John E. Campbell
John Campbell was born and raised in McKinney, Texas, just north of Dallas. His parents were hard working people who made John a top priority in their lives. John attributes a tremendous amount of what he knows about integrity, selflessness and hard work to their unconditioned love. When asked about his parents, he responded, “I owe them a debt of gratitude that I will never be able to repay.”
John has written a number of posts for our blogs. You can read his article about arbitration by clicking here and here. For your own safety, you can read his post about carbon monoxide by clicking here. To read a post about the basic laws that regulate overtime pay, click here. For a link to a result John is very proud of regarding arbitration clauses, click here.
John graduated from McKinney High School and attended Concordia University at Austin on a full academic scholarship. He was elected Student Body President and served as a resident advisor for his dorm. John points to college as the place where he developed many of the skills he now uses on a day to day basis. He says of college, “It was an adventure. It was at college, through my role as Student Body President, that somehow, despite Austin’s live music scene and UT Football games, I learned more than I have ever had about risk and reward, leadership, organization, and creative problem solving.” John graduated summa cum laude with a major in Secondary Education and received minors in religion, Spanish and English.
Over the next five years, John taught Spanish and English in Texas, and then in Illinois. He also had the opportunity to coach football and basketball. It was while he was coaching and teaching at Fox Tech High School in inner city San Antonio that John began considering a legal career. John explained, “Kids came in the classroom from abusive homes, or they belonged to gangs to feel safe, or they lived in a car because they didn’t have a home. I could reach my students, but thousands and thousands of others were beyond my grasp.” John wanted to affect the systems that ultimately affected his students. He hoped a legal career would offer him that chance. He discussed the idea with his fiancé, Alicia, and to his surprise, she too had decided to attend law school.
Things happened fast from that point forward. John and Alicia did not renew their contracts to return the following school year. Instead, a month after getting married, they left San Antonio and moved to the St. Louis area to attend Saint Louis University School of Law. When John and Alicia decided to make the move, neither was admitted to the school, but they took what John described as a “leap of faith,” and it paid off. They were both accepted by Saint Louis University. John taught Spanish by day and went to law school at night. The weekends were filled with studying and lots of coffee, but it was an experience that John relished. Through his exposure to talented and compassionate professors, John began to realize that through his legal education, there would be opportunities to make a difference around every corner.
While a student at SLU, John clerked for the honorable Judge Stiehl in the Southern District of Illinois and was selected for Moot Court I and II. He attended study abroad programs in Guanajuato, Mexico and Madrid, Spain, and obtained an international law certificate. He enjoyed his time in school and tried to make the most of it by taking classes as diverse as Business Associations and West African Legal Systems. His time was well spent. While at SLU, he received five academic excellence awards and graduated magna cum laude, ranking fifth in his class.
Now John works primarily on consumer matters at Simon Passanante. His employment at Simon Passanante is, in many ways, the fulfillment of the goals that sent him to law school in the first place. About his work at Simon Passanante, John said, “I am able to work on cases in which I believe. Whether it is challenging the actions of payday lenders by filing a class action or defending people who would be evicted from their homes by deceptive mortgage lenders, I am able to draw on my experiences from abroad, the lessons I learned while teaching, and the values my wife and family continue to instill in me to find creative ways to solve new legal problems. When asked why he enjoys working at Simon Passanante, John mentioned the opportunity to work with “talented attorneys who value integrity and honesty above all else” and said that he is “proud to be part of a team of people who are committed to making the world a little better one client and one cause at a time.”
Professional Memberships
- National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA)
- Public Justice – Missouri State Coordinator
- The American Bar Association
- Missouri Bar Association
- The Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys
- The Lawyers Association of St. Louis
- The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.
- Hispanic National Bar Association
Publications
“Challenging Arbitration Provisions in Consumer Cases,” The Missouri Trial Attorney, Summer 2007 (co-authored with Alicia Campbell and Erich Vieth)
Presentations
“THE ALIEN TORT STATUTE: ADDRESSING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED ABROAD IN U.S. COURTS”, April 1, 2008, Saint Louis University
Current Issues in Class Action Litigation, June 24, 2008, Simon Passanante Event to Benefit Legal Services of Eastern Missouri
