Kenneth E. Siemens
Areas of Practice
Ken concentrates much of his work in the areas of business and commercial law, contracts, real estate transactions, real estate finance, corporate formation and governance issues, employment law, commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, estate disputes and estate planning. Ken also has extensive experience and continues to regularly work in litigation of the firm’s catastrophic injury cases for both plaintiffs and defendants.
Ken advises the firm’s business and corporate clients on day-to-day legal needs including contract drafting and review, shareholder agreements, mergers and acquisitions, risk/liability analysis and review, employment law issues and other general legal and business needs. Ken has successfully handled multi-million dollar mergers and acquisitions, including international mergers and acquisitions. Ken has extensive experience in real estate transactions and real estate finance, having handled approximately $500 million in real estate-related transactions over the past several years. Ken has extensive experience with business mergers, acquisitions, and sales and has successfully assisted clients in both domestic and international transactions ranging in value from as low as $1 million to deals approaching $100 million. Ken regularly advises clients collectively employing thousands of employees with their day-to-day employment issues including discrimination claims, wage and hour issues and audits, employment contracts and other employment issues.
For decades Ken has also been extensively involved in representing both plaintiffs and defendants in catastrophic injury cases such as product liability cases causing severe injuries and death, automobile accidents involving life-changing injuries and deaths, tractor-trailer accidents, accidents involving farm implements, and other commercial vehicle accidents. Ken has worked as both plaintiff and defense counsel in those cases giving him a unique perspective in how to effectively achieve the best results for his clients. In the past few years alone, Ken has recovered over $25 million for clients who have suffered catastrophic injuries and deaths as a result of another’s negligence.
A representative list of Mr. Siemens’ business clients includes
Advanced Plumbing & Heating, Inc.; Arbor Development LLC; Atha Brothers, LLC; Barbosas, Inc.; Behavioral Solutions, LLC; Bendena State Bank; Bluetree Casework, LLC; Brentwood Village, Inc.; Brighton Creek Commons, LLC; Brooks Family Dentistry, LLC; Choice Orthodontics; Choices of St. Joseph, Inc.; Clark Family Dentistry, LLC; Consumer Oil & Propane, Inc.; Coon Manufacturing, Inc.; Deluxe Truck Stop, LLC; Devstake, LLC; Dragoo Metal Works, Inc.; Dr. Rosenak’s Optical Options, Inc.; Dunning Express, Inc.; GAAB Properties, LLC; Gary Kerns Homebuilders, LLC; Gray Manufacturing Co.; Freudenthal Home Health, LLC; Heartland Residential Care, Inc.; Heaton-Bowman-Smith-Funeral Home, Inc.; Heaton-Bowman-Smith Savannah Chapel, LLC; Inter-Cities Enterprises, Ltd.; Jim Walters Construction Co.; Launch Development, Inc.; Majestic Builders LLC; Martin & Hanway CPA’s, P.C.; Maverick Lumber, Inc.; McCloud and Associates, Inc.; MGB Ingredients, LLC; Nellestein Vein Institute, LLC; Northwest Missouri Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons; O’Malley Beverage, Inc.; Phoenix Capital Partners, LLC; Phoenix II, LLC; Phoenix III, LLC; Pivotal Point Transitional Housing, Inc.; Preferred Title, LLC; Renner Development LLC; Rock Port Oil Co.; Rockwell, Inc.; Rockwell Security LLC; Scaperite, LLC; Seaman & Schuske Metal Works Co.; Sprint Lumber, Inc.; Spyglass Development, LLC; St. Joe Petroleum Co., Inc.; St. Joseph Plastics; Sunshine Electronic Display Corp.; U.S. Bank, N.A..; Van Cleave Construction, LLC; Vektek, Inc.; Waving Wheat LLC.
Courts Admitted to Practice
Ken has been admitted to practice law in Missouri state and federal courts since 1993 and Kansas state courts since 2015. He is also admitted to practice before the 8th Circuit for the United States of America. In the past, he was also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and Western District of Kentucky.
Education, Professional Associations and Recognition
After graduating from high school near the top of his class, Ken attended and graduated from the University of Missouri – Columbia School of Business in 1990, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy summa cum laude and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Economics summa cum laude. He attended law school at the University of Missouri – Columbia, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1993 cum laude.
As an undergraduate at the University of Missouri, Ken received numerous honors culminating in being named to the Mortar Board Honorary and the Mystical Seven Honor Society (top 7 students on campus) for his scholarship, leadership, and service to the University. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and held various leadership roles within that organization.
During law school, Ken was Associate Editor-In-Chief of Missouri Law Review. He was the author of an award-winning article entitled, “The Discoverability of Personal Injury Surveillance and Missouri’s Work Product Doctrine,” Vol. 57-3, p. 871, Mo. L. Rev. (Summer 1992). Ken graduated in the top three of his class and was a member of the Order of the Coif.
Ken is a member of the American Bar Association, the Missouri Bar Association, and the St. Joseph Bar Association. He is past president of the St. Joseph Bar Association.
Ken was the author of the Missouri Bar Tort Law CLE Series on Assault and Battery, as well as the past author of the Missouri Bar Publication, Evidence, Chapter 18 Documents. Ken was also a past member of the Missouri Bar Evidence Publications Committee.
Ken holds an AV-Preeminent Peer Review Rating and a Client-Champion Platinum rating from the Martindale-Hubbell rating service.
Personal Information
Ken was born in St. Joseph, Mo., on September 27, 1967. He was raised in St. Joseph and attended St. Joseph public schools.
Following graduation from law school, Ken and his wife Sarah returned to St. Joseph where they continue to live. Sarah works as the law firm’s office manager. Ken and Sarah have two children, Mollie (husband Travis) and Eric. Mollie is finishing dental school at UMKC and will practice dentistry in Columbia, Missouri. Eric is a high school chemistry teacher and football coach at Central High School in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Ken is an Eagle Scout and a volunteer for the Pony Express Council for the Boy Scouts of America. He is past President, Treasurer, Vice President of Endowment and General Legal Counsel for the Council and has been a member of the Executive Board since 1999. He is a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award for exemplary volunteer service to the Council. He was the Presiding Chieftan of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, an honorary scouting organization within the Pony Express Council.
Ken is a member of Wyatt Park Baptist Church in St. Joseph where he is a Sunday School teacher, Deacon and currently serves on the governing Church Council. He served prior terms on the governing Church Council and numerous other church committees.
Ken is a member of the Board of Directors, past vice-president and current secretary / treasurer for the St. Joseph Safety and Health Council, a community organization dedicated to reducing injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the area.
Ken is also a member of the Board of Directors and current treasurer for Pivotal Point Transitional Housing, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization providing a Christ-centered program to help homeless families and youth become self-supportive and self-reliant.
Ken was also active as a coach of youth sports and has coached baseball, basketball, and softball for both boys and girls for many years. He is passionate about the powerful platform coaches have to influence youth and is actively involved in the development of mentoring and training opportunities to develop positive coaching influences for youth.
This resume is subject to rule 7.3 of the Missouri rules of professional conduct, which requires that the following notice be given: “advertising material: commercial solicitations are permitted by the Missouri rules of professional conduct but are neither submitted to nor approved by the Missouri bar or the supreme court of Missouri.”
