Dennis Kennedy

My friend, biotech guru, occasional bicycling buddy, rock climbing teacher and patent lawyer, Kevin Buckley made the St. Louis Business Journal's list of 40 under 40 announced last week. He certainly deserves the recognition and it's an honor to be one of the people quoted in the article about Kevin.

As I told Kevin when he told me about this a few weeks ago, I know I'm more excited about this than Kevin is - I really like to see my friends do well and get some attention.

Kevin cares about people and he cares about biotech. It's rare to see a lawyer with Kevin's enthusiasm and passion about both the subject matter of the area of the law and the people involved in it.

If, in fifty years, someone writes a book on the history of the biotech industry in St. Louis, there will definitely be a chapter on Kevin. In it, Kevin will (1) consistently point to everyone other than himself for their efforts and (2) keep emphasizing that the best is yet to come. In it, other people will point to all the things Kevin has done, most of it behind the scenes, to put together people and make the industry happen.

Once Kevin has a little time to celebrate, I'll go back to twisting his arm to start a blog.

As an aside, I've always said that a key question to ask any lawyer is, "What do you like about practicing law?" The best lawyers I've known invariably say something about liking to help people. Note Kevin's quote in the article:

"There's this huge disconnect between research and providing a final product to sell," he said. "That's really where I want to target my practice, and really where I want to help entrepreneurs."