"Kirksey has already made his mark filing and winning intricate, 'creative' plaintiffs' cases." — Missouri Lawyers Weekly
"Kirksey made the front page of The Wall Street Journal early in his career..." — Missouri Lawyers Weekly
"Lawsuit alleges misuse of power." "Her attorney....Jay Kirksey of Bolivar..." "Kirksey said his client wasn't suing the Family Services office because "their policies, by themselves, are probably no problem." It was the individual workers, Kirksey said, who crossed the line." — Springfield News Leader
"Mother of boy missing in woods files lawsuit." "The Barry County prosecutor defamed her by calling her a suspect, she says." "Jay Kirksey, a Bolivar.....attorney representing Coffey,..." — Springfield News Leader
"Workers' Religious Beliefs May Get New Attention" "Wal-Mart has agreed to a ground-breaking settlement of a religious-discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee who said the chain forced him to quit in 1993 after refusing to work on his Sabbath." "Mr. Hamby's lawyer, Jay Kirksey, Bolivar, MO, says that in the Wal-Mart case, there was evidence..." — The Wall Street Journal
"A lawyer for the little guys" "Jay Kirksey, 34, has been racking up an impressive resume in civil cases."
"This has been Jay Kirksey's summer:
First, the attorney from Bolivar sued two Division of Family Services workers and a juvenile officer in Springfield on behalf of a woman with epilepsy who had her son taken away by the state.
Next, he sued the Barry County prosecutor for Johnny Coffey, mother of Josh Carlisle, the boy with Down syndrome who was lost in the woods near Cassville in March 1996.
And then Kirksey was hired by a southwest Springfield church to sue the city and the owners of Remington's, a huge country-western nightclub now under construction.
In the local legal world, where criminal-defense lawyers usually get the lion's share of media attention, civil attorney Jay Kirksey is fast becoming a standout. But his "overnight success" has been more than seven years in the making.
Kirksey used to be with Woolsey, Fisher, the once-mighty Springfield firm that dissolved a couple of years ago. While there, Kirksey worked on cases against Remington, the weapons manufacturer.
"They had a bolt-action rifle, Model 700, that had a slight problem," Kirksey says. " The gun would actually fire without someone actually touching the trigger."
The lawsuit took Kirksey to far-flung places; he recalls a five-week trial in Alaska, in November 1990, where he walked away with a $1.1 million dollar award. "That," Kirksey says, "was a blast."
"Jay's an honorable fellow," says Ransom Ellis, III, who has been Kirksey's opponent in several employment cases. "He's all right."
Kirksey attributes his emerging public success to his life growing up as a coach's son. "I loved the competition," he says. "And law is some of the best competition that you'll ever have. The two nice things about it - you determine your own destiny by how good you are and how hard you work."
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- A 1995 settlement with Wal-Mart. The retail giant had forced a worker with deep religious beliefs to work on Sunday. The worker objected. Wal-Mart stood firm. Kirksey sued and won a settlement, which included an undisclosed payment to the worker.
- A 1996 pending lawsuit against Dr. Robert Coxcia, trauma medical director of St. John's Regional Health Center. Kirksey sued on behalf of Coscia's office manager, who said the doctor made female workers massage his back, neck and shoulders while he read lingerie catalogs.
- Another 1996 suit against the city of Springfield, in which a City Utilities worker said he was fired because he spoke out against City Utilities and its plan to lease a fiber-optics network. Alan Simpson won a settlement. In each of these cases, Kirksey says, it's "the little guy vs. the big guy. It's nonsensical things that should not happen. Sex advances being made to women by their employers. Discrimination in the workplace. Rules not followed by state or city officials, or city and state officials exercising their power inappropriately. These are all things that need to be rectified on behalf of the general public."
His friends kid him about sounding like a Democrat. His inner critic says he's starting to sound hokey.
No matter.
"It's hokey but true," he says. "God has given me talents every day I hope to use to the best of my ability."
— Springfield News Leader