Craig O’Dear, An Award Winning Litigator:

Mr. O’Dear has been consistently recognized by professional rating organizations as a top litigator, both nationally and locally. 

In a most respected lawyer ranking service, Chambers and Partners, it states, “Sources point to Craig O'Dear as an "excellent" and "very experienced" litigator with a diverse practice consisting of product liability, white-collar criminal defense and employment litigation. In one work highlight, he successfully defended Ferrellgas against a class action seeking to recover damages for alleged customer overcharges.”  At Chambers and Partners, individual lawyers are ranked (in their practice-area(s)) on the basis of their legal knowledge and experience, their ability, their effectiveness, and their client-service. 

According to Lawdragon Magazine, which is the most elite guide in the legal profession, Craig O’Dear is one of the “Top 500 Leading Litigators in America.” Specifically, Lawdragon states, “Craig O’Dear Bryan Cave (Kansas City, Missouri) Defended World Wrestling Entertainment against a $500 million wrongful-death claim; it paid $9 million.” 

Benchmark Litigation - the definitive guide to America’s leading litigation firms and attorneys - is the only publication to focus exclusively on US litigation.  In Benchmark Litigation, Craig O’Dear is listed as a “local litigation star” with practice areas of general commercial, insurance and product liability.   

Annually, from 2005-2016, Craig O’Dear has been honored as a “Top Rated Business Litigation Attorney in Kansas City, MO” by Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers.  Super Lawyers selects attorneys based on peer nominations and evaluations, which are combined with independent research. 

According to Best Lawyers in America’s official 2017 list, where the Kansas City area's finest attorneys are selected by their peers, Craig O’Dear was honored for commercial litigation. 

In Kansas City Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar” 2012, Craig O’Dear was recognized as an outstanding lawyer in business and product liability as chosen by his peers.

 

Craig O’Dear, A Star From The Beginning:

Craig O’Dear’s career as a trial lawyer began in November 1983 when, as a second year associate at the Stinson, Mag & Fizzell law firm, he persuaded the senior partners on the Hyatt Skywalk defense team, as well as the client representative for the fourteen Hyatt Skywalk defendants, that he should be solo counsel for the defense in the trial of a $1.5 million emotional distress claim arising out of the July 1981 skywalk collapse at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City.  The result in that case, as well as the comments in the post-trial juror interviews, were an early indication of Mr. O’Dear’s effectiveness as a courtroom advocate for his clients.

Since his early success on the Hyatt Skywalk defense team, Craig O’Dear has repeatedly demonstrated his effectiveness as a trial lawyer in complex commercial litigation. 

Craig O’Dear also became a front runner in as early as 2004 for utilizing technology.  He successfully utilized trial presentation software when he represented World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in a lawsuit against Lewmar, a case which arose out of the accidental death of WWE wrestler Owen Hart.  See article entitled “Splashy Verdicts” in Law Office Computing.

Admissions
Missouri, 1982

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits

United States District Courts for the Western District of Missouri and District of Kansas

Education
Vanderbilt University, J.D., 1982

University of Missouri-Rolla, B.S., 1979

Civic Involvement & Honors
American Board of Trial Advocates

Lawdragon 500
Leading Litigators in America, 2006

Midwest Innocence Project, Advisory Board Member