McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan PC, is excited to announce the election of its Officers and Directors from its 2022 Annual Meeting. Kristie Remster Orme will continue to serve as President and CEO, a role she has held since 2017, Thomas R. Buchanan will continue to serve as General Counsel and Robert D. Maher will continue to serve as Secretary.

R. Pete Smith will continue to serve as Chairman of the Executive Board with Susan Saper Galamba and Greg T. Spies also continuing to serve on the board. In addition, Scott A. Long and Jason L. Buchanan were newly elected to serve on the board.

Reneé Sutherland serves as the firm’s Director of Administration.

Ania Moncrief was recognized by the Independence Youth Court for her many years of service to the non-profit organization. Ania first started volunteering with IYC in 8th grade. She continued volunteering with the organization throughout high school, and worked there part-time while in college. After returning to the Kansas City area following law school, Ania was invited to be a member of the Executive Board, and is currently the Vice-Chairperson of the Executive Board and serves on the scholarship committee.

McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan P.C. has established a new Intellectual Property practice area within the firm. To solidify its expertise in this area, McDowell Rice has hired patent attorney Arthur Shaffer to launch this new practice area and oversee its growth.

Art practices in the area of patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and computer technology. He founded the Intellectual Property Center, LLC nearly 20 years ago and has seen the landscape for intellectual property law change over the years. He has garnered significant experience in complex business transactions and litigation involving a variety of intellectual property concerns. He currently works with major corporations as well as individual entrepreneurs to protect their intellectual property rights.

Art graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with a Juris Doctorate in 2001 and Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1993. He is licensed to practice in Missouri, Kansas, and District of Columbia. He is a member of the Missouri, Kansas, and Johnson County, Kansas Bar Associations.

MRSB is proud to have received the 2021 Pro Bono Award at the Johnson County Bar Association Annual Meeting on December 1, 2021.

This award recognizes commitment to providing legal services for free or at a lower cost, for an extraordinary time, resources, and talents to pro bono efforts.

Congratulations to the following McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan lawyers who have been selected to the 2021 Missouri and Kansas Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars® Lists in their primary practice area. The announcement will appear in the 2021 Super Lawyers® Magazine for Missouri & Kansas, published November 15, 2021:

Super Lawyers® List:

Jason L. Buchanan – Construction Litigation
Thomas R. Buchanan – Construction Litigation
Susan Saper Galamba – Family Law
Adam J. Gasper – Business Litigation
Michael J. Gorman – Business Litigation
Robert D. Maher – Creditor Debtor Rights
Jonathan A. Margolies – Bankruptcy: Business
Tiffany A. McFarland – Family Law
Kristie Remster Orme – Business Litigation
Colby L. Rieke – Family Law
R. Pete Smith – Business Litigation
Greg T. Spies – Business Litigation
Louis J. Wade – Civil Litigation Defense

Rising Stars® List:

Patrick C. Guinness – Construction Litigation

McDowell Rice is pleased to welcome our new Director of Administration, Oun Janiese Reneé Sutherland. Reneé holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mass Communications, with a minor in Psychology, and completed her graduate degree with a Master’s in Human Resource Management. Reneé has worked extensively in the field of human resources for over 23 years, and has robust experience in the field of communications and journalism.

Reneé serves on the Board of Directors for Giving Hope and Help and is an active and engaged member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Beta Omega chapter, where she serves as co-chair for the Sisterly Relations committee and works with the HBCU Impact committee. In addition, she is also a member of the Society of Human Resource Management. We are proud to welcome her to our team.

McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan is pleased to congratulate Susan Saper Galamba and Tiffany A. McFarland for being named for the second consecutive year to the Missouri Lawyers Media Power List in Family Law. They were two of only twenty-nine attorneys named state-wide. The full Missouri Lawyers Media THE POWER LIST, was published in October 2021 and is available here (subscriber login required): Missouri Lawyers Media THE POWER LIST of Family Law.

McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan, PC is pleased to announce the recent addition of Michaela N. Marine, Shoshana H. Margolies, and Jacob S. Margolies as associates of the firm.

Michaela Marine practices in the area of family law. She graduated from Washburn University School of Law with a J.D. in May 2015 and the University of Tulsa with a B.A. in psychology and Spanish in May 2012.

Shoshana Margolies practices in the areas of bankruptcy, workouts and financial restructuring; corporate and business transactions; creditor’s rights and remedies; litigation and dispute resolution; and real estate Law. She graduated from DePaul University College of Law with a J.D. in May 2020 and the University of Michigan with a B.A. in history and international studies in April 2017 and received university honors.

Jacob Margolies practices in the areas of bankruptcy, workouts & financial restructuring; corporate & business transactions; litigation & dispute resolution; and trust and estate planning. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School with a Juris Doctor in May 2021 and the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts in History and English in April 2018 and received university honors.

Kristie Orme of McDowell Rice served as co-counsel for the State of Iowa in a national arbitration in which a three-member panel comprised of former Article III judges unanimously ruled on September 1, 2021 that the State of Iowa "diligently enforced" state laws against tobacco companies that did not sign the $206 billion, 25-year Master Settlement Agreement in 1998 between tobacco companies and 46 states, including Iowa. The decision is a significant legal victory of the state in a years-long dispute with major tobacco companies that have withheld a significant portion of their 2004 settlement payments to MSA states and territories, including Iowa. This is the second, consecutive victory for the State of Iowa in this lengthy dispute with the first favorable decision being issued on September 11, 2013. For more information, see: https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/newsroom/national-arbitration-panel-once-again-backs-iowa-in-tobacco-payment-dispute/

McDowell Rice Smith & Buchanan is pleased to announce that Missouri Lawyers Media has named Rebecca Martin to its 2021 POWER List in Missouri Tax Law. The full Missouri Lawyers Media POWER list, which profiles the state’s most powerful attorneys in tax law, will be published in April 2021.