With a new streetcar to carry tourists and new construction to lure residents, downtown Kansas City, Missouri, is in the midst of a resurgence. Many of the city’s law firms are waiting for their own to arrive.
Over the last five years, four of the five biggest firms in Kansas City have dropped in local head count. Shook, Hardy & Bacon is down from 316 lawyers to 284, while Husch Blackwell has shrunk from 151 to 114. (Husch Blackwell did a major merger outside the city this year, combining with a Milwaukee firm). Stinson Leonard Street, which is the product of a 2014 merger, has seen its head count drop from 142 to 126 in the last year.
