Adams Named Dean of the Trial Bar by KCMBA

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Partner Robert T. Adams has been named a 2016 Dean of the Trial Bar by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association. Adams will accept the award at KCMBA’s annual Bench-Bar & Boardroom Conference, on May 11-13 in Branson, Missouri.

The award, which was created in 1985, recognizes member attorneys who have substantial and distinguished trial service “whose litigation skill and professional demeanor have resulted in consistent recognition by their peers as exemplary.”

Adams, who sits on Shook’s Executive Committee, focuses on cases involving products liability, intellectual property litigation, insurance coverage litigation and commercial litigation. He has tried more than 50 jury trials – serving as first chair in more than 40 - in several different federal and state courts.

Recently, Adams has served as first chair in several trials for Boston Scientific Corporation, in relation to the company’s pelvic mesh products. In the last two years, Adams has achieved defense verdicts several times for Boston Scientific, including:

• Albright v. Boston Scientific Corporation, Superior Court, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Defense verdict reached July 30, 2014, after a three-week jury trial. This was the first Boston Scientific pelvic mesh case to go to trial.
• Sherrer v. Boston Scientific Corporation, et al, Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri. Defense verdict reached February 2, 2016, in a nine-week jury trial. This was the first trial of two pelvic mesh manufacturers at once.

Adams’ dedication to the practice of law goes beyond his successful representation of clients. By appointment from the Missouri Supreme Court, he serves as the chair of the Missouri Approved Instruction Committee, which drafts instructions for use in civil cases.

Often called upon for this thought leadership, Adams’ most recent industry presentation was at the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel Winter Meeting in March 2015 at Amelia Island, Florida.

Adams has long been recognized nationally and locally for his trial work, including recognitions from the American College of Trial Lawyers, Best Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and Chambers USA. He was also received the Missouri Bar President’s Award in 2011 and named “Missouri Lawyer of the Year” by Missouri Lawyers Weekly in 2006.

Adams is one of three 2016 recipients; Polsinelli’s Robert Henderson and Badger & Levings’ Theresa Levings were also recognized. Past Shook recipients include the firm’s General Counsel, Gene Voigts.