Personal Background
Born at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, Kevin Wichman is a lifelong resident of the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area. He is a native son who cares deeply about the quality of life and the rights of residents throughout the region. His life experiences have shaped his dedicated mission to fight for protection and remedies on behalf of individuals in the criminal justice system.
He is a passionate advocate of helping people accused of crimes and violations of the law in court to ensure justice is appropriately served with respect to their legal rights.
From his youth, Kevin was drawn to civic engagement. He was heavily involved in local schools, sports teams, community programs and small business jobs that helped shape his principled worldview today.
One of five children, Kevin, attended neighborhood schools in the Shawnee Mission School District, including Highlands Elementary in Fairway and Indian Hills Middle School in Prairie Village, and finished at St. Agnes in Roeland Park. Kevin graduated from Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park, Kansas and received a B.S. from Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. He was a member of the state soccer team for Kansas, as part of the Olympic Development Program (ODP), which feeds the national team. At Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park, KS, Kevin lettered in soccer, and was on the state championship team for Kansas soccer in Division 1A-5A and the high school conference champion for the Eastern Kansas League.
While in college Kevin played with the K-State University Soccer Club in Manhattan, KS. During law school in Michigan, Kevin also coached the Club Team of 50 players. In 2014 he was the Varsity Head Soccer Coach for Turner High School in Kansas City, where he enjoyed running the program and coaching two teams of high school students, and mentoring and inspiring today’s youth to strive for excellence in all they do.
Kevin’s interests stretched beyond academics and sports. He was a front man for a rock band while at Bishop Miege, and a DJ/producer for K-State’s radio station, KSDB FM 91.9 for two years. During the final year of law school he was a legal commentator on a a legal program airing on Detroit News/Talk Radio, where he had fun providing insight and legal analysis of current events for the area’s weekend listeners.
In college, Kevin joined the Chi Deuteron chapter of Phi Gamma Delta / FIJI Fraternity, and he is a member of the Kansas City’s Phi Gamma Delta / FIJI Alumni Group.
A member of The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church (the gold dome) in downtown, Kansas City, Missouri, Kevin is active in his faith and with his parish community’s Morning Glory Ministry, which benefits the greater Kansas City homeless, which can include recent parolees whom need help with a fresh start in life.
Early Legal Background
Kevin received his law degree from Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2008. During law school, he served as a legal research assistant for Professor Vanessa Rollins, supported a series of cases dealing with breach of contracts and intellectual property (copyright, trademark, and patent) disputes. He received the highest scaled score (perfect) in the nation on the MPRE, the national legal ethics exams for attorneys, and later successfully passed the bar exam in Kansas in 2010 and Missouri in 2011. Kevin has been a member of the in the legal industry since 2005. He worked as a trial lawyer in association with the Williamson Law Firm, LLC in Kansas City, Missouri in 2011 and 2012 and successfully litigated dozens of cases for them, including the well known Power and Light race discrimination case, where he proudly helped to successfully end the required dress code which had a disparate effect on minority men, and black men in particular, from entering the new large and exciting Power and Light bar district.
Legal Work and Recognition
Kevin is nationally recognized as one of the top criminal defense trial lawyers in Kansas and Missouri. Early on in his career, he was the recipient of the American Association for Justice (AAJ)’s New Lawyer Division Excellence Award for 2012-2013, and served as one of two young lawyers directly involved in the AAJ, having been appointed to the New Lawyers Division Board of Governors for the state of Kansas, and was actively involved in the Special Projects Committee, the Public Service Committee, and the Board of Governors Committee, which selects the other Board of Governors from each state. In these roles he had a broad perspective on national and state trends in trial work and criminal defense representation.
Kevin was chosen to complete the selective Ross T. Roberts Trial Academy in 2012-2013. This nine-month course is sponsored by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and taught by senior federal and state judges, one of which is now a Missouri Supreme Court Justice. Kevin won his case during the high-profile final mock trial competition and won accolades from judges and attorneys alike for his adept jury trial skills and natural ability in the courtroom.
Kevin opened his solo litigation practice in early 2010. He represents clients and appears regularly in court in front of federal, county, and city judges at the Johnson County Courthouse, Wyandotte County Courthouse, Jackson County Courthouse, Platte County Courthouse, and Clay County Courthouse, and the United States District Courts for Kansas and the Western District of Missouri. He also regularly appears at the municipal courts for all the cities within these counties, especially that of Kansas City Missouri, Independence Missouri, Kansas City Kansas, and Overland Park Kansas. He fine tunes his skills and stays abreast of the new legal decisions and strategies by being a member of the a member of the Criminal Defense Committee for the Missouri Bar, and numerous professional organizations, such as the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the National College for DUI Defense. Additionally, Kevin stays abreast of legal academia affairs through his participation with his law school alma mater’s Alumni Board, after being elected by colleagues in 2016 to be a Board of Governor.
