Hon. Larry D. Harman (Ret.)

Larry D. Harman was admitted to the Missouri Bar in September of 1978.  He engaged immediately as an assistant Public Defender and maintained a private practice for several years.

 He served as the City Attorney for Smithville, Mo; Lathrop, Mo.; and Prosecutor for Liberty, Missouri.  He served as the Municipal Judge of Claycomo, Mo.  He also was counsel to the Lathrop RII School District and the Lathrop Senior Citizens Housing Authority.

He was the Clay County Prosecuting Attorney in the early 1980’s and served as a Special Assistant Missouri Attorney General.

Harman was appointed as Circuit Judge for the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Missouri in 1992 and served as a trial judge for 26 years and 4 months, retiring in December of 2018.

During his time on the bench, he tried hundreds of jury trials to verdict and handled thousands of bench trials.  While having general jurisdiction, he principally handled complex civil litigation, including mass casualties, train crashes, semi- tractor wrecks, medical negligence, contracts, construction issues and employment and discrimination cases.  He was assigned 100 percent of the Probate and Trust docket for 26 years and tried hundreds of contested Trust litigation and Estate cases.  

Harman has conducted hundreds of pre-trial case management conferences leading to settlements, thereby eliminating the expense and uncertainty of a trial

Judge Harman was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court in over 400 special judge assignments to preside over trials in 17 other Missouri counties. The Missouri Supreme Court appointed Judge Harman to the Missouri Trial Judge Education Committee where he served both as a curriculum advisor and a presenter for all Missouri trial judges for over a decade.  For several years he was the chair of the annual New Judge Orientation Training session.

He was selected and served as a Special Judge for both the Missouri Supreme Court and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District. He was “publicly nominated” to be a permanent member of the Missouri Supreme Court in 2016.

Harman attended judicial training sessions sponsored by the Brookings Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, the Brooklyn, N.Y.  Law School, the National Judicial Colleges in Oxford, Mississippi and Reno, Nevada.

Harman was elected by his peers to be President of the Missouri Circuit Judges’ Section for the Missouri Judicial Conference. He was one of four Missouri Judicial Delegates to the ABA.  He was an appointed member of the Missouri Legislative Steering Committee.

Since retirement from the bench, Harman has maintained a successful mediation practice involving hundreds of litigants.  In addition, the American Arbitration Association has appointed Harman to be a panelist arbitrator.

• William Jewell College (1975) B.A. Political Science
• University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law (1978) Juris Doctorate
• National Judicial College - Reno, Nevada
• National Judicial College - Oxford, Mississippi
• The Brookings Institute & American Enterprise Institute attendee - “Economics and the Law”
• Missouri Judicial Trial Colleges (1992-2018)

• Missouri Bar Association
• Clay County Bar Association
• Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association
• Missouri Judicial Conference
• Missouri Circuit Judges Section (former President)
• Judicial Delegate to the American Bar Association (former)
• Past member of Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges
• Past member of Missouri Legislative Steering Committee
• Past member of the National Judicature Society
• Former member of Missouri Trial Judge Education Committee
• CLE presenter - for Missouri Judicial Conference
• CLE presenter - for Missouri Bar Annual Meetings
• CLE presenter - State of Missouri Trial Judge Education Colleges
• CLE presenter - Missouri School of Law
• CLE presenter - Missouri New Judge Orientation (former Chairperson)
• CLE presenter - Clay County Bar Association
• CLE presenter - Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association

$400.00 PER HOUR