John R. Stanley, Attorney

I am a Missouri and Kansas workers compensation lawyer and a member of the Missouri Bar Association, the Kansas Bar Association, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, and the Missouri Association of Trial Lawyers. Check me out at the Missouri Bar Lawyer Directory and/or the Kansas Bar Lawyer Directory.

I graduated in May 1980 from Washburn Law School in Topeka, Kansas. I took the Kansas bar exam in August 1980 and became licensed to practice law in Kansas in September 1980. I became licensed in Missouri in 1995. With the exception of two years when I worked as a lawyer in State and Federal government, I have been in private practice. I moved back to my home town in Syracuse Kansas and had a general small town law practice for 8 years. In 1990 I moved to the Kansas City area. Since 1992 I have been in private practice concentrating almost exclusively in workers compensation. In 1994 I obtained a Missouri law license and widened my practice to include injured workers in the State of Missouri, also. . I have been around the block a few times.

I have continuously practiced law for more than 27 years. And for the past 13 years my practice has been devoted exclusively to injured workers.

I must admit that my first experience with workers compensation was working in a firm that worked for employers and insurance companies about 95% of the time. I lasted about a year. That was in 1992-1993. I hated it. Honestly I didn't sleep well at night. I realized that my job was to save my client, employers and insurance companies, money. I dealt with many workers who did not have lawyers and who did not know their rights. They thought they were saving themselves money by not hiring an attorney. I dealt with many workers who had lawyers who were inexperienced in the area of workers compensation. I did my job, but my heart was not in it. After a year I left that firm and have devoted myself since to the rights of the injured worker. I have not represented an insurance company since I left that firm in 1993. I must say that my pillow is much softer now.

I was born and raised in a small town of less than 2000 in western Kansas. I was the 6th of 7 children. It was a great place to grow up and I learned old-fashioned family values from my father. - who owned a small business. He never had the opportunity to go to the college, but worked hard to give me that opportunity. In the summer months I worked long hours on the farm and learned to work hard.

I attended community college and graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in economics in 1976. I worked and saved money for a year and then entered law school and graduated three years later in 1980.

I met and married the love of my life in 1978. Connie and I have been married more than 29 years now. We have four children who we are very proud of two boys and two girls, David, Sarah, Amanda and Andrew. They have all left the nest. David and his wife Kristan have blessed us with two grandchildren, Lauren and Benjamin while Amanda and her husband Mike also have a daughter Katelyn.

My first 8 years of practicing law were in my home town of Syracuse. There I represented one of the two town banks, the School District, numerous farmers and ranchers, merchants, cowboys (and cowgirls), truckers, feedlot workers, mechanics. I represented those charged with crimes from speeding to larceny to rape. After two years I was elected County Attorney and then prosecuted crimes from D.U.I.'s, thefts, rapes and one murder case. It was a great experience. My children walked to school. I walked three blocks to my office. It was not uncommon for to greet the bank president and the town drunk (both on first name basis) on the two block walk to the post office.

Over the years much of my family and friends had moved to the Kansas City area. My wife is from Kansas City, Missouri and it was only natural that I was lured to the "big city". It too has been a wonderful experience both for my family and myself.

In western Kansas I barely knew what workers compensation was. In Kansas (and Missouri for that matter) farmers are not required to have workers compensation insurance. There was a meat packing plant in Garden City 50 miles away, but those cases were handled by local attorneys. In 8 years I had one small workers compensation case. After plowing through the books and the procedures I was able to get my client a settlement. It was a simple case and not a very serious injury. It was a tremendous amount of work for a small fee. "That will be the last work comp case for me", I thought.

After a short stint as an attorney handling banking and real estate law (which I considered pretty boring) I hooked up with a law school friend who talked me into joining his firm - a workers compensation defense firm. Although I did my job and saved my insurance clients lots of money - at the expense of injured workers, I did not like myself. I was miserable. Now that I am representing injured workers exclusively, I sleep much better. In fact I have been able to use what I learned "on the other side" in order to better represent my injured worker clients.

Although my practice concentrates only on workers compensation I have represented the whole gambit of injured workers: assembly line workers, boiler makers, steel workers, truck drivers, nurses, secretaries, waitresses, construction workers, even insurance adjusters! And the list goes on. I haven't stopped to count the number of injured workers I have helped in the past 10 years, but the number is well more than 500 and closer to 1000.

For the past ten years I have always had at least one partner. In 2004 I decided go it alone. I have restricted my clientele to those with only the most serious injuries, however I am more than glad to consult with anyone who has had any work-related injury, and will never leave an injured worker "hanging" without advising him or her and perhaps referring him or her to other attorneys who practice in the area of workers compensation.

I hope you will enjoy this web site and learn more about workers compensation law in either the state of Kansas or Missouri. In both instances the law of workers compensation is "statutory law" - meaning the laws are promulgated by the respective legislatures of Kansas and Missouri. And I'm sorry to inform you that in too many instances the laws favor (in my humble opinion) the employer and not the employee; the insurance company and not the insured worker; big business and not the "little guy". If you would like some more information about how the laws are weak and how unfavorable the court decisions are, please read the writings I have placed on this site under the various headings. If you would like to do something about the problem of the lack of adequate legal protections for injured workers, then write or call your State Representative and Senator and tell them how you feel. Find out who your Missouri legislators are and find out who your Kansas legislators are.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the Chambers of Commerce, the Insurance lobby, Big Business, and other commercial interests are working hard to make sure that the Legislature does not do anything to improve the rights of injured workers.

Weekend Appointments Available