Many of Kevin’s cases are high profile as they are very serious matters, including murder, manslaughter, rape, and high level drug charges of trafficking. His cases have been covered by all major television networks, radio, and print across Kansas and Missouri, and he regularly appears on Kansas City tv news programs, including NBC and Univision, answering legal questions and giving legal updates and analysis. He has successfully handled thousands of cases, charges, and controversies across numerous legal disciplines in property, landlord/tenant, business, torts (personal injury), criminal and traffic law, and family and child custody matters. Kevin is a trial lawyer, and has always limited his practice to be that of exclusive trial work, handling only those matters that are already in, or approaching, court and in need of resolve, as that is where his inherent traits, learned skills, and acquired knowledge are best suited. While he still does a variety of cases, over the years, Kevin has narrowed his practice’s focus to primarily that of criminal matters, an area of law that he has discovered to be the most personally fulfilling, and one in which he has had also tremendous success on behalf of clients, accolades, and recognition for.
Some of the numerous accolades and honors he has received for his work in helping people in court, include: being recognized by Thomas-Reuters as a “Super Lawyer, Rising Star”, an honor bestowed on only the top 2.5% of attorneys under the age of 40 or less then 10 years of practice, as well as being listed as a “Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Criminal Defense” by The National Trial Lawyers Association. He was also named as one of the Top 3 Criminal Defense Lawyers in Kansas City by Three Best Rated.com in 2019 and 2020. The National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys has also named Kevin as one of the “Top 10 under 40 Criminal Defense Attorneys” in Kansas City, and Expertise.com continues to name his firm as one of the “Best 20 Criminal Defense Attorneys” in all of the Kansas City metro area. Kevin has received the highest rating of “Superb” and a perfect “10.0/10.0” on Martindal-Avvo’s Avvo.com, and is a 2018 recipient of their “Client’s Choice Award”, he has also received recognition as one of the “10 Best Attorneys for Client Satisfaction” from the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys, and he maintains a top rating by clients of 5 Star reviews across Google, Avvo, Yelp, Facebook, and other review sites.
Awards
- Thomas-Reuters, Super Lawyers Rising Star Super Lawyer for Kansas and Missouri 2016 – current
- National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys Top 10 Criminal Defense in Missouri, 2022 – current
- Three Best Rated.com, Top 3 Criminal Defense Lawyers in Kansas City, 2019 – current
- Attorney.com, Kansas City Top 10 Criminal Defense Attorney Award, 2020 – current
- Attorney and Practice Magazine – Top 10 Criminal Defense Attorney, 2020 – current
- Elite Lawyer, Criminal Defense Award, 2021 – current
- The Who’s Who Directories, Top Attorneys of North America, Presidents Circle 2019 – current
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers 2015 – current
- Martindale-Avvo, Avvo Lawyer Superb Rating (highest) 10.0/10.0 Top Attorney 2014 – current
- Martindale-Avvo, Avvo Client’s Choice Award 2018 – current
- Kev’s Best, www.kevsbest.com, 5 Best Drinking and Driving Attorneys in Kansas City, 2020 – current
- BloggerLocal.com – Kansas City, Top 10 Best DUI/DWI Attorney in Kansas City, 2017 – current
- Expertise.com, Best 15 Criminal Defense Attorneys in Kansas City, 2016 – current
- National League of Renowned Attorneys Top 1% Criminal Attorneys 2016 – current
- American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys 10 Best Attorneys for Client Satisfaction 2016 – current
- National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys Top 10 Under 40 2015 – 2021
- American Society of Legal Advocates Top 40 Under 40 Litigators 2015 – current
- American Association for Justice, NLD Excellence Award 2012-2013
- Business in the Midwest, www.businessinthemidwest.com, Top 10 Law Firms in Missouri, 2021 – current
- The Missouri Bar, Pro Bono Wall of Fame for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2020
Professional Memberships and Associations
- Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, member
- Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, member
- National College for DUI Defense, member
- Criminal Defense Committee, The Missouri Bar, member
- Ave Maria School of Law, Alumni Board of Directors, Board Member 2016-current
- American Association for Justice, New Lawyer Div., Board of Governor, 2013
- KCMBA, Ross T. Roberts Trial Academy Class of 2013, March 2010 – current
- Kansas Bar Association, Mock Trial Competitions, Judge, 2011 – current
- Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, former member
- Kansas Association for Justice, former member
Community Service
- North Kansas City Legal Clinic, Director, 2011 – current
- Turner High School, Kansas City, KS – Head Varsity Soccer Coach, 2014- 2015
- Jackson County, Missouri, Guardian ad-litem 2014 – current
- WDAF-TV Fox 4 News, Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association (KCMBA), ‘Ask-the-Lawyer’ Volunteer 2012-current
- Volunteer Judge, Mock Trial Competitions, Kansas and Missouri. 2011-current
Bar Admissions
- State of Missouri – Admitted April 2011
- State of Kansas – Admitted April 2010
.
