BCLP Announces Leadership Change in St. Louis

The international law firm BCLP today announced that St. Louis Partner Ryan Davis will take the reins of the firm’s St. Louis office, effective May 1. He succeeds Robert Newmark, who has led the St. Louis office since 2011.

Co-leader of BCLP’s Sports & Entertainment Group and one of BCLP’s most active M&A and corporate partners, Davis regularly represents several of BCLP’s prominent sports and corporate clients, including the St. Louis Blues, the St. Louis Cardinals and Stifel locally, and all 31 NHL clubs or their owners across the US and Canada. He has advised numerous public and private company clients, private business owners and sports teams, owners, playersand sponsors in connection with a broad range of matters.

Stifel Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ron Kruszewski commented: “I’ve worked with Ryan since he was an associate, going back to 2005. In that time, he has advised Stifel on nearly every one of our 30-plus acquisitions. He is a tireless, committed, team-oriented partner who drives great results for his clients, for his firm, and for the St. Louis community. I believe Ryan will be a great leader for BCLP’s St. Louis office.”

BCLP’s Sports & Entertainment Group is one of just two sports practices worldwide recognized by Chambers as a leader in sports law in both the US and the UK, and BCLP’s M&A practice is frequently recognized by Refinitiv, f.k.a. Thomson Reuters for its market-leading position in US M&A for annual completed transactions by deal count, as well as for mid-market transactions by deal count.

“I’m excited for this opportunity to lead the St. Louis office, particularly at such a transformational time for the firm,” Davis said. “It is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to represent my partners and colleagues here in St. Louis, where the firm was founded more than 140 years ago and has long-standing relationships with our clients based in the St. Louis community. I am particularly excited to do so following our recent merger and with the expanded platform and capabilities BCLP is now able to provide for our clients both locally in St. Louis and on a truly global scale.”

Davis has spent his entire legal career with BCLP in the St. Louis office. Among his other leadership duties, heserved as a member of the St. Louis office Recruiting Committee for a number of years, including serving as its chair, and he currently leads an officewide initiative related to the St. Louis office’s post-pandemic work environment. Within the wider St. Louis community, he serves on the Board of the St. Louis Sports Commission and is a member of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Development Board. He chaired the 30th Annual St. Louis Children’s Hospital Day at Six Flags fundraiser event and has served on the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Development Board’s Executive Committee. Davis also has been active in youth sports, coaching his children, Kathryn and Carter, throughout their childhoods in outdoor soccer, indoor soccer, softball and baseball.

“I have quite literally grown up in the St Louis office and have seen firsthand several of my partners lead the firm and this office with tireless dedication and commitment,” Davis said. “As the leader of the St. Louis office, Bob has set a very high bar, and his leadership, guidance and compassion during the pandemic in particular have been remarkable. I look forward to following in the footsteps of those that came before me and to continuing the tradition of leadership in our St. Louis office.”

Newmark has spent the majority of his legal career with BCLP, first joining in 1992 as a summer associate and later being rehired as an associate in 1999. His busy legal practice is concentrated in the area of business and transactional counseling, including mergers and acquisitions, general commercial counseling, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and cross-border structuring. He also counsels business owners and their families on business succession and estate planning. During his tenure, Newmark also co-chaired a firmwide strategic planning initiative and later co-chaired a firmwide integration team following the firm’s transformative combination in 2018.

Under his leadership, the St. Louis office engaged in several notable community projects, including launching what is now the longest-running tutoring program in the St. Louis Public Schools, initiating annual days of service on MLK Day, raising disaster relief funds for the victims of the Joplin tornado, developing an innovative legal fellowship program with Concordance Academy, raising meaningful funds for those in our region suffering from food insecurity, and supporting key initiatives in the metro area, such as City-Arch-River and the St. Louis Blues Museum.

“It has been my honor to lead the St. Louis office these past 10 years, and especially through the extraordinary past year,” Newmark said. “As one team, our lawyers and staff have faced every challenge and found new and better ways to serve clients while looking after each other. BCLP is on an exciting trajectory with our new strategic plan initiatives, and I could not be more excited to pass the baton to Ryan to take this office to the next level.”