Attorneys

Rachel E. Schwartz was born in Morton Grove, Illinois and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. In 1998, Rachel received her B.A. with honors in Political Science, Economics and American Studies from the University of Kansas, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board. While at KU, Rachel was an elected Student Senator for three years, received the Chancellor's Alexis F. Dillard Student Involvement Award and was selected as the University of Kansas' Outstanding Greek Senior in 1998. In 2001, Rachel obtained her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served on the University of Michigan Journal of Law Review.

After graduating from law school, Rachel began her legal career in the Dallas, Texas office of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP on the complex litigation trial team, specializing in antitrust, securities, RICO and other business litigation. In 2004, Rachel joined Stueve Siegel Hanson, LLP. In July 2008, Rachel was elected to the Firm's partnership as an equity partner.

Rachel is a member of the Lawyers' Association of Kansas City and the Texas Bar Association. She has a Life Membership in the University of Kansas Alumni Association. Since 2007, Rachel has served on the Board of Directors of DEBATE Kansas City, an organization dedicated to providing debate opportunities to schools located in Kansas City's urban core.

LITIGATION EXPERIENCE

Rachel has successfully represented a variety of clients in complex civil matters at both the district court and appellate levels. She has both defended and prosecuted claims in the areas of Antitrust, RICO, Business Torts, Employment Law, Intellectual Property and Contract Disputes. Rachel is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Kansas, Missouri and Texas, as well as before the United Stated Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

From 2004 to the present, Rachel has successfully prosecuted software licensing, trademark and copyright cases on behalf of a Kansas City software company against multiple, national securities firms. These defendants provided access to the client's proprietary software to thousands of financial advisors across the country, in violation of the client's software license and intellectual property rights.

In 2005, Rachel successfully appealed a decision by the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri granting summary judgment in an employment retaliation lawsuit. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed the District Court and remanded the lawsuit back for further proceedings.

Rachel recently completed the prosecution of a groundbreaking Sherman Act Section 1 antitrust lawsuit on behalf of Heartland Surgical Specialty Hospital, a physician-owned acute care hospital in Kansas. Heartland claimed that the dominant hospital systems in the Kansas City metropolitan area conspired among themselves and with the dominant managed care organizations in the region to prevent Heartland from obtaining in-network managed care contracts. Heartland also alleged that the defendants tortiously interfered with Heartland's ability to obtain these managed care contracts. Following three years of intense litigation, including nearly 100 depositions and the exchange of over 2 million pages of documents, Heartland settled with all defendants.

Rachel is currently representing Seaboard Corporation, Seaboard Overseas Limited and Seaboard Overseas Trading and Shipping (Proprietary) Limited (collectively Seaboard) against Grindrod Limited, the largest logistics and shipping company in South Africa, and related entities. This lawsuit alleges that Grindrod implemented a conspiracy using improperly-obtained confidential information to raid Seaboard of key employees and force the transfer of Seaboard's highly profitable overseas trading and shipping business for a price far below fair market value.

Throughout this litigation, Grindrod has attempted multiple times to transfer this lawsuit out of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri. SSH successful fought Grindrod's attempt to remove this litigation to federal court. Grindrod has also attempted to compel arbitration in New York. The Circuit Court of Jackson County denied this motion to compel arbitration and the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District affirmed this denial in a unanimous decision in January 2008. The Supreme Court of Missouri ultimately denied Grindrod's application to transfer and Grindrod now has filed a Writ of Certiorari with the United States Supreme Court.