Karl Blanchard

KARL BLANCHARD

OF COUNSEL

Contact: kblanchardjr@springfieldlaw.net

Karl W. Blanchard, Jr. is a Joplin native, born in 1948 at the old St. John’s hospital, son of Karl and Margaret Ellen Blanchard. His father is one of the founding partners of the law firm, Seiler, Blanchard and Van Fleet, formed in February 1942 in Joplin, Missouri.

Karl graduated from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1970. On the same day he graduated, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army, having completed four years of ROTC while attending college. Karl graduated in 1973 from the University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia, Missouri, and ranked in the upper 25% of his class. While a student at the University of Missouri School of Law, he was named in the Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, 1973 Edition. He received the American Jurisprudence Prize Award for Jurisprudence 1972-73. He was a finalist in the school's moot court competition, and in his final year of law school he served as co-chairman of the Moot Court Committee.

Since starting his practice in 1973 Karl has tried more than 100 jury trials, many cases to the judge, binding arbitration in construction litigation. Throughout his career, he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants, selected juries and tried to verdict matters involving malpractice, product liability, automobile injuries, banking litigation and civil rights.

Karl has litigated cases in both State and Federal Courts, tried both civil and criminal cases in at least ten different counties in the State of Missouri as well as in the US District Western District of Missouri. He has appeared in the US Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis, and handled appellate cases in the Missouri Courts of Appeals, the Missouri Supreme Court and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 1993 Karl was invited to become a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.