Maurice B. Graham

Maurice B. Graham is President of Gray Ritter Graham and concentrates his practice in the areas of complex business and commercial litigation and catastrophic injury and death cases. He is a frequent speaker and author in the areas of litigation and legal ethics.

Mr. Graham was educated at Central Methodist University and the University of Missouri, where he received both his B.A. and J.D. degree.

Following graduation from law school, Mr. Graham began his practice in the southeast Missouri town of Fredericktown with the Schnapp law firm.  Over his years in Southeast Missouri he had an extensive civil practice handling the defense of medical negligence lawsuits in Courts extending from the Arkansas line, northward to include Jefferson County.  Subsequently, Mr. Graham transitioned more into a plaintiff’s practice, which continued through the remainder of his career.

In southeast Missouri he served as the Prosecuting Attorney for Madison County and as the Special Prosecutor for Wayne County, during which time he handled everything from violations for hunting out of season to murder cases.

In 1995, Mr. Graham moved his practice to St. Louis, initially with the Padberg law firm, and subsequently establishing the Graham law firm. In 2000, the Graham law firm merged with Gray & Ritter to become Gray, Ritter & Graham.

He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the Fifth, Eighth and Ninth Circuits of the U.S. Court of Appeals, in addition to being admitted in the federal courts of Missouri. Mr. Graham has handled cases in federal and state courts throughout Missouri and in courts in Montana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. In 2013, he obtained the highest jury verdict ever received in a medical negligence wrongful death case in St. Louis County.

In 2022 the Supreme Court of Missouri announced it was changing the name of an award it presents annually to an attorney who has rendered extraordinary service to The Bar and to the Judiciary, and that hereafter this award shall be called the “Maurice B. Graham Award.”

Mr. Graham was a member of The Missouri Bar Board of Governors from 1980 through 1990 and President of The Missouri Bar in 1988-89. He has served on several Missouri Bar and Missouri Supreme Court task forces and committees, including co-chairing the Supreme Court Cameras in the Courtroom Task Force. He served as a member and chairman of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee, which oversees attorney discipline in Missouri.

Mr. Graham is a past president of the St. Louis Bar Foundation. He is a member of The Missouri Bar and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. He was a member of the ABA House of Delegates from 1990-1994. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, the American Association for Justice, and the American Trial Lawyers Association.

In 2015, Mr. Graham was appointed to a six-year term to the University of Missouri Board of Curators, serving as Chairman in 2017.  He received a Special Merit Citation from the American Judicature Society in 1989 and received a Citation of Merit from the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School in 1988. In 1992, Graham was honored by the University of Missouri with a Distinguished Alumni Award. He is active in University affairs, having served as President of the University of Missouri Law School Foundation, and a Trustee of the Jefferson Club. Mr. Graham served as Chairman of the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School’s $17 million endowment campaign.

Mr. Graham is the 2016 recipient of the Distinguished Lawyer Award from The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, and a 2020-2021 President’s Award recipient from the same organization. He is a 2014 recipient of the Missouri Lawyers Weekly “Mentor Award,” The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis’ “William L. Weiss Award” and the “Richard S. Arnold Award for Distinguished Service,” United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Mr. Graham received the 2010 Award of Honor from The Lawyers Association of St. Louis. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in the categories of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, and Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs.  He was named the Best Lawyers 2021 St. Louis Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs “Lawyer of the Year,”  Best Lawyers 2020 St. Louis Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs “Lawyer of the Year,” Best Lawyers 2019 St. Louis Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs “Lawyer of the Year,” Best Lawyers 2018 St. Louis Bet-the-Company Litigation “Lawyer of the Year,” the Best Lawyers 2016 St. Louis Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs “Lawyer of the Year,” the Best Lawyers 2015St. Louis Bet-the-Company Litigation “Lawyer of the Year,” the Best Lawyers 2013 St. Louis Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiffs “Lawyer of the Year,” and Best Lawyers 2009 St. Louis Bet-the-Company Litigation “Lawyer of the Year.”

He was named a POWER 30 Attorney for Personal Injury Law in 2020 and 2021 by Missouri Lawyers Weekly.

He has an AV Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, which is the highest given. He was voted as one of the top three in Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly’s “Missouri’s Best Survey” in the category of Best Litigator. Mr. Graham has been selected annually to Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers (among the top 5 percent of lawyers in Missouri and Kansas) since 2005, and repeatedly has been included in the “Top 10 Attorneys” in the region.

Mr. Graham received a Band 1 rating – the highest given – in the 2021 edition of Chambers and Partners, in the category of Litigation: Mainly Plaintiffs.

He received the Missouri Lawyers Weekly Lawyer of the Year Award 2001; The Missouri Bar President’s Award, 1991; Spurgeon-Smithson Award, 1994; Purcell Professionalism Award, 2000; and Pro Bono Award, 2000. He was the co-author of “Spoliation of Medical Records,” 52 J. Mo. Bar 87 (1996) (selected to receive the Oliver Rasch Award as the outstanding article of 1996); and “Hedonic Damages – Where are We?” 51 J. Mo. Bar 265 (1995).

In 2006, Mr. Graham was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Central Methodist University. He served as a member of the Board of Curators of Central Methodist University, Fayette, Missouri, and is a member of the Sheldon Arts Foundation Board in St. Louis, serving as Board Chairman from 2007-2010.

Mr. Graham has active outdoor interests, including skiing, and in 2013 he and his wife, Edna Mae, did a 245-mile bike ride across the state of Missouri.

Representative Cases