Richard L. "Rick" Schnake - Lawyer in Springfield, MO

Richard L. Schnake practices primarily in the areas of appeals, trademarks, and copyrights.

Rick has handled more than 250 cases in the state and federal appellate courts in some 60 substantive areas and has argued 16 before the Missouri Supreme Court. To date, nearly 100 lawyers from outside of his firm, in 19 Missouri counties, have referred cases to him to handle in the appellate courts. He has also handled more than 350 applications to register trademarks in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and handled trademark and copyright litigation in the courts and before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

The Supreme Court of Missouri appointed Rick as an original member of its Appellate Practice Committee, on which he still serves, in 2002. Before that, he served on the Court's Civil Rules Committees from 1989 to 2002. He is the author of Civil Rules Practice, Rules 85 to 88, 17A Missouri Practice (2d ed. 2012), published by Thomson Reuters, the nation's largest legal publisher. He has also written numerous articles on civil trial and appellate practice and regularly speaks at seminars sponsored by The Missouri Bar and others.

Rick is quite involved in the community. Since 1987, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Betty and Bobby Allison Ozarks Counseling Center, a nonprofit United Way agency that provides mental health services on a sliding-scale fee for those least able to afford them. Since 2017 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of The Arc of the Ozarks Foundation, which supports the activities The Arc of the Ozarks, an agency that supports individuals with disabilities by providing an array of supports and services to integrate them into their communities and to enhance the quality of their lives. He is also a past President and a member of the Board of Trustees of The Supreme Court of Missouri Historical Society, which plays a major role in preserving the history of the Supreme Court and of both the Missouri judicial system and legal profession by encouraging research into the records and memorabilia relating to the Supreme Court, promoting increased knowledge of the history of the judicial system, and preserving and enhancing the Supreme Court building and its contents.

Rick joined Neale Newman, L.L.P., a full-service civil practice law firm, in 1983 after serving as the law clerk to Judge Warren D. Welliver of the Supreme Court of Missouri. He became a partner in 1988.

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