Missouri Lawyers Media honors two from BCLP with Up & Coming Awards

BCLP Associates Grace Colato Martinez and Jacob Simon are 2023 honorees in Missouri Lawyers Media’s annual Up & Coming awards. The awards celebrate outstanding legal professionals who are 40 or younger or who are within their first 10 years of practice. Grace is an honoree in the Pro Bono category.

Organizers note that award honorees have demonstrated professional accomplishment, skill and leadership beyond their years, as well as extraordinary commitment to their communities through volunteer service and leadership.

Grace practices primarily with the Business and Commercial Disputes Practice Group and sits on the firm’s Recruiting Committee. Grace also serves as the president of the Hispanic Bar Association of Greater Kansas City. Before joining the firm, Grace served as a law clerk for the Honorable Stephen R. Bough and the Honorable Willie J. Epps, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. As it relates to her Up & Coming Award, Grace led a BCLP team that successfully argued in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas on behalf of a Mexican mother for the return to Mexico of four of her children who were wrongfully removed from her custody and taken without her consent to Kansas City, Kansas.

Jacob is a litigator in the firm’s commercial disputes and class action groups.  He focuses on business disputes arising from mergers and acquisitions, commercial contract disputes, and ERISA class actions.  Since joining BCLP in 2019, Jacob has notched numerous victories for key firm clients.  He first-chaired a trial and won a complete defense verdict on product liability claims in state court, he has been the lead drafter on multiple successful motions and opposition briefs for some of the firm’s largest clients, and he has successfully argued discovery motions in federal court.  Jacob has also been tasked with drafting key motions and briefs in connection with the firm’s representation of Bayer AG in the ongoing Roundup litigation.  Jacob routinely handles pro bono court-appointed matters, including representation of incarcerated persons bringing constitutional claims against prison officials. 

Jacob is an inaugural member of the firm’s Global Associate Council, a group that serves as a conduit between the associate class and the firm’s global leadership.  Prior to joining the firm, he worked in the Litigation Department at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in New York, and served as a law clerk to Judge Sarah S. Vance in the Eastern District of Louisiana. 

All of the statewide 2023 honorees will be recognized during a lunch event in October. See the full list of honorees or for more information.