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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Series of deaths at Clayton law firm leave some wondering.

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Lawyers | Coroners Courts & Offices | Shootings | Employee Leave | Homicide | Investigations | Diseases & Disorders | Legal Services | Law Courts & Tribunals | Violence & SocietySeries of deaths at Clayton law firm leave some wondering.
Publication: Daily Record (Kansas City, MO)
Date: Monday, August 18 2008
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Byline: Kelly Wiese

Most think it's just an odd set of coincidences. But they still scratch their heads and can't help but wonder if there's more to the story. The civil defense firm of Boggs, Avellino, Lach & Boggs has hadthree of its lawyers die suddenly in less than two years. The firm continues

to claim about two-dozen lawyers, but the individuals working there have changed greatly in that time frame.

Count among the personnel turnover Mark Bates, who helped found the firm with managing partner Beth Boggs in 1999. Bates, who left the firm in April, said part of the turnover is the nature of the industry. But he also cited the firm's management style and people's wanting to start fresh after one of the firm's partners was shot to death in the law office in Clayton. For whatever reason, the small firm has been through a lot. InDecember 2006, partner Ernest Ernie Brasier was fatally shot in the firm's law office. His death remains unsolved, though robbery was ruled out as the motive. Add to that, last fall, another lawyer who hadworked at the firm with Brasier, Dan Bennett, died. The medical examiner's office said the cause was heart disease, according to media reports at the time. Then, this month, Boggs firm partner Vincent Venker also died suddenly. The medical examiner's office has not released his cause of death yet, but said there were no obvious external injuries. Clayton Police say the investigation into Brasier's death is open but they have no new information, and Venker's death did not change anything from their perspective. Certainly, like anybody else we're curious, but that case is a St. Louis city case, Capt. Kevin Murphysaid. We're not going to comment on somebody else's case. Bates worked with all of them and said the series of deaths does make people wonder what's going on at the firm. What people told me is at best theplace is cursed, he said. In the legal community, people want to talk about it and ask their questions. The Boggs firm released a statement mourning the loss of Venker, saying he was a friend and mentor to many and will be greatly missed. Firm administrator Joe Minner said the law firm had no further comment. According to Bates, there are several connections among the men that seem curious, but nothing that really answers what happened to Brasier. I don't know how to put all the pieces together, he said. For example, when Brasier was found dead in the law firm after business hours, he actually was in Bennett's office at the time. Bates said the office was upgrading its computer system, and Bennett was then on a leave of absence from the firm. So others used his computer to access the company network. Bates also said the firm has space in more than one floor in the Clayton office building, and all three men who died were on the third floor, where Bates also had worked. I would've been the only partner left that worked on the third floor that's still alive, he said. Also, both Bennett and Venker had been through a divorce not that long before their deaths, and Brasier represented Bennett in his divorce proceedings, Batessaid. Both Bates and another former attorney there, Matt Morris, were unaware of any major cases or clients that the three who have died worked on together, and Bates said they were not particularly close outside of work. In the end, both said it's probably just a weird string of events. Obviously there may be some skepticism, but it's just a series of coincidences, Morris said. People are comparing it to 'The Firm' -- I think that's overstated. The Firm was an early John Grisham novel, a tale about a young lawyer who got a great gig at a law firm only to watch as other attorneys turned up dead, and then discovered the firm was being run by the Mafia and investigated by the FBI.Bates also had a few thoughts about the reasons for turnover at the firm. According to an attorney listing on the firm's Web site from December 2006, shortly before Brasier was killed, compared to the current page, 11 of 24 lawyers from that time have left. For comparison, another St. Louis firm, Paule Camazine & Blumenthal, today lists 27 lawyers on its Web site. That firm's listing shows five attorneys who worked there in December 2006 no longer do. Bates, now a partner at Rynearson, Suess, Schnurbusch & Champion in St. Louis, said part of the turnover is common for insurance defense work, and part is because the Boggs firm is in many ways a training ground for young lawyers. That was the case for Morris, who used to work at the firm but left afew months before Brasier was killed. Morris said he left mainly because he decided he preferred to do plaintiffs' work, but had a good experience at the Boggs firm. He also knew many others who didn't staylong at their first job after law school. Once you get that experience, if you become a little more marketable, if you're a young attorney and tried three or four cases in your first few years, you can translate that into more money, said Morris, who now works for GoldenbergHeller Antognoli Rowland & Short in Edwardsville, Ill. I don't thinkit's anything that's endemic to that firm. But Bates said that's only part of the answer. Another issue is that people were unsettled after Brasier was killed, but also some didn't get along with Boggs, he said. That whole incident and the follow-up to it was very hard on both me and my family, a lot of uncertainty and [being] a little scaredBates said. I certainly hoped they would have some resolution and provide some closure. But Bates said he had other reasons, and took an opportunity that arose. A lot of it was Beth Boggs' personality as much as anything. That's what led me to leave, he said. Boggs did not return a call seeking comment. Morris, however, said he got along well with Boggs, and that his leaving just stemmed from seeking to practice a different kind of law. I was treated very well by Beth, he said. I don't have anything bad to say about the place.
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/legal-services-lawyers/12852998-1.html

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