Ingram’s – Top 50
50 Missourians You Should Know – 2012
Lantz Welch
Lawyer
There are winning lawyers, and then there is Lantz Welch. For 28 years, he’s been on a winning streak, having lost exactly zero cases in that span. And among his victories are four would-record verdicts — just one reason he’s been listed in Best Lawyers in America since that publication debuted in 1983. Among those four was his work in the Firestone v. Crown Center Corp., a case that provided a framework for allocating damages to victims of the 1981 Hyatt skywalk collapse. His summation in that case is considered a classic of the courtroom, and for many, it was indeed a big case. For Welch, it was just another day at the office: “It simply boosted (my career) as other cases, before and after, did,” he says. “So I would guess that each win increased my confidence level.” That work was a gimme compared to the toil he had to put in Elam v. Alcolac. For 10 grueling years, culminating in a 4 1/2-month trial in 1988, Welch pursued justice for 31 residents of Sedalia who suffered personal injury or property loss from a chemical plant’s emissions and spills. The outcome has earned him for the social contribution it made, as well as for verdicts totaling more than $49 million. But litigating is the job description: “I’ve tried over 200 jury cases to verdict, and learned from each outing.”
50 Missourians You Should Know – 2012
Lantz Welch
Lawyer
There are winning lawyers, and then there is Lantz Welch. For 28 years, he’s been on a winning streak, having lost exactly zero cases in that span. And among his victories are four would-record verdicts — just one reason he’s been listed in Best Lawyers in America since that publication debuted in 1983. Among those four was his work in the Firestone v. Crown Center Corp., a case that provided a framework for allocating damages to victims of the 1981 Hyatt skywalk collapse. His summation in that case is considered a classic of the courtroom, and for many, it was indeed a big case. For Welch, it was just another day at the office: “It simply boosted (my career) as other cases, before and after, did,” he says. “So I would guess that each win increased my confidence level.” That work was a gimme compared to the toil he had to put in Elam v. Alcolac. For 10 grueling years, culminating in a 4 1/2-month trial in 1988, Welch pursued justice for 31 residents of Sedalia who suffered personal injury or property loss from a chemical plant’s emissions and spills. The outcome has earned him for the social contribution it made, as well as for verdicts totaling more than $49 million. But litigating is the job description: “I’ve tried over 200 jury cases to verdict, and learned from each outing.”