As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1998, W. Russell Welsh has guided the firm through strategic growth that has positioned Polsinelli Shughart PC as a leading business and litigation law firm. During his leadership, the firm increased from 90 attorneys to more than 600. Polsinelli Shughart was named one of the fastest growing law firms in the U.S., and is among the 100 largest firms in the nation. Under Welsh, the firm’s geographic presence has grown to include offices in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.
Mr. Welsh helped direct the expansion of the firm’s national practices in Financial Services, Health Care, Real Estate, Business Law, and Litigation. Polsinelli Shughart has been cited as the No. 3 Real Estate law firm in the Midwest. The firm's Health Care Law practice has grown to the fifth largest in the United States. The firm also has gained a national reputation for its work in Financial Services, Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Litigation, Nonprofit Organizations, Energy, and Life Sciences and Health Care law practices.
Mr. Welsh is formerly the chairman of the firm’s Litigation Department. He has extensive trial experience in the areas of products liability, business torts, trade secrets, commercial, and bankruptcy litigation. He has acted as national and regional counsel for a number of Fortune 100 corporations. He has tried cases in 17 states and appeared in court in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Welsh is listed in Chambers USA as a Leading Business Lawyer in General Commercial Litigation.
In addition to leading the firm, Mr. Welsh's civic involvement includes service on the boards of directors of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Community Blood Center. He is Chairman of the Board of Starlight Theatre and Chair elect of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Welsh is also past president of the Board of Trustees of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Mid-America Chapter. He has also served on the board of directors of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and the Kansas City Area Development Council. He is a former chairman of an American Bar Association Products Liability Sub Committee.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Welsh was a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, in Washington, D.C.