the chapman legacy
Lewis A. Chapman, the firm's founder, arrived in Livingston County in 1855 and opened his law practice soon after receiving his law license in 1870. Two of his sons, Nolan and Don, also became lawyers, graduating from the University of Missouri Law School. Nolan joined the firm in 1913; Don joined in 1918 after serving in the U.S. Army in France during World War I. The next generation continued the tradition: Nolan's son, Nolan Jr., graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School in 1949 and returned to Chillicothe to join the firm, and Don's son, Don Jr., joined after serving two years in the U.S. Army. A fourth generation followed in 1991, when Don Jr.'s son, Thomas (Tom) N. Chapman, joined the firm. Callaway Chapman, daughter of Tom, is currently a law student at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri. Should she choose to return home to practice, Callaway would extend the Chapman legacy to a fifth generation at the firm.
the chapman, cowherd, turner & tschannen era
Robert Cowherd joined the firm in 1975 and has practiced with it ever since. A. Brent Turner joined in 1983, Terry A. Tschannen in 1992. In time the firm carried all four names, Chapman, Cowherd, Turner & Tschannen, P.C., and their initials still remain the firm’s web address today: www.ccttlaw.com.
That era came to a close within a matter of weeks. Trentis E. Miller joined in September 2012; Brent Turner retired that December, and Terry Tschannen left for the bench the following January.
The firm has practiced as Chapman and Cowherd, P.C. since 2013, with Maggie McConville, a Chillicothe native, returning home to join in the summer of 2022, two years after interning for Judge Thomas N. Chapman at the Missouri Court of Appeals.
judicial reputation
Four former firm attorneys have been elevated to the bench. The Honorable Thomas N. Chapman practiced with the firm from 1991 until January 2011, when he was elected Circuit Judge of the 43rd Judicial Circuit. Governor Mike Parson appointed Judge Chapman to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, in 2018, where he continues to serve. The Honorable Andrea Ravens Vandeloecht practiced with the firm from 2001 until she was elected Associate Circuit Judge of Chariton County, taking office in January 2011. The Honorable Terry A. Tschannen joined the firm in 1992 and practiced with the firm until he was elected Circuit Judge of the 9th Judicial Circuit, taking office in January 2013. The Honorable Ryan W. Horsman practiced at the firm from August 2016 to November 2018, when he won election as Circuit Judge of the 43rd Judicial Circuit and was appointed by Governor Parson to fill the vacancy created by Judge Chapman’s appointment to the Court of Appeals.
past attorneys
the founding license
The Firm’s founder, Lewis A. Chapman, received his law license in 1870, which reads:
STATE OF MISSOURI, SEVENTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
Lewis A. Chapman Esq., having produced to me, Jonas J. Clark, Judge of the Circuit Court for the Circuit and State aforesaid, satisfactory evidence that he is a gentleman of good moral character, and that he possesses the necessary qualifications, and having taken and filed the oath of Loyalty, he is hereby admitted, licensed and permitted to practice as an Attorney-at-Law in all the Courts of Record in this State.
Given under my hand this 9th day of Feb., A.D. 1870.
Jonas J. Clark, Judge
The original license is on display at Chapman and Cowherd, P.C.