Shawn Ford

Attorney

Real Estate & Development

(816) 460-1804

Shawn Ford

Attorney

Real Estate & Development

When you’ve held leadership roles in business, you know the operational and management challenges executives and managers face every day. Because Shawn Ford has sat in that chair, he draws on an acute understanding of corporate issues to provide practical legal solutions to business complexities.

Shawn served as general counsel and top labor relations executive for a multi-national transportation company, where he managed collective bargaining negotiations with unions, among numerous other responsibilities.

“That role required me to understand the operations of the business, identify client goals and square up the competing interests between labor resources and company executives,” he said. Having had responsibility for making decisions at the bargaining table that satisfied managers and executives alike, Shawn is adept at expeditiously crafting and implementing solutions to legal issues in ways that support clients’ business interests.

Corporate leaders turn to him for legal advice in commercial real estate transactions, business formation, corporate governance, labor and employment matters (including wage and hour concerns), agency investigations, human resources counseling, discrimination claims defense and litigation management.

Clients count on Shawn to provide reliable legal advice that helps them operate their businesses effectively. “I partner with executive leadership and management stakeholders to really understand their business,” he said. “Understanding the organization as a whole often reveals factors that are not readily apparent in a vacuum, and it’s my job to identify solutions that account for those factors.”

My background in operations and executive leadership roles makes me acutely aware of how a seemingly discrete or isolated legal circumstance, be it a litigation matter or the negotiation of a sales agreement or lease, can have far reaching implications throughout a business organization. My clients have an edge because when working toward the best possible legal outcome, I remain a vigilant proponent of my clients’ overarching mission and goals.

Career Achievements

  • Successfully represented employer clients in the grievance and arbitration process, through trial
  • Won a complete defense verdict on UCC transactional dispute
  • Negotiated more than 30 complex national collective bargaining agreements
  • Successfully managed union organizing campaigns, resulting in favorable employer election results
  • Represented nationwide transportation companies in the capacity of coordinating counsel, managing casualty claims litigation

Published Works & Presentations

Contributing Editor, The Developing Labor Law, 2011-2016

Education

  • J.D., Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas, 2007
  • B.S., Park University, Parkville, Missouri, 2003

Honors

Super Lawyers Rising Star, 2011-2012

Bar Admissions

  • Kansas, 2007
  • Missouri, 2008