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Attorney Profiles
Douglas Salsbury
Douglas
Salsbury, one founding partner of The Miller/Salsbury Law Firm, has
extensive experience in handling a variety of personal injury cases.
Right out of law school he worked in the claim department for the
world's largest auto insurance company, gaining valuable experience
in the areas of insurance law, contract and tort law. He then
became an associate and later, a partner with a mid-size St. Louis
law firm litigating and trying law suits in such diverse areas as
medical malpractice, products liability, wrongful death, motor
vehicle accidents, boating accidents and general personal injury,
including slip and fall accidents and property damage disputes.
Mr. Salsbury now principally represents individuals who have
suffered serious injuries. He has tried numerous jury trials
and has been successful in recovering millions of dollars for his
clients. Mr. Salsbury also maintains an active employment law
practice in which he primarily handles claims of wrongful employment
termination. He is licensed to practice in Missouri and
Illinois.
Douglas Salsbury has excellent credentials and is committed to
maintaining excellence in his legal career. He is a former
active member of the Ethics Committee of the St. Louis Bar
Association and a member of the Committee for Resolution of Fees
Disputes for the St. Louis Metropolitan Bar Association. He is
also a member of the Tort Law Committee of the Missouri Bar
Association. He is recognized as a premier attorney by the
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and has been give the highest
rating (AV), which means very high to pre-eminent legal ability, and
very high general ethical standards.Douglas Salsbury has excellent credentials and is committed to
maintaining excellence in his legal career. He is a former
active member of the Ethics Committee of the St. Louis Bar
Association and a member of the Committee for Resolution of Fees
Disputes for the St. Louis Metropolitan Bar Association. He is
also a member of the Tort Law Committee of the Missouri Bar
Association. He is recognized as a premier attorney by the
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and has been give the highest
rating (AV), which means very high to pre-eminent legal ability, and
very high general ethical standards.
Douglas Salsbury is the kind of lawyer his clients can relate to.
He has come to his current position through hard work. In
fact, he has an especial empathy with his clients who have been
injured in their work, or who have had to work with pain due to
injuries, since he worked his way through college and law school
doing very physical jobs. Mr. Salsbury graduated cum laude
from the University of Missouri with a degree in Administration of
Justice. He later received his law degree from Washburn
University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas, where he was Editor of The Constructive Notice, a Washburn Student Law Publication.
Douglas Salsbury has tried
numerous jury cases in many jurisdictions and is a certified member
of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
The Million Dollar Advocates Forum is recognized as the most
prestigious group of trial lawyers in the United States.
Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and
multi-million dollar verdicts, awards and settlements. The
organized was founded in 1993 and there are approximately 2500
members located throughout the country. Forum membership
acknowledges excellence in advocacy, and provides members with a
national network of experienced colleagues for professional referral
and information exchange in major cases. Members must have
acted as principal counsel in at least one case in which their
client has received a verdict, award or settlement in the amount of
one million dollars or more.
Douglas Salsbury, a founding partner of The Miller/Salsbury
Law Firm, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He lived there only
briefly, however, and considers St. Louis to be his hometown.
Mr. Salsbury was educated at Hazelwood High School, where he
played baseball, football, and was a co-caption of the varsity
wrestling team. He attended the University of Missouri-St.
Louis on a partial scholarship as a wrestler. Though wrestling light
in the 158 pound class, Mr. Salsbury enjoyed success as a college
wrestler, and was a National qualifier. Mr. Salsbury paid for
the balance of his college education while working as a janitor at
Sears Roebuck. Mr. Salsbury was graduated from UMSL cum laude,
with a Bachelor of Science Degree in The Administration of Justice.
From there, Mr. Salsbury attended Washburn Law School in Topeka,
Kansas. While there, he distinguished himself as an American
Jurisprudence Award Winner, and as editor of a Washburn Publication
known as The Constructive Notice. He was also the only law
student in the Washburn Jazz Band, where he played trombone.
During his law school days, Mr. Salsbury supported himself, and
paid for his education working a variety of jobs, including such
diverse positions as early morning dispatcher for a Temp. company,
country club waiter, security guard, truck driver, construction
worker and hospital orderly.
In 1979, after receiving his Doctorate of Jurisprudence Degree,
Mr. Salsbury moved to Kansas City, where he secured a position with
a medical supply company, and studied for the Bar Examination at
night. After passing the Bar Examination on his first attempt,
Mr. Salsbury moved back to St. Louis and accepted a position with
the worlds' largest automobile insurance carrier, State Farm.
He also married a lady lawyer, who was a classmate in law school.
While at State Farm, Mr. Salsbury was involved in numerous
aspects of claims handling. He also attended schools conducted
by State Farm, gaining valuable insight into the field of insurance
law, and serious personal injury claims in particular.
In 1981, Mr. Salsbury joined an insurance defense firm as an
associate. While an associate, and later as a partner in the
same firm, Mr. Salsbury tried numerous cases in such matters as
automobile accidents, slip and fall claims, medical malpractice,
products liability, and wrongful death claims.
In 1988, Mr. Salsbury resigned from his partnership in the
insurance defense firm, and opened his own office. Initially,
as a sole practitioner, Mr. Salsbury handled a wide variety of
cases. In fact, during the first two years of his then new
practice, Mr. Salsbury's clientele was a picture of the wide
spectrum of humanity. His client base included both sexes, all
races, adults, children, professionals, as well as accused rapists,
murderers, persons seeking divorce and being sued for divorce,
persons wrongfully fired, alleged drunk drivers, slander and liable
victims, persons in will contests, businessmen involved in
commercial litigation, and virtually every area of general
practice.
