Miller SalsburyPhone Number
Miller Salsbury Team
Practice Areas
Personal Injury
Workers Compensation
Social Security Disability
Car Accident
Wrongful Death
Catastrophic Injuries
Product Liability
Commercial Litigation
Probate Contest

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:
60% of Practice Devoted to Litigation

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
 
Eureka Chamber of Commerce, 1996 - Present
Member
 
UMSL Alumni Board, 1990 - 1991
Member
 
St. Louis Metro Bar Association, 1979 - Present
Member
 
Missouri Bar Association, 1979 - Present
Member
 
Illinois Bar Association, 1996 - Present
Member

Past Employment Positions:
The Salsbury Law Office, Principal, 1988 - 1994
 
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