate planning. Ken also has extensive experience and continues to regularly work in litigation of the firm’s catastrophic injury and high-stakes litigation cases for both plaintiffs and defendants. In that regard, Ken routinely oversees strategic decisions and handles all settlement negotiations in the firm’s high-stakes litigation cases.

Ken advises the firm’s business and corporate clients on day-to-day legal needs including contract drafting and review, shareholder agreements, mergers and acquisitions, risk/liability analysis and review, employment law issues, and other general legal and business needs. Ken has successfully handled mergers and acquisitions, including international mergers and acquisitions. Ken has extensive experience in real estate transactions and real estate finance, having handled approximately $700 million in real estate-related transactions over the past several years. Ken has extensive experience with business mergers, acquisitions, and sales, and has successfully assisted clients in both domestic and international transactions ranging in value from as low as $1 million to deals materially exceeding$100 million. Ken regularly advises clients who collectively employ tens of thousands of employees with their day-to-day employment issues including discrimination claims, wage and hour issues and audits, employment contracts, and other employment issues.

For decades Ken has also been extensively involved in representing both plaintiffs and defendants in catastrophic injury cases such as product liability cases causing severe injuries and death, automobile accidents involving life-changing injuries and deaths, tractor-trailer accidents, accidents involving farm implements, and other commercial vehicle accidents. Ken has worked as both plaintiff and defense counsel in those cases giving him a unique perspective on how to effectively achieve the best results for his clients. In the past few years alone, Ken has recovered over $ 90 million for clients who have suffered catastrophic injuries and deaths as a result of another’s negligence. In the firm’s highest-stakes litigation, Ken routinely oversees strategic decisions and handles all settlement negotiations.

A representative list of Mr. Siemens’ business clients includes

Advanced Plumbing & Heating, Inc.; Arbor Development, LLC; Atha Brothers, LLC; Barbosas, Inc.; Battle Mountain, LLC; Behavioral Solutions, LLC; Bendena State Bank; Bluetree Casework, LLC; Brentwood Village, Inc.; Brighton Creek Commons, LLC; Brooks Family Dentistry, LLC; Buchanan County, Missouri; Choice Orthodontics; Choices of St. Joseph, Inc.; Clark Family Dentistry, LLC; Consumer Oil & Propane, Inc.; Coon Manufacturing, Inc.; Deluxe Truck Stop, LLC; Devstake, LLC; Dr. Rosenak’s Optical Options, Inc.; Dunning Express, Inc.; GAAB Properties, LLC; Gary Kerns Homebuilders, LLC; Gray Manufacturing Co.; Freudenthal Home Health, LLC; Great Western Manufacturing Company, Inc.; Heartland Residential Care, Inc.; Heaton-Bowman-Smith-Funeral Home, Inc.; Inter-Cities Enterprises, Ltd.; Jim Walters Construction Co.; Launch Development, Inc.; Majestic Builders, LLC; Martin & Hanway CPA’s, P.C.; Maverick Lumber, Inc.;  MGB Ingredients, LLC; Midwest Equipment and Service; Nellestein Vein Institute, LLC; Northwest Missouri Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons; Phoenix Capital Partners, LLC; Phoenix II, LLC; Phoenix III, LLC; Pivotal Point Transitional Housing, Inc.; Preferred Title, LLC; Renner Development, LLC; Rock Port Oil Co.; Rockwell, Inc.; Rockwell Security, LLC; Scaperite, LLC; Seaman & Schuske Metal Works Co.; Show Me Pension Group, Inc.; Sprint Lumber, Inc.; SERV, LLC; Spyglass Development, LLC; Saint Joe Distributing; St. Joe Petroleum Co., Inc.; St. Joseph Plastics;  Sunshine Electronic Display Corp.; U.S. Bank, N.A.; Van Cleave Construction, LLC; Vektek, LLC; Waving Wheat LLC.

Courts Admitted to Practice

Ken has been admitted to practice law in Missouri state and federal courts since 1993 and in Kansas state courts since 2015. He is also admitted to practice before the 8th circuit for the United States of America.

Education, Professional Associations, and Recognition

After graduating from high school near the top of his class, Ken attended and graduated from the University of Missouri–Columbia School of Business in 1990, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, summa cum laude, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Economics, summa cum laude. He attended law school at the University of Missouri–Columbia, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1993 cum laude.

As an undergraduate at the University of Missouri, Ken received numerous honors culminating in being named to the Mortar Board Honorary and the Mystical Seven Honor Society (top 7 students on campus) for his scholarship, leadership, and service to the University. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and held various leadership roles within that organization.

During law school, Ken was Associate Editor-In-Chief of Missouri Law Review. He was the author of an award-winning article entitled, “The Discoverability of Personal Injury Surveillance and Missouri’s Work Product Doctrine,” Vol. 57-3, p. 871, Mo. L. Rev.(Summer 1992). Ken graduated in the top three of his class and was a member of the Order of the Coif.

Ken is a member of the American Bar Association, the Missouri Bar Association, and the St. Joseph Bar Association. He is past president of the St. Joseph Bar Association.

Ken is also a member of America’s Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators and America’s Top 100 High-Stakes Litigators.

Ken was the author of the Missouri Bar Tort Law CLE Series on Assault and Battery, as well as the past author of the Missouri Bar Publication, Evidence, Chapter 18 Documents. Ken was also a past member of the Missouri Bar Evidence Publications Committee.

Ken holds an AV-Preeminent Peer Review Rating and a Client-Champion Platinum rating from the Martindale-Hubbell rating service

Personal Information

Ken was born in St. Joseph, Mo.in 1967. He was raised in St. Joseph and attended St. Joseph public schools.

Following graduation from law school, Ken and his wife Sarah returned to St. Joseph where they continue to live. Sarah works as the law firm’s office manager. Ken and Sarah have two children, Mollie (husband Travis) and Eric (wife Alex). Mollie practices dentistry and Travis is a physical therapist at the VA Hospital in Columbia, Missouri. Eric is a high school chemistry teacher and football coach at Central High School in St. Joseph, Missouri and Alex is a NICU nurse at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Ken is an Eagle Scout and a volunteer for the Pony Express Council for the Boy Scouts of America. He is past President, Treasurer, Vice President of Endowment, and General Legal Counsel for the Council and has been a member of the Executive Board since 1999. He is a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award for exemplary volunteer service to the Council. He was the Presiding Chieftain of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, an honorary scouting organization within the Pony Express Council.

Ken is a member of Wyatt Park Baptist Church in St. Joseph where he is a Sunday School teacher and deacon. He served several prior terms on the governing Church Council and numerous other church committees.

Ken is also a member of the Board of Directors and current treasurer for Pivotal Point Transitional Housing, Inc., a Christ-centered program focused on helping homeless families and youth become self-supportive and self-reliant.

Ken was also active as a coach of youth sports and has coached baseball, basketball, and softball for both boys and girls for many years. He is passionate about the powerful platform coaches have to influence youth and is actively involved in the development of mentoring and training opportunities to develop positive coaching influences for youth.

This resume is subject to rule 7.3 of the Missouri rules of professional conduct, whichrequires that the following notice be given: “advertisingmaterial: commercialsolicitations are permitted by the Missouri rules of professional conduct but are neithersubmitted to nor approved by the Missouri bar or theSupremeCourt of Missouri.”