Jerome Schlichter

Jerry is founding and managing partner of Schlichter Bogard. His expertise and national leadership in complex litigation, including in financial and railroad cases, has been recognized by numerous publications, courts, and commentators throughout the country.

Jerry has been designated legal counsel for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers for many years and is currently designated legal counsel for the United Transportation Union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He has represented railroad workers in trials in many states and has had record-setting jury verdicts in numerous jurisdictions. Throughout his career, he has also handled major precedent-setting class action and mass tort cases on behalf of individuals.

Jerry has been featured in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, USA Today, and the The Wall Street Journal, for his and the firm’s success in pioneering claims of excessive fees in defined contribution plans, obtaining precedent-setting results involving claims of excessive fees against large employers, and for the reduction in fees his cases have caused throughout the retirement industry. He’s been called “The Lone Ranger of the 401(k)” by The New York Times, “public enemy no. 1 for 401(k) profiteers” by Investment News, and “the industry’s most feared attorney” by Chief Investment Officer.

Jerry is a past national President of the Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys and is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates. He has authored articles in the field of personal injury litigation and has spoken at numerous seminars on trial techniques, mass torts, class actions, and complex litigation. He has taught trial techniques as an adjunct professor at Washington University School of Law.

Jerry has received numerous awards, such as the Levee Stone Award and the “What’s Right with the Region Award” for his contributions to revitalization of the city of St. Louis and the state of Missouri. In 2013, Jerry was honored with the St. Louis Award, given to the person who has accomplished the most in the prior years for the development of St. Louis. In 2019, he and his wife received the Harris Award from Washington University in St. Louis for their contributions to the St. Louis region.

Jerry has also been recognized for his involvement in community initiatives. He and his wife founded Mentor St. Louis, Inc., a not-for-profit organization which obtains adult mentors for disadvantaged elementary students in the St. Louis Public Schools, which became the largest volunteer program in the St. Louis Public Schools and has been nationally recognized. He also successfully initiated and spearheaded the passage of a law, “The Missouri State Historic Tax Credit,” which has been widely acknowledged for its role in revitalizing St. Louis and the State of Missouri, and which is the national model for legislation aimed at revitalizing older communities. He has also spearheaded and led the effort to pass the Missouri “Rebuilding Communities Act” designed to attract businesses to distressed communities and the “Neighborhood Preservation Act” to develop housing in distressed communities.

Additionally, Jerry spearheaded the founding and development of another St. Louis nonprofit, Arch Grants, which is a global competition for startup businesses in which winning entrepreneurs come to St. Louis, receive $50,000 grants and a broad package of support services including business mentoring, discounts on office space, and free legal, accounting, and marketing services. Arch Grants has provided grants of $50,000 or more to well over 100 startups since its founding in 2012, and has been the subject of numerous national articles describing its building of entrepreneurial businesses in St. Louis.