Laura represents design professionals, contractors and owners as part of her construction law practice. She also defends the manufacturers of medical devices in product liability cases.
Construction and Design: Laura is co-leader of a construction law team providing outside general counsel services for one of the top design firms in the country and for multiple contractors and owners who undertake construction projects. Her work with these clients involves: drafting, reviewing, and negotiating design and construction form contracts (AIA, DBIA, AGC, EJCDEC and Consensus) and original contracts; defending professional negligence cases, which includes drafting pleadings, drafting and responding to discovery, taking and defending depositions, preparing witnesses for deposition, trial, arbitration and developing trial or arbitration strategy; negotiating and resolving disputes with contractors, clients, and subconsultants; supervising local counsel assigned to defend lawsuits in other jurisdictions; and responding to subpoenas and open records requests and other day-to-day legal issues that may arise.
Laura recently completed a nine-month secondment at a large design-build construction firm, which provided her with invaluable insight into the needs of her design and construction clients.
Product Liability: Laura helped one of the major medical device manufacturers in the country transfer and consolidate all of its nationwide litigation with Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Twelve years later, Laura still defends this company against individual and complex product liability cases involving a variety of products from surgical staplers and ventilators to dental needles. On behalf of this client, Laura recently resolved hundreds of lawsuits consolidated in Cook County, Illinois, and in an MDL in the Northern District of Ohio, without the client paying a single cent in settlement costs. Laura has represented this client on a flat-fee basis for several years.
Before joining Shook, Laura clerked for the Kansas Supreme Court for three years. She is a member of the firm’s Professional Development Committee, where she develops writing and deposition seminars for new associates. Laura was the 2017 recipient of Shook's award for Excellence in Professional Development.
Publications and Presentations
Presenter, Complex Construction Defect Claims, Webinar, Perrin Conferences, September 25, 2019.
Presenter, Deposition Training for KU Law School Inter Term Session, January 2012.
Presenter, Summer Associates Writing Clinic, Summer 2012.
Presenter, A Design Professional Liability For Seismic/Wind Damage to HVAC & R Equipment, Winter Meeting of American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Chicago, Illinois, January 23, 2006.
Reviewer, Chapter 4: Design Professionals, Missouri Bar CLE, Missouri Professional Liability, 2005.
Author, Legal Ramifications of Unethical Engineering, 47:9 ASHRAE Journal, September 2005.
Presenter, The Future of Asbestos Litigation, Annual Meeting of The Missouri Bar, Construction Law Subcommittee, Jefferson City, Missouri, September 2003.
