Derek Potts

Biography
Derek Potts was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Education
Potts attended William Jewell College where he was a member of Lambda Chi Aplha Fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta and Mortar Board. He graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in History.

He went on to attend law school at the University of Missouri–Kansas City where he made the Dean's List, was a member of National Appellate Advocacy Team, and a recipient of Judge Conrad B. Duberstein Appellate Advocacy Award.

Early Career
He began as an intern with the Wyandotte County, Kansas District Attorney's office. By the age of 23 he was prosecuting crime cases in court, including being the 2nd chair prosecutor in the 1st degree murder trial of Kansas City, Kansas police officer John Cheek.

He joined Brown and James, P.C. as an Associate Attorney in 1997, where the focus was on large corporations and insurance companies. Following his years as a corporate defense lawyer he began working at a plantiff's law firm Dr. Samuel K. Cullan and Associations. It was here he was trying cases involving injured children.

Present Career
Wanting to focus on victims of negligence and fraud, Derek Potts established Potts Law Firm, LLP in 2002, in Kansas City, Missouri. The firm has since grown and has office in Houston, Texas, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Potts is presently serving as the appointed co-lead plaintiffs’ counsel in the In Re Mentor Corp. ObTape Transobturator Sling Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2004), which is in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia as well as litigation taking place in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against pelvic mesh manufacturers American Medical Systems, Inc. (MDL No. 2325), Boston Scientific Corp. (MDL No. 2326), C.R. Bard, Inc. (MDL No. 2187), and Ethicon, Inc. (MDL No. 2327).

Licenses
Potts hold licenses in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and New York

Awards

 * Best Lawyers in America, 2012, 2013
 * UMKC School of Law Litigation Advisory Committee, 2008-Present
 * Best of the Bar, Kansas City Business Journal, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011
 * Super Lawyers Kansas/ Missouri 2008-2012
 * Super Lawyers Top 100 Kansas / Missouri 2011,2012
 * Super Lawyers Top 50 Kansas City, 2011
 * The National Trial Lawyers, Top 100 Trial Lawyers, 2011
 * Thomas J. Conway Young Trial Lawyers' Award, KCMBA, 2008
 * Martindale Hubbell AV Rating, 2006- Present
 * Up and Coming Lawyers under 40, Missouri Lawyers Weekly, 2002

Memberships and Associations

 * American Association For Justice (AAJ/ATLA), 1995-Present
 * AAJ Board of Governors for New Lawyers, 2001-2004
 * AAJ Alloderm Litigation Group
 * AAJ Nursing Home Litigation Group
 * AAJ Kugel Mesh Litigation Group
 * AAJ Pain Pump Litigation Group
 * Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, 2001-Present
 * Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys Board of Governors, 2009-Present
 * Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, 2000-Present
 * Kansas Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors, 2003-Present
 * Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association
 * Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, 1999-Present
 * UMKC School of Law’s Litigation Advisory Committee, 2008- Present
 * Missouri Bar Professionalism Committee