Joseph R. Soraghan

Joe Soraghan practices in legal matters pertaining to business operations and growth. He guides businesses in financing, contracts, acquisitions/mergers and sales, resolving disputes, and assists clients in offering securities and in complying with state and U.S. securities laws.

Joe assists entrepreneurs and others to legally raise funds for, and structure, their businesses. He is a Missouri crowdfunding attorney who has studied its development, step-by-step. Joe has long represented such businesses before the federal and Missouri courts and securities commissions on the issues which will continue to arise in crowdfunding situations.

In addition to business law, Joe is an experienced litigator and arbitrator. He serves on the mediation and arbitration panels of the American Arbitration Association and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, as an arbitrator for the National Futures Association, and as a mediator for the local federal and state courts.

In more traditional litigation approaches, he has tried and argued cases before Missouri and federal trial and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of Missouri. He is a member of these courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Small Business Association honored Joe with the Financial Services Champion, Region VII award in 2005. St. Louis Small Business Monthly selected him as a 2009 Top St. Louis Entrepreneurial Lawyer and as one of the 2011 “100 St. Louisans You Should Know.” Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuter’s rating service, named Joe to its list as one of the top attorneys in Missouri in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

After law school, Joe served in the U.S. Navy aboard submarines. A reserve officer for 20+ years following active duty, he served as commanding officer of six reserve commands.

PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• Presenter and panel member on topics including entrepreneurship and small business concerns for: The Missouri Bar, Lorman Education Services, Public Investors Arbitration Association, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, and St. Louis IT Entrepreneur Network.
• TV guest: “Missouri Venture Forum and Its Service to the Entrepreneur Community,” Business Roundtable, Lindenwood University Television.
• Adjunct professor of securities law, Washington University School of Law.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

• Children’s Home Society of Missouri, former director and secretary
• Gateway Venture Mentoring Service, mentor
• Information Technology Entrepreneur Network (ITEN), mentor
• National Senior Games Association, former director and treasurer
• Navy League of the U.S., St. Louis chapter: general counsel, former president and secretary

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Mediation & Arbitration
• Business Advisory
  • Raising Capital
• Litigation
• Securities

• Banks & Financial Institutions
• Business Organizations
• Start-ups & Emerging Business

• LL.M., Yale University School of Law (1966)
• J.D., with honors, Order of the Coif, Washington University School of Law (1965)
• B.S., mechanical engineering, with honors, Purdue University (1962)

• Missouri
• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri

• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, mediator and arbitrator
• American Arbitration Association, mediator and arbitrator
• Association of Attorney-Mediators, St. Louis chapter
• Mediator for St. Louis federal and state courts

• Missouri Securities Advisory Commission, former member
• The Missouri Bar
• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, former vice president, treasurer, secretary, section and committee chair
• Lawyers Association of St. Louis
• Missouri Venture Forum: founding director, secretary, and former president; Executive, Governance, and Education Committees
• Association for Corporate Growth, St. Louis

• Financial Services Champion, Region VII award, U.S. Small Business Association, 2005
• 2009 Top St. Louis Entrepreneurial Lawyer, Small Business Monthly
• 2011 “100 St. Louisans You Should Know” honoree, Small Business Monthly
• Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyer, 2010 – 2012
• AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell

• Joe Soraghan Discusses the Overstatement of Crypto's Demise

  Joe Soraghan discusses the overstatement of the demise of crypto in the February 2023 issue of the St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Read more »
• Joe Soraghan: Securities Law and Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets

  Joe Soraghan discusses securities law and cryptocurrency and digital assets in the August 2022 issue of the St. Louis Small Business Monthly. Read more »
• Joe Soraghan Discusses Recent SEC Amendments Making Raising Funds Easier for Entrepreneurs in SBM

  Read more »
• Mike McKitrick Named as “St. Louisan to Know”

  Michael J. McKitrick has been named one of the 2014... Read more »
• Danna McKitrick Attorneys Again Selected to Missouri Super Lawyers Lists

  Attorneys Joseph R. Soraghan and Jeffrey R. Schmitt have been... Read more »
• Soraghan and Schmitt Named to Super Lawyers and Rising Stars

  Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers & Rising Stars 2011 has... Read more »
• Joe Soraghan Named One of the St. Louisans to Know

  One of Danna McKitrick's own, Joe Soraghan, has been named in St. Louis Small Business Monthly's "100 St. Louisans to Know to Succeed in Business – 2011". Read more »
• Danna McKitrick Attorney Makes 2010 Missouri Super Lawyers List

  St. Louis, MO – Dec. 15, 2010 – Attorney Joseph R. Soraghan has been named by Super Lawyers magazine as one of the top attorneys in Missouri for 2010. Read more »
• Joseph Soraghan Named One of the Top St. Louis Entrepreneurial Lawyers

  St. Louis Small Business Monthly recognized several local attorneys as "Top St. Louis Lawyers" in the February 2009 issue. Read more »
• Joseph Soraghan New President of Missouri Venture Forum

  St. Louis, MO – Members of the Missouri Venture Forum welcome Joseph Soraghan Read more »