Schwartz, Rachel E.

Rachel E. Schwartz was born in Illinois and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. 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. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was an Associate Editor of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. After practicing law in Dallas for three years, Rachel joined Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP in 2004 and was elected to the Firm's partnership as an equity partner in 2008.

Rachel has significant litigation experience in courts across the country.  Rachel's practice focuses on antitrust and securities litigation, where she represents clients in state and federal courts and in arbitration.  As a result of her work, Rachel was recently named as one of twenty-three "Local Litigation Stars" for the State of Missouri by Benchmark Plaintiffs. Rachel was also recognized by her peers in Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in 2011.

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. Rachel currently serves as the CLE Committee Co-Chair for the Federal Courts Advocates Section.  She is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, the Lawyers' Association of Kansas City, the American Bar Association and the Texas Bar Association. Rachel has a Life Membership in the University of Kansas Alumni Association. 

LITIGATION EXPERIENCE

Rachel has successfully represented a variety of clients in complex civil matters at both the district court and appellate levels involving antitrust, securities, tort, intellectual property and contract claims. Rachel is admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Kansas, Missouri and Texas (currently inactive), as well as before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second and Eighth Circuits and the United States Supreme Court.

The following cases are illustrative examples of Rachel's litigation experience: 

Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., et al. v. United Egg Producers, et al. - Rachel represents Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., and local grocery stores in an antitrust lawsuit against twenty egg producers and egg industry trade groups for artificial inflation of egg prices.  The lawsuit alleges that defendants engaged in a conspiracy designed to increase the price for eggs in violation of the Kansas Restraint of Trade Act. This litigation is currently pending in the District Court of Wyandotte County, Kansas.  In March 2012, Rachel successfully argued against the eleven motions to dismiss filed by defendants.  Discovery in this litigation is currently underway and trial is anticipated in 2014.

Seaboard Corporation v. Marsh Inc. et al. Rachel currently represents Seaboard Corporation in litigation filed in the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas involving anticompetitive bid-rigging conduct between Seaboard's insurance broker and insurance companies.  In 2010, Rachel successfully argued against the motion to dismiss filed by defendants, which was denied in its entirety.  This lawsuit is currently on appeal before the Kansas Supreme Court.

Auction Rate Securities Litigation (Securities Litigation) Rachel prosecuted multiple federal class action lawsuits brought against sellers of so called auction rate securities or ARS. The cases alleged that the broker-dealers involved in the sale of ARS materially misrepresented the liquidity and risks of the securities to individual investors and corporations by labeling these securities as cash equivalents in press releases, monthly account statements, individual communications with investors, and other investment guidance material. The claims alleged that the promised liquidity of the auction rate securities was created through artificial intervention in the auctions by the broker-dealers. The litigation was initiated when the market for auction rate securities collapsed in February 2008 when all of the major broker-dealers announced that they would no longer purchase auction rate securities for their own accounts to ensure that the securities would remain liquid. Rachel continues to prosecute a FINRA arbitration involving the sale of ARS to a Kansas company.

Seaboard Corporation et al. v. Grindrod Limited et al. Rachel successfully represented 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. Plaintiffs alleged multiple causes of action, including fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, misappropriation of corporate opportunities, tortious interference and civil conspiracy, based upon actions taken by one of Seaboard's former officers and directors, who attempted to raid Seaboard of its key employees and force the transfer of Seaboard's highly profitable overseas trading and shipping business for a price far below fair market value. Plaintiffs intended to seek more than $100 million at trial in actual and punitive damages. Approximately six weeks before a three week jury trial was to begin in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, Stueve Siegel Hanson settled this lawsuit. Discovery in this lawsuit spanned multiple continents, including two full weeks of depositions in South Africa.

Heartland Surgical Specialty Hospital LLC v. Midwest Division, Inc. Rachel 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. This lawsuit settled in February 2008. The case was reported in Modern Healthcare and The National Law Journal as well as other leading health care and legal publications and was followed closely by national health care and antitrust experts. 

From 2004 to 2009, Rachel successfully prosecuted multiple software licensing, trademark and copyright cases on behalf of Overlap, Inc., 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.

PROFESSIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL HISTORY

Rachel is a Lawrence High School graduate. In 1998, she 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 was an Associate Editor for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform.

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 and was elected to the Firm's partnership as an equity partner in 2008.

Professional Presentations

Predictive Coding Technology: The Benefits and Pitfalls of this Hotly Debated E-Discovery Review Tool, Panel Member for LAKC's CLE in June 2012.