Baker Sterchi Kansas City attorneys Nick Ruble and Gregorio Silva graduated from the 2025 International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) Trial Academy, held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in early August. Baker Sterchi attorney Bob Christie, based in Seattle, also participated as a faculty member.
The IADC Trial Academy is a seven-day, intensive program in defense trial advocacy, combining small-group faculty instruction with hands-on trial exercises. Ruble and Silva join more than 4,300 attorneys who have completed the program since it began in 1973.
Ruble focuses his practice on employment and labor law. He serves on the steering committee of ALFA’s Labor & Employment Practice Group, is vice chair of Baker Sterchi’s Employment & Labor Practice Group and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, including its Greater Kansas City Chapter. He earned his law degree from the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law and is licensed in Missouri and Kansas.
Silva’s civil litigation practice serves clients in the financial services, transportation and propane industries. He co-chairs Baker Sterchi’s Financial Services Practice Group and serves on the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Silva is a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow alumnus, an LCLD City Lead for Kansas City, and a member of LCLD’s Alumni Leadership Symposium Committee. He earned his law degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law, and is admitted to practice in Missouri, Kansas, Alaska, Arizona, California and Nevada.
Christie is a trial lawyer with experience defending professionals, companies, government entities, law enforcement officers and individuals in complex cases in state and federal courts nationwide. He co-chairs Baker Sterchi’s Trial & Appellate Practice Group and serves as chair of the IADC’s Trial Techniques and Tactics Committee. Christie earned his law degree from Seattle University School of Law and is admitted in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, as well as in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Founded in 1920, the IADC supports approximately 2,500 invitation-only, peer-reviewed members, including corporate and insurance defense attorneys and insurance executives, and contributes to the civil justice system and the legal profession.
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