Langdon & Emison Partner Brett Emison received the Wiedemann & Wysocki Award this week at the Annual Convention for the American Association for Justice (AAJ), and was also named the chair of the organization’s Publications Committee. The AAJ is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to civil litigation protecting the rights of consumers. Brett is also currently serving on the AAJ’s Voter Protection Committee, the National Finance Council, and the PAC Task Force, all influential committees for the nonprofit organization.
The Wiedemann & Wysocki Award goes to the members who have made the greatest impact on the Political Action Committee and to the cause of protecting the right to a jury trial overall. The priorities and mission of the AAJ are held forth best by members who are honored with distinctions such as this award, which was presented at Sunday afternoon’s award luncheon in San Diego, Calif. The Publications Committee will govern external AAJ communications, most notably the monthly Trial magazine which goes to all AAJ members. The AAJ PAC Task Force is one of the most critical organizations for sustaining the longterm mission of the organization, while the National Finance Council is key for the nonprofit’s sustained financial health. The Voter Protection Committee fights to protect all citizens’ rights to vote, and is fighting measures across the U.S. aiming to limit that Constitutional right.
Brett is a recipient of AAJ’s Pro Bono Award, Distinguished Service Award, and now the prestigious Wiedemann & Wysocki Award. Brett is also a member of the elite American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a nonprofit organization open only to the top rank of trial lawyers nationwide. Brett regularly presents at legal seminars, law schools, and other educational events teaching other attorneys the strategies learned in dozens of trials. He is regularly published in national publications on product liability, catastrophic injury litigation, and other legal topics.
Brett was named President of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (MATA) last month at the organization’s Annual Convention. MATA is Missouri’s only association dedicated to protecting the 7th Amendment constitutional right to a trial by jury. Brett has been an active member of MATA over the past two decades, and has served in a number of leadership roles. Currently he serves as the editor-in-chief of its flagship publication, The Missouri Trial Attorney.
Brett has been honored by the Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s Up and Coming Lawyers, and others. For his successful representations of people injured in train accidents, Brett was selected the “Lawyer of the Year” for the Kansas City metro area this year for the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers in America, in the category of railroad law for plaintiffs. As a partner at Langdon & Emison, Brett and his colleagues have tried cases against some of the largest corporations in the world, including all major auto manufacturers, railroad companies and trucking companies, as well as major pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Brett is dedicated to this area of the law because he is well aware that his clients’ lives have been destroyed and turned upside down because of someone else’s actions.
During law school at the University of Missouri – Columbia, Brett served as Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Missouri Law Review and received Order of the Coif honors. Following graduation, Brett worked as judicial law clerk for the Honorable William Ray Price, Jr. of the Supreme Court of Missouri. He then practiced in the area of commercial litigation for a renowned Kansas City law firm before joining Langdon & Emison, where the firm’s collective experience, focus, and resources have maximized the recovery for his clients, with total verdicts and settlements close to one billion dollars.