Areas of Practice

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

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

Law School :
New York University School of Law, 2003, JD. 
Post Grad:
New York University School of Law, 2003, 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, which opened its third office, located at 3230 E. Ridgeview in Springfield, Missouri, in 2016. 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 guardianship's. 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 for Simmons Wealth Management in its Springfield office (formerly Trust Company of the Ozarks). Prior to taking that position in July 2014, Emily was a shareholder in the Springfield law firm of Carnahan, Evans, Cantwell & Brown, P.C., where she practiced in the estates and trusts practice areas for six and one-half (6 1/2) 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 in 2000. She received her Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law in 2003. She also received her LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 2006.
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Kembell is extremely active in the Springfield community, as she is a Board member of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Foundation, a member of the Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast, a current member of the Planned Giving Committee for the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks (BCFO) and a frequent volunteer at the SMBA's Legal Clinic of The Fairbanks in Springfield. She is also a Co-Chair of the Planning Committee of the Missouri Bar's 2018 Annual Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute, a 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”)
• Springfield's 40 Under 40 in 2011
• Leadership Springfield, Class XXV
• Missouri Lawyers' Weekly - Women's Justice Award recipient 2017
• Co-Chair of the Planning Committee for the Missouri Bar's Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute in 2018 & 2019 

Affiliations

• Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association
• Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast
• 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 2018 ACTEC Regional Meeting (MOKAN)
• 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 Arkansas Estate Planning Council Meeting, Jan. 2018
• Presenter at the Mid-Missouri Estate Planning