Joe is a partner practicing in Spencer Fane's Education Law and Business Disputes Groups. He concentrates his practice in Education Law and complex business litigation.
Prior to joining Spencer Fane, Joe was a partner at Lathrop & Gage in Overland Park, Kansas. He was awarded his juris doctor, cum laude, from the University of Missouri - Columbia, where he was Lead Articles Editor of Missouri Law Review and a member of Order of the Coif. He received his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Maryville University, where he was the recipient of the Distinguished Young Alumni Award, and is the 2010 recipient of the Dean's Award for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Representative Experience
- He successfully defended against statutory and constitutional challenges the right of local school districts to receive over $36 million in sales tax revenues that had been approved by voters.
- Joe has successfully defended school districts throughout the region in administrative due process hearings in which the adequacy of educational programs for disabled children have been challenged.
- Joe successfully defended school administrators against a claim that they violated a student's rights in the course of taking disciplinary action against the student for making threats of physical violence, obtaining a jury verdict in favor of those administrators.
- In a proceeding before the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, Joe obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in property tax refunds for a landfill owner based on a flawed appraisal by taxing authorities.
- Joe obtained a defense award in an arbitration arising out of a contractual dispute between a health maintenance organization and a hospital, in which the total damages claimed were over $22 million dollars.
- Joe won a jury trial in which a developer claimed damages of over $3 million arising from the condemnation of real estate for an elementary school.
- Joe successfully defended the owner of a themed hotel against claims of trade dress infringement.
- Joe prevailed in a case before the Kansas Supreme Court challenging over $1 million in contempt fines imposed against a client.
- Joe successfully argued for the dismissal of a suit alleging that a local school district breached a contract involving the purchase of real estate intended for use as a school, where the school district later sold the property at a profit when it determined the property was no longer suitable for a school due to surrounding development.
- Joe obtained a half million dollar judgment, upheld on appeal, for a retailer's loss of business profits stemming from the condemnation of a shopping center.
Joe is a Rules Official for Kansas City and United States Golf Associations and serves as Chair of the KCGA Rules and Competition Committee. Joe was a Candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives in 1994, and is a former Vestry Member of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. Joe is also a frequent speaker on Education Law issues. His recent presentations include:
- Litigating Cases Involving Children with Autism
- The Impact of Off Campus Speech and Conduct in the Era of Facebook and My Space
- The Missouri Safe Schools Act (2008 Missouri School Boards Association)
- IEP Trouble Spots (2008 Local Administrators of Special Education Law Conference)
- IEP Implementation (2009 Local Administrators of Special Education Law Conference)
- What Every Educator Needs to Know About Developing and Implementing IEPs for Students with Behavioral Concerns (2009 Midwest Symposium for Leadership in Behavior Disorders)
- Student Discipline, Special Education and Section 504 (2010 Charter School Law Conference)
- Special Education and Seclusion/Restraint Update (2010 Kansas Association of School Boards Law Conference)
- FERPA and Student Privacy (2010 Kansas Association of School Boards Law Conference)