Derek H. MacKay

Derek MacKay joined Knight Nicastro in 2018, and less than a year later, he was a name partner. He is now one of the owners of Knight Nicastro MacKay, which has seven offices across the country. Derek defends a wide variety of cases, with a particular emphasis on personal injury, legal malpractice, and commercial general liability issues. Derek has a specialty in bet-the-company litigation, many of which were high-profile cases with significant national media attention. He has not only continually reduced his clients' extra-contractual liability exposure but has become increasingly sought out to step in at the 11th hour to assist in keeping liability and exposure to a minimum.

Representative CasesWaterpark Industry - Represented a large waterpark in Kansas City that involved national media coverage due to a fatality of a patron on one of the waterpark rides. Able to resolve the matter within four months of the date of the incident. Hotel Industry - Represented a national hotel where an individual was shot by a security guard, that was an off-duty police officer.Restaurant Industry - Represented a well-known and successful Plaza restaurant that exploded due to a gas leak.Firearm Industry - Represented a firearm dealer who was sued after a pistol was used in a shooting of a family member. The case involved federal issues and was argued in front of the Missouri Supreme Court. Mining Industry - Obtained a very favorable trial result for a large mining company that was sued for wrongful death.Derek defends each case aggressively with an eye toward trying cases that cannot be resolved. Starting in 2009, and every year since, Super Lawyers has honored him as a Rising Star, an honor reserved for 2.5% of lawyers under the age of 40. He was also honored in 2020 by Missouri Lawyers Weekly as an up-and-coming Law Firm Leader - an award recognizing early-career professionals who hold an essential leadership position at their firm.