Areas of Practice

• Estate Planning
• Estate, Probate, and Trust Administrations
• Tax​
• Adult/Minor Guardianships and Conservatorships

​Education
​Undergraduate:
Texas A&M University, BS in Agricultural Development; 2000, Summa Cum Laude

Law School :
New York University School of Law, J.D., 2003​ 
New York University School of Law, LL.M. in Taxation, 2006 

Bar Admissions
New York (2003)
Missouri (2008)
Arkansas (2011) 

Experience
Emily Kembell is a partner in the law firm of Kirkland Woods & Martinsen LLP.  Ms. Kembell focuses her practice on estate planning of all types, trust and probate administration, transfer tax planning, issues relating to business succession planning, and adult and minor guardianships. Emily is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (“ACTEC”).

Prior to joining KWM, Ms. Kembell served as Chief Regional Administrative Officer and Trust Counsel in the Springfield office of a regional bank’s trust department. Prior to taking that position, Emily was a shareholder in a local Springfield firm, where she practiced in the estates and trusts practice area for several years. Ms. Kembell began her legal career in New York City with the law firms of Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, LLP and McLaughlin & Stern, LLP. She came home to Springfield in 2007.

A Springfield native, Ms. Kembell received her Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A & M University where she graduated summa cum laude. She received both her Juris Doctor degree and L.L.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. 

Ms. Kembell is extremely active in the Springfield community, as she is currently serving as the Board President of Child Advocacy Center (CAC) and as a board member of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.  She has previously served on several other local charitable boards.  She was a prior Co-Chair of the Planning Committee of the Missouri Bar's Annual Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute, a current member of Greene County Estate Planning Council (GCEPC), and a frequent speaker at several Missouri and Arkansas Bar Associations' CLE Courses. 

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Distinctions

• Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel ("ACTEC")
• Ranked by Chambers in Private Wealth Law, 2023
• Springfield's 40 Under 40 in 2011
• Leadership Springfield, Class XXV
• Missouri Lawyers' Weekly - Women's Justice Award recipient 2017
• Awarded the "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers for Trusts and Estates Law in Springfield, 2022
• Recognized by Best Lawyers from 2021-2024 in the following fields:
  • Trusts and Estates
  • Litigation – Trusts and Estates
  • Tax Law
• Selected for inclusion in Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, 2021-2023
• Co-Chair of the Planning Committee for the Missouri Bar's Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute in 2018 & 2019 

Affiliations

• Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association
• Greene County Estate Planning Council 

Publications & Presentations

• ​Podcast Guest on the "Simply Tax" Podcast; episode titled "Estate Planning in the New Year"-released on January 24, 2019
• Presenter at the 2021 ACTEC Heart of America Regional Meeting (“State Fiduciary Income Tax Matters”)
• Presenter at the 2019 ACTEC Heart of America Regional Meeting (“Practice Makes Perfect: Case Studies of Modifying Trusts to Reach Perfection”)
• Presenter at the 2018 ACTEC Mo-Kan Regional Meeting (“Please Cobble Comfortable Shoes”)
• Author of "Designating Beneficiaries for Retirement Plan" in Trusts & Estates Magazine, July 2017
• Co-author of the Missouri Bar Guidebook: "Drafting the Basic Will & Trust", 3d. ed
• Presenter at the Missouri Bar Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute (multiple years)