Michael Matula is a shareholder in the firm’s Kansas City office. Mike concentrates his practice in the areas of employment litigation and counseling. He has represented employers in a wide variety of employment matters including discrimination, retaliation, harassment and wrongful discharge cases, non-competition/trade secrets disputes, and EEOC administrative proceedings. Mike, who has been given an AV Martindale-Hubbell rating, also has significant experience in commercial, tort, and insurance litigation, and continues to handle select matters in those areas. Mike also represents attorneys in disciplinary proceedings, serves on the firm’s Ethics Committee, was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court as a Disciplinary Hearing Officer, and is a co-author of the ABA treatise “Professional Responsibility in Litigation.” He is on the Steering Committee for the firm’s Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group and a member of the Records Retention And E-Discovery Practice Group.
Chambers USA stated that Mike “has a very accomplished skill set” with “a great reputation for his broad knowledge base” and is regarded as “responsible and flexible.” Mike’s trial experience of more than a dozen jury trials includes a case resulting in the fourth most significant defense verdict in Missouri in 2001, and being part of a trial team in one of the most significant defense verdicts in Missouri in 2006, both as reported by The Missouri Lawyers Weekly. He has argued before both the Eighth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal, and taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.
Mike has authored numerous publications including “The Law of Jury Selection in Missouri State Courts,” published in the Journal of the Missouri Bar. Mike has also been selected to speak on a variety of employment law topics, notably being asked by The Federal Judicial Center to speak on employment law issues at the National U.S. Magistrate Judges’ Workshop.