Armstrong Teasdale

Armstrong Teasdale LLP

Headquarters	Clayton, Missouri
No. of offices	8 total, 1 international
No. of attorneys	approximately 250 (2014)
No. of employees	485 (including attorneys)
Major practice areas	General practice
Key people	Michael A. Chivell, managing partner[1]
Date founded	1901
Founder	Thomas Harper Cobbs and John E. Bishop
Company type	Limited liability partnership

Armstrong Teasdale LLP is a full-service law firm based in St. Louis, Missouri. With eight offices in the United States and one in Shanghai, China, its 250 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 areas: corporate services; financial and real estate services; intellectual property; international; and litigation.

Litigation is Armstrong Teasdale’s largest practice area and its trial lawyers have been recognized for their successful results and quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other major publications. They have backgrounds in diverse areas, including intellectual property, products liability, construction, health care and white collar criminal defense.

However, intellectual property is Armstrong Teasdale’s fastest growing practice area and attorneys practicing IP make up about a quarter of the firm. 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. It is also listed in the Law360 IP 100, 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.

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 two mergers, one with the St. Louis-based Schlafly, Griesedieck, Toft & Virtel in 1986 and the other with Kansas City-based firm of Dietrich, Davis, Dicus, Rowlands, Schmitt & Gorman in 1989.

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

• St. Louis, Missouri
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Denver, Colorado
• Jefferson City, Missouri
• Overland Park, Kansas
• Belleville, Illinois
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Shanghai, China

High Profile Cases

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^[2] 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^[3] 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,^[4] 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^[5] without bringing charges.

In a 2010 ruling^[6] 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 Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, a Big-Four accounting firm and other entities. The settlements^[7] 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 actively involved in a broad range of matters from cutting edge litigation to helping nonprofits incorporate. The following are some examples:

Partner Amy Lorenz-Moser received the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico^[8] 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.^[9]” 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.

The firm filed an amicus curiae brief^[10] with the Missouri Supreme Court in support of the same sex partner of a Missouri state trooper who was killed in the line of duty. The surviving partner sought spousal death benefits currently only offered by the state to heterosexual married couples.

Notable Lawyers

Stephen N. Limbaugh, Sr. held concurrent appointments to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri from 1983 until 2008.

William Ray Price, Jr. served on the Missouri Supreme Court from 1992 until 2012. His tenure included two terms as chief justice.

Laurence R. Tucker served as president of Missouri Bar Association, 1995-96.

References