Armstrong Teasdale

Armstrong Teasdale LLP is a law firm headquartered in St. Louis. With ten offices in the United States, its lawyers represent Fortune 100 and 500 companies as well as mid-sized and smaller clients. Operating on a national, regional and international basis, the firm handles a wide range of matters that fall into the following general practice areas: corporate services; financial and real estate services; intellectual property; international; and litigation.

Armstrong Teasdale LLP
HeadquartersClayton, Missouri
No. of offices10
No. of attorneysapproximately 250 (2014)
No. of employees560 (including attorneys)
Major practice areasGeneral practice
Key peopleDavid W. Braswell, managing partner[1] Michael A. Chivell, chairman[2]
Date founded1901
FounderThomas Harper Cobbs and John E. Bishop
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitearmstrongteasdale.com

Litigation is Armstrong Teasdale's largest practice area. Areas of experience include intellectual property, products liability, construction, health care and white collar criminal defense.

Intellectual property is a growing practice area for Armstrong Teasdale. With the largest patent practice in St. Louis, the firm has been recognized by Intellectual Property Today as one of the nation's top patent firms.[3] It is also listed in the Law360 IP 100,[4] the online legal news service's ranking of U.S. law firms with the largest intellectual property practice groups.

Armstrong Teasdale is a member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 160 prominent law firms, United States Law Firm Group, a network of law firms located in major U.S. cities; and State Law Resources, Inc., an organization of firms with expertise in administrative, regulatory, and government relations at the state and federal levels.

The firm earned the highest possible score on a Human Rights Campaign Foundation survey[5] that measures corporate policies and practices with the LGBT community. The survey looked at factors such as protections against discrimination in the workplace; domestic partner benefits; transgender-inclusive health care benefits; competency programs; and public engagement with the LGBT community.

History

The firm was founded in 1901 by business lawyers Thomas Harper Cobbs and John E. Bishop. The name changed to Cobbs, Logan, Armstrong, Teasdale & Roos in 1949. The firm's expansion includes three mergers, one with the St. Louis-based Schlafly, Griesedieck, Toft & Virtel in 1986, another with Kansas City-based firm of Dietrich, Davis, Dicus, Rowlands, Schmitt & Gorman in 1989 and the third with Kansas City-based Martin Leigh in 2020.[6]

Armstrong Teasdale established a presence in China in 1994 and was awarded a license to open a foreign law office in Shanghai in 2000 by the PRC Ministry of Justice. Armstrong Teasdale is also a member of the China Alliance, an arrangement with three leading independent law firms with practices in China's business and regulatory centers.

The firm's subsidiaries are Environmental, LLC, which helps clients reduce environmental risks; Development Dynamics(D2), which provides an array of economic development advisory services; and Lawgical Choice, which uses advanced technology to organize and present relevant case information in a targeted, trial-ready format.

Offices

High profile cases

In 2015, the firm won a Missouri Supreme Court ruling for Ameren[7] in a wrongful death suit under the Missouri Recreational Land Use Act.

Armstrong Teasdale client Cave Consulting Group obtained a jury verdict of patent infringement[8] and was awarded $12 million in past damages.

The firm obtained a summary judgment for Anesthesia Associates of Kansas City[9] in a qui tam False Claims Act case seeking more than $1 billion on behalf of the United States.

Won the largest 2014 defense verdict in Missouri [10] on behalf of Missouri Gas Energy in a $30 million furnace explosion case.

The firm represented Ralcorp Holdings in its 2013 win over Frito-Lay North America in a widely watched trademark and patent case involving bowl-shaped tortilla chips. A federal jury in Texas delivered its verdict[11] in favor of Ralcorp and Medallion subsidiary on all 12 counts including allegations of trade secret misappropriation.

In a controversial David and Goliath battle, the firm represented St. Stanislaus Church in its property fight against the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The trial court ruled[12] in 2012 that St. Stanislaus owned its property and had the right to pass bylaws that limit the authority of the Archdiocese over the church.

Armstrong Teasdale client Morpho Detection, Inc. won a patent infringement case against Smiths Detection, Inc. over a screening system used to detect explosives and narcotics at many airports throughout the world. In a unanimous verdict,[13] a Virginia federal jury decided in 2012 that Smiths infringed Morpho's patent for the widely used system.

The U.S. Department of Justice in 2010 ended a lengthy investigation of Armstrong Teasdale client Alphonso Jackson, who served as Housing and Urban Development Secretary during the Bush Administration. The government ended the probe[14] without bringing charges.

In a 2010 ruling[15] that affected stock option backdating cases across the country, a federal judge dismissed Securities and Exchange Commission allegations against Armstrong Teasdale client Michael F. Shanahan Jr., a former director of Engineered Support Systems and the son of its co-founder and former CEO.

Armstrong Teasdale represented Missouri state liquidators who sued investment banks, accountants and lawyers for allegedly causing the collapse of General American Insurance, the state's largest insurer. In this role, Armstrong Teasdale negotiated settlements of more than $250 million for policyholders. Parties included Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a Big Four accounting firm and other entities. The settlements[16] represent the largest amounts ever recovered in these types of proceedings in Missouri.

Pro Bono

Armstrong Teasdale is a founding member of the Washington D.C.-based Pro Bono Institute and the firm's lawyers are involved in a broad range of matters from litigation to helping nonprofits incorporate. The following are some examples:

Partner Amy Lorenz-Moser received the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico[17] award for advocating on behalf of abused women. Her efforts include winning the release of two clients who had spent three decades in prison for killing violent husbands.

The firm handled one of the cases that led Congress to abolish the controversial “widow’s penalty.[18]” Under this law, immigrants who were married to U.S. citizens could be deported if their spouses died within the first two years of marriage.

Notable lawyers

References
  1. https://www.armstrongteasdale.com/news/david-w-braswell-elected-managing-partner-of-armstrong-teasdale/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. https://www.armstrongteasdale.com/news/david-w-braswell-elected-managing-partner-of-armstrong-teasdale/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Top Patent Firms" (PDF). Cantorcolburn.com.
  4. "Law360 Ranks Largest IP Practice Groups". Law360.com.
  5. Holleman, Joe. "STL law firm ranks highest in LGBT community relations". Stltoday.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  6. "Kansas City's Martin Leigh law firm shuts down to join Armstrong Teasdale". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  7. "Anderson v. Union Elec. Co". Law.justia.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  8. "Jury Awards Cave Consulting Group $12 Million for Patent Infringement". Businesswire.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  9. "Appeals court rules on $1B claim against Anesthesia Associates". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  10. "Armstrong Teasdale Lawyers Win Top Defense Verdict, Influential Appellate Advocate Awards - Lex Mundi: The World's Leading Law Firm Network". Lexmundi.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  11. "Bowlz Chips Don't Dip Into Frito-Lay's Patents, Jury Says - Law360". Law360.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  12. Townsend, Tim. "St. Louis judge rules in favor of St. Stanislaus church". Stltoday.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  13. "Jury Awards Morpho $2M Over Airport Screener Patent - Law360". Law360.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2017-03-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. Henning, Peter J. "Another Options Backdating Defeat". Dealbook.nytimes.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  16. "Armstrong Teasdale nets $20 million". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  17. Holleman, Joe. "Local lawyer cited for pro bono work". Stltoday.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  18. "Wildwood woman wins battle to stay in the U.S. When her husband died in 2006 accident, she faced deportation". Stltoday.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
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