Alan L Rupe

Practice Areas

- Labor & Employment

- National Trial Practice

- Complex Business & Commercial Litigation

- Wage & Hour Class Actions

- Professional Liability

Career

Alan Rupe is the managing partner of Lewis Brisbois’ Wichita, Kansas and Omaha, Nebraska offices. He is an equity partner. He is the Midwest Regional Vice Chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice group.

As one Jackson County, Missouri judge recently observed, “experience matters in becoming an effective trial lawyer.” Clients need experienced lawyers to represent them in critical litigation. Mr. Rupe is that lawyer, proving that hard work and trial experience produce outstanding results.

Mr. Rupe is consistently recognized for excellence by local, state, national, and international rankings and organizations, including Chambers USA (Band 1, Kansas Labor & Employment) and Best Lawyers. He is an “Advocate” member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an invitation-only role granted to trial attorneys who are of “high personal character and honorable reputation” with considerable jury trial experience. He has also been named “Board Certified Trial Specialist” by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

Mr. Rupe has tried in excess of 175 jury trials, defending notable cases such as his defense of a local governmental entity against a 12-plaintiff civil rights lawsuit – the National Law Journal recognized Rupe’s work as one of the defense verdicts of the year. He is known for a number of “firsts”: he defended one of the first school shooting cases in Kansas; tried the first Title VII jury trial in Kansas; and tried the first RICO case in a Kansas federal court. His years of experience defending businesses in employment, commercial, civil rights, and wage and hour class and collective actions cause employers to seek them out for representation in state and federal courts across the United States, from California to Maryland, from Minnesota to the Rio Grande Valley. Accustomed to often being the “lawyer from out of town,” he associates seamlessly with local counsel, skillfully and successfully demonstrating his courtroom skills and experience on behalf of his clients. Recently, the Wichita, Kansas Business Journal recognized him as an “Executive of the Year” for 2024.

Mr. Rupe’s best known work is on behalf of public-school children. He receives ongoing national attention for his successful representation of Kansas school districts, resulting in the greatest increase in funding of Kansas public education. Following years of trials and appeals, the Kansas Supreme Court ordered the State of Kansas to increase spending on public schools by nearly $1 billion each year, and by approximately $440 million in 2014 and 2015. He received the national Demetrio Rodriguez Champion of Educational Justice Award from Education Law Center, Inc. for “years of outstanding lawyering and lobbying and perseverance in the face of obstacles, including brash insults” for his work on these lawsuits.

Professional Memberships

- American Board of Trial Advocacy (“ABOTA”)

- Arkansas Bar Association

- Defense Research Institute (DRI Class Action Specialized Litigation Group)

- Fifth Circuit Bar Association

- International Association of Defense Counsel

- Kansas Bar Association (President to Chair, Employment Law Section (2018–2020))

- Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association

- Missouri Bar Association

- Oklahoma Bar Association

- Texas Bar Association

- Wichita Bar Association

Publications

- “Moving Forward: Missouri Supreme Court Issues New Jury Instructions Relating to Missouri Human Rights Act,” Missouri Bar Journal, 2019

- “Examining Damages In ADEA Retaliation Claims,” Law360, June 2017.

- “Gorsuch Would Lay McDonnell Douglas Test to Rest,” Law360, January 2017.

- “Using the Intricacies of ERISA for Litigation Success,” Law360, August 2016.

- “We’ll Tell You What to Include in Severance Agreements…and Then We’ll Sue You for It,” For the Defense, January 2015.

- “U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies the Plaintiff’s Burden of Proof in Title VII Retaliation Actions,” Kansas Bar Association, January 2014.

Experience

- Jackson County, Missouri: Obtained Summary Judgment on behalf of a non-profit against a wrongful termination lawsuit by the non-profit’s former CEO and recovered via counterclaim in excess of $280,000, as the result of the former CEO’s malfeasance.

- Defense verdict on behalf of an aviation-related client against allegations of discrimination under the Age Discrimination and Employment by a management level employee;

- Verdict for the defense and an award of costs to Rupe’s client, an aviation-related company, defending against claims of race discrimination and retaliation;

- Defense of a national hotel franchisee in a sex harassment suit in Maryland, resulting in a defense verdict for Rupe’s client. Plaintiff appealed to the Maryland Supreme Court, which ordered a new trial. Rupe tried the case again, and prevailed a second time;

- In a small rural Kansas courtroom with a jury of the plaintiff’s friends and neighbors, Rupe obtained a defense verdict for his physician client who was charged with tortious interference and breach of contract. Plaintiff received a verdict of more than $2 million against the co-defendants;

- In Texas, Rupe defended his client, a business which guaranteed asset protection waiver agreements for car dealerships and their consumers. Following an evidentiary hearing in the arbitration, Rupe obtained complete dismissal for the Lewis Brisbois client;

- In California, Rupe successfully prosecuted his client’s claims against a competitor who acquired the client’s trade secrets, proprietary, and confidential information. The case was successfully resolved following the competitor’s payment of a substantial amount to his client.

Education

Awards