In the first seven months of his solo law practice, Mr. Salsbury
won high profile defendant verdicts in jury trials involving claims
of wrongful deaths allegedly caused by defective products. In one of
those cases, in a jury trial extending approximately one month, Mr.
Salsbury's client had faced multiple counts and an aggregate claim
for some One Hundred Million Dollars. The St. Louis City jury
returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Salsbury's client.
After two years or so in what was certainly a very general type
of litigation practice, Mr. Salsbury gradually began moving away
from general practice and declining work as a defense attorney.
More and more, his practice became that of a plaintiff lawyer,
wherein he represented persons injured in accidents, including
survivors killed in occurrences due to the negligence of others.
In addition, that part of Mr. Salsbury's practice involving Workers'
Compensation claims on behalf of injured workers, grew. By
1994, part of Mr. Salsbury's law practice involving representation
of claimants and plaintiffs had grown substantially. It was at
that point that a new affiliation was formed with the creation of
The Miller/Salsbury Law Firm, based in Eureka, Missouri.
Since July of 1994, when The Miller/Salsbury Law Firm was formed,
Mr. Salsbury has continued his active representation of persons
suffering injury due to the negligence of others. He has also
undertaken numerous battles against insurance companies to obtain
compensation for persons injured or killed. In these
undertakings, Mr. Salsbury and The Miller/Salsbury Law Firm have
been successful in recovering millions of dollars for their clients.
Mr. Salsbury holds licenses to practice law in both the State of
Missouri and the State of Illinois, including various Federal
Courts. and the US Supreme Court.
When not practicing law, Mr. Salsbury enjoys travel with his
family, participating in sports with his son, playing with his
bulldogs, driving his tractor on his farm, and practicing the seven
musical instruments, which he plays. These activities he
intersperses with a very busy law practice for clients whom Mr.
Salsbury asserts it is his great honor to represent.
- Areas Of Practice:
- Administrative Law
Age Discrimination
Alcoholic
Beverages Dispute Resolution
Americans with Disabilities
Act Animal Bite
Apparel
Arbitration
Asbestos &
Mesothelioma Criminal, Aviation
Aviation Accident
Bad
Faith Insurance Banking & Finance
Bankruptcy
Corporate
Business & Trade
Business Organization
Chemical &
Cosmetics Class Action
Collaborative Law
Commercial
Insurance Commercial Leasing
Commercial Real Estate
Complex Litigation
Construction Contracts
Contract
Credit & Debt
DUI-DWI
Debarment
Deceptive Trade
Practices Defamation & Slander
Dental Malpractice
Directors & Officers
Disability
Domestic Violence &
Neglect Pension & Benefits
Employee Rights
Employment
Contracts Employment Discrimination
Entertainment
Errors & Omissions Insurance
Federal Trial Practice
Firearms
Food Products
Freedom of Press
Freedom of
Speech Garnishment
Waste & Pollution
Health Care
Housing & Construction Defects
Insurance
Insurance
Malpractice Joint Ventures
Admiralty & Maritime
Labor
Arbitration Labor Disputes
Landlord-Tenant
Legal
Malpractice Licensing
Life & Health
Workout
Workers'
Compensation Lotteries
Machinery & Tools
Mass Transit
Mediation
Medical Malpractice
Medical Products & Devices
Mini-trials
Motor Vehicle
Car Accident
Defect and Lemon
Law Municipal
Occupational Safety & Health
Malpractice
Paternity
Personal Injury
Pesticides
Pharmaceutical
Product Power of Attorney
Premises Liability
Private
Judging Private Schools
Products Liability
Professional
Malpractice Property & Casualty
Property Damage
Radio
Railroad
Railroad Injury
Real Estate
Recreational
Products Reinsurance
Residential Real Estate
Sexual
Harassment Shipping
Slip & Fall Accident
Social
Security -- Disability
Estate Planning
Sports
State and
Local State Appellate Practice
State Trial Practice
Student Rights
Telecommunications
Television & Film
Title Insurance
Transportation & Shipping
Trucking
Unions
Victims' Rights
Warranties
Whistleblower
Wills
Wrongful Death
Wrongful Termination
Litigation Percentage:
Bar Admissions:
- Missouri, 1979
- Illinois, 1996
- U.S. District Court Eastern
District of Missouri, 1979
- U.S. District Court Western
District of Missouri, 1979
- U.U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit,
1979
The United States Supreme Court
Education:
- Washburn University School of Law,
Topeka, Kansas, 1979
- J.D., Doctor of Jurisprudence;
Editor - The Constructive Notice a Washburn Student Law
Publication, 1977 - 1978
- University of Missouri, St Louis,
Missouri, 1976
- B.S., Bachelor of Science
- Honors:
Cum Laude
- Major: Administration of Justice
Classes/Seminars Taught:
- Workers Compensation Law, The Bar
Association of Metro St. Louis, 2000
Professional
Associations and Memberships:
- Lawyers Association of St. Louis
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- Eureka Chamber of Commerce, 1996 -
Present
- Member
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- UMSL Alumni Board, 1990 - 1991
- Member
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- St. Louis Metro Bar Association,
1979 - Present
- Member
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- Missouri Bar Association, 1979 -
Present
- Member
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- Illinois Bar Association, 1996 -
Present
- Member
Past Employment
Positions:
- The Salsbury Law Office,
Principal, 1988 - 1994
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- Amelung, Wulff and Willenbrock,
Associate and then Partner, 1981 - 1988
-
- State Farm Insurance, Claims, 1979
- 1981
Pro Bono Activities:
- Judge/ Mock Trial Competition H.S.
Students, 1998 - 1999
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