When Jay Felton says he is focused on the success and satisfaction of his clients, he means it literally. Jay starts each year with a simple bull’s-eye chart of the client goals and objectives he plans to focus on and shares this target list with the other attorneys on his teams – ensuring that everyone has the same end in sight: what is best for the client. Jay is so invested in the clients he represents that his business plan has always been simple, “To only work with clients I believe in – those businesses I am willing to fully go to battle for. Protecting them from risk is the hill I am willing to die on.” And his clients appreciate this commitment to making their lives easier. As one corporate counsel said, “When I have a case with Jay, I feel a level of comfort that is greater than with other firms – that we are aligned together and moving in the right direction.”
For more than 20 years, Jay has worked with his team to get to know clients’ people, competition, strengths, challenges, opportunities and threats so the solutions his team suggests will help clients to best manage their risk. He explains, “We hit the ground running, actively setting the cadence of the matter – not passively waiting for the matter to develop – with the goal of fighting on the issues that most favor our client’s position, business strategy, core values and intended outcomes.”
When asked…
What inspires you about the practice of law?
I have always been curious and enjoyed solving problems. I assumed I would be a farmer (like everyone else in my family), but a couple of attorneys in my hometown gave me chance to work at their offices part-time during college (I worked on the farm in the morning and at the law office in the afternoon). I started out cleaning the offices, doing the filing, typing briefs and letters, running errands, and eventually got to help on some investigations and interviews and attend some depositions and short trials. I loved it and have never looked back.
What do you do outside of work?
My wife Amy and I have three great kids, and they keep us very busy with their school and sports activities. In the community, I coached recreational youth soccer for more than 10 years, am active in our church, serve on the Kansas City Area Development Council board of directors, and speak on a variety of topics relating to 21st century issues (a subject I also taught at the University of Missouri Honors College). I also continue to farm with my family, and enjoy reading, hunting, fishing and hiking.
“Of all the lawyers I’ve worked with, few meet their promises with as much authenticity and enthusiasm as Jay. He does what he says he’ll do and does it well, and with a level of client service that is unmatched,”