“Be who you are, be true to yourself, and strive to do the right thing. Don’t worry about the recognition and trying to be remembered. Just do the right thing.” — Jay Felton, Litigation Partner at Lathrop GPM
Jay Felton, Litigation Partner at Lathrop GPM, has been surrounded by agriculture nearly his whole life growing up on a farm in Northwest Missouri. Jay grew up working as a ranch hand at Felton Hereford Ranch, but chose to take his talents elsewhere. Jay started his journey outside of agriculture at the University of Missouri earning a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. After earning his undergraduate, Jay attended the University of Virginia School of Law and graduated in 1989 as a Hardy Cross Dillard Scholar. Soon after law school, Jay went on to work as a law clerk for the Honorable John R. Gibson at the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit. He also became an instructor at the University of Missouri for nine years starting in 1999. Now, after serving clients for more than 20 years, Jay is currently a Litigation Partner at Lathrop GPM and been selected to Super Lawyers nine times, which is awarded only to a select number of accomplished attorneys in each state. I should also note, Jay is a fifth-generation farmer and remains actively involved in his family’s row crop operation today.
In this podcast, Jay and I will cover what it was like growing up on a farm in Northwest Missouri herding cattle, what it’s like trying to continue a 5th generation farm, the Missouri-Arkansas State Line Rivalry, attending Missouri and Virginia, what it was like working with John R. Gibson, coronavirus, The Summit at the Summit, feeding the world, the importance of being on time, why his family is so important to him, his love for being outdoors, hiking the great pyramid of Giza, his dream of pheasant hunting in the Dakotas, what he’s reading right now, how he volunteers in the community, how technology is affecting the law space, tips on negotiation, fragmentation in agriculture as well as some opportunities he’s seeing in the future, and a little bit about Lathrop GPM.