Andrea Welch is the President of the Eastern Jackson County Bar Association (board member since 2001, member since 1999). She is also the President of the Missouri Municipal Prosecutors Association (member since 2000). Andrea has been a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association Municipal Court Committee since 1999 and a member of the Missouri Criminal Defense Attorneys since 2001. She has been a Sugar Creek Optimist Club member since 2007 and on the Sugar Creek Parks and Recreation Committee since 2005.

Brian Goldstein has focused his practice on representing clients in civil litigation matters in both state and federal courts throughout Kansas and Missouri, as well as serving as coverage counsel for numerous insurance companies. He has been involved in representing clients in a wide spectrum of practice areas, from routine personal injury cases to complex damage cases in the fields of professional malpractice, business/contract disputes, products liability, employment discrimination, defective construction, and wrongful death. Mr. Goldstein was born and raised in the greater Kansas City area. Mr. Goldstein and his wife, Tamara, make their home in Overland Park, Kansas and have three daughters, Leah, Marisa, and Julia.

Roderick E. Smith is a practicing lawyer in the state of Missouri handling criminal defense matters.

Rick is an experienced personal injury attorney in the Kansas City area. Rick was born in Frankfurt, Germany, where his father was stationed as a military policeman in the U.S. Army. Kansas City has been Rick’s home since his family moved here when he was a child. Rick’s educational achievements are outstanding. He studied economics at the Institute of Economics and Political Studies, held at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. After returning to the states, Mr. DeVault obtained his B.A. in Economics from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Since earning his law degree at UMKC-Law, he has practiced personal injury law in the Kansas City area. Today, Rick helps a wide variety of people obtain compensation for their personal injuries throughout Missouri and Kansas. He is committed to fighting for the rights of the injured.

WHEN IT MATTERS The trial lawyers at Votava Nantz & Johnson specialize in claims involving catastrophic injury and wrongful death. It attorneys have consistently secured for their clients many verdicts and settlements totaling millions of dollars since the law firm was founded. We focus on cases involving trucking and commercial motor vehicle crashes, worksite and construction accidents, bad faith insurance claims and other cases involving death or catastrophic injury. Call or email us when you or a loved one suffers injury or is killed due to someone else’s negligence. We happily provide free consultations to potential clients. Contact us at 816.895.8800 or help@vnjlaw.com to request your FREE consultation to get started.

Mitchell Burgess is originally from Southwest Missouri. Mitch completed his undergraduate degree at Drury University in Springfield double majoring in History and Political Science. He graduated in 1995, magna cum laude and as a member of the Honors Program. Mitch attended Law School at the University of Missouri - Columbia and received his Juris Doctorate in 1998. While at M.U., Mitch was a member of the Missouri Environmental Law & Policy Review and was published in 1997. After graduating from law school, Mitch clerked for the Honorable Judge Laura Stith on the Missouri Court of Appeals – Western District. Judge Stith now sits on the Missouri Supreme Court. Prior to opening his own law firm in the fall of 2004, Mitch worked for a highly successful Kansas City Plaintiffs litigation firm where he gained tremendous experience handling case across the county involving personal injury, pharmaceutical and product liability litigation. Since founding his own law firm in 2004, Mitch has repeatedly been recognized as one of the top Plaintiffs' Attorneys in the region. He has been named one of the "Best of the Bar" by the Kansas City Business Journal, a "SuperLawyer" by Superlawyers Magazine, and one of the "Top 40 Under 40" by the National Trial Lawyers Association. In 2010, Mitch was named one of the "Winningest" plaintiffs' attorneys by Missouri Lawyers Weekly and also was recognized for securing one of the Top 10 Plaintiffs wins that year. Mitch has had numerous successes in personal injury and class action litigation and has been appointed class counsel on dozens of class action cases.

Richard Vandever has been practicing law since 1980. His law firm: Law Offices of Richard D. Vandever LLC, is located in Kansas City. The firm represents individuals seeking compensation for injuries and entitlement to various benefits wrongfully denied them. He has represented thousands of individuals in a wide variety of cases with recoveries totaling in millions of dollars. Individuals pursuing these claims find themselves opposed by giant entities: insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, governmental bureaucracies, and multi-national corporations. It has been a privilege to represent these individuals and help balance the scales in what is almost always a David versus Goliath contest.

Bryan Gentry, the founder of The Gentry Law Firm, has represented numerous clients in domestic, criminal, civil & traffic matters. Bryan was born and raised in south Kansas City, Missouri. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Missouri in Columbia. In 2016, he joined the Jackson County 16th circuit court as a law clerk for Division 34 under the honorable judge Susan E. Long. For nearly 3 years, he was instrumental in resolving thousands of cases spanning across criminal, civil, domestic and traffic matters. He managed multiple dockets, drafted orders, reviewed pleadings, and assisted in issuing orders, summons and warrants. During this time, Bryan gained substantial rapport with the bench and local legal community. After spending several years with the Jackson County circuit court, Bryan practiced civil litigation at a local Kansas City law firm, where he honed his legal skills around contracts and collections. In 2020, amidst a global pandemic, Bryan decided to open his own firm so he could better serve his own community. He started The Gentry Law Firm to be a resource and advocate for his community. He navigates his clients through the Kansas City legal system using a detail-oriented approach to get the best possible results for his clients. Bryan is a compassionate and down-to-earth legal counsel who will manage the stress of your case enabling you to focus on moving forward with your life. Bryan holds an active Missouri Bar license and is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.