Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Tax, Employee Benefits and Private Client

Senior Counsel - Corporate and Finance Transactions

John Readey has participated in several significant succession planning projects involving closely held entities. He also advises tax-exempt organizations on operational issues. He has experience in techniques involving lifetime gifts, generally at a discount, recapitalizations, retention of control and the use of charitable trusts and foundations, all in the context of achieving clients’ succession goals at minimal tax cost and maximum fulfillment of clients’ overall estate planning and charitable goals. Mr. Readey lectures frequently on estate and charitable planning topics for both legal and lay organizations and is very active in the community.

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT & HONORS St. Luke's Hospital Foundation Board Member – Chair, Major and Planned Gifts Committee; Executive Committee Kansas City Business Journal – "Best of the Bar" Listed in The Best Lawyers in America©, Trusts and Estates; Tax Law, 2023 UMKC Trustees – Member, Past Chairman Folly Theater – Past President The Pembroke Hill School – Past President, Board of Trustees, Distinguished Alumnus YouthNet of Greater Kansas City – Past Co-chair The River Club – Past Director and Secretary American Jazz Museum – Director, Governance Committee Past Chair; Past Vice-Chair Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey – Advisory Board Children’s Mercy Hospital – Planned Gifts Council, Past Chair PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS American College of Trust and Estate Counsel – Fellow Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association – Past Chair, Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Committee Missouri Bar – Probate and Trust Committee Estate Planning Society – Past Chair, Estate Planning Symposium Lawyers Association of Kansas City – Past President