Home > People > Crystal Kennedy

Crystal Kennedy

Partner

St. Louis
314 552 6168 314 552 6168 direct

OVERVIEW
INSIGHTS
NEWS & EVENTS
RELATED INFORMATION

INDUSTRIES

Financial Services

PRACTICES

Education
- University of Iowa College of Law,
  
  J.D., with distinction
- Dordt University,
  
  B.A., Business Administration
Admissions
- Missouri
- Illinois
Affiliations
- American Bar Association
  
  Section of Environment, Energy and Resources (SEER)
  
  Tort and Insurance Practice Section
- Illinois State Bar Association
  
  Section on Environmental Law
- The Missouri Bar
  
  Environmental & Energy Law Committee
- The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
  
  Environmental and Conservation Law Committee
  
  Co-Chair, 2004-2006
- Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) of St. Louis
  
  Immediate Past President, 2005
  
  President, 2004
  
  President-Elect, 2003
  
  National Delegate, 2002
  
  Director of Community Services, 1999-2001
- Missouri Growth Association (MGA)
  
  Board of Directors, 2005
Representative Clients
- Alter Trading Corporation
- Bunzl USA, Inc.
- CKE Restaurants, Inc.
- CRG Services, LLC
- GATX Capital Corporation
- Guggenheim Partners Investment Management, LLC
- Kansas City Southern Railway Company
- McBride Homes
- McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc.
- Mercy Health
- US Bank National Association
- US Bancorp Community Development Corporation
Recognitions
- Named a Top 10 Influential Environmental Lawyer, 2023 (by Business Today)
- Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Environmental Law, 2018-2025 (by BL Rankings)
  
  Named Lawyer of the Year for Environmental Law by The Best Lawyers in America (by BL Rankings), 2023
- Listed in "Chambers USA" for Environment in Missouri; St. Louis & Surrounds, 2018-2024 (by Chambers & Partners)
- Listed in "Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers," 2010-2019 (by Thomson Reuters)
  
  Environmental Law, 2010-Present
  
  Top 50 Women in Missouri and Kansas, 2011-2012
- Inductee, 2017 Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame (Midwest Real Estate News)
Employment
- Thompson Coburn LLP
  
  1987-Present
Community
- American Heart Association of Missouri
  
  Executive Leadership Team, Go Red for Women, 2011-2012
  
  Heart Walk Corporate Team Captain, 2003-2014
  
  2004 Top Walker, St. Louis Metropolitan Region
- Safe Connections
  
  Chair, Board of Directors, 2012-2014, 2015-2016
  
  Vice Chair, Board of Directors, 2010-2011
  
  Member, Board of Directors, 2009-2016
  
  Golf Outing Volunteer Coordinator, 2002-2009
  
  Chair, CREW/Safe Connections Golf Outing, 1997-2002
- Humane Society of Missouri
  
  Associate Member

Crystal has 30+ years of national environmental experience and leads the transactional area of the Firm's environmental practice.

She listens to her clients to understand their needs and objectives and provides practical advice to achieve them, often in the face of complex factual and legal issues. In corporate and real estate transactions, she assists clients with environmental due diligence, risk analysis, contract negotiations, and use of environmental insurance, voluntary cleanup programs, indemnities, escrows and other methods to manage environmental risk. She also advises developers of industrial, commercial and residential properties on environmental matters, including Brownfield redevelopment projects.

In the financial services area, she assists banks and other financing entities with pre-loan due diligence to identify businesses and properties posing significant environmental risk in terms of cleanup liability, ability to repay and impact on collateral value. She also advises lenders on the requirements for and application of environmental liability exemptions under federal and state law in the contexts of loan origination, workout and foreclosure.

Crystal is a leader of legal, business and civic organizations. She is a former President of Commercial Real Estate Women of St. Louis (CREW-St. Louis), a former Co-Chair of the Environmental and Conservation Law Committee of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Missouri Growth Association (MGA). She served for several years on the Steering Committee of the Firm's Women's Initiative. She also served two terms as Chair of the Board of Directors of Safe Connections, a United Way Agency dedicated to reducing the incidence and impact of sexual assault and relationship violence.

Thompson Coburn Publications

5 tips for environmental due diligence in business transactions March 2, 2017

Missouri Supreme Court resets the rules for collecting leaking underground storage tank cleanup costs in litigation November 17, 2016

Publications

“Environmental Issues Impacting the Buying, Selling and Leasing of Real Estate";
Missouri Real Estate Practice, MoBar 2000, 2002, 2006

"Environmental Issues Impacting the Buying, Selling, and Leasing of Real Estate";
Environmental Issues and Federal Regulations Affecting Real Estate, MoBar 2011

Presentations

"Environmental Due Diligence Considerations"
presented to American Industrial Hygiene Association - St. Louis Section, May 2018

"Environmental Due Diligence";
Real Property and Environmental & Conservation Law Committees of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, March 12, 2013

"Environmental Issues in Real Estate Transactions";
Annual Real Estate Institute, sponsored by the Missouri Bar Association, May 2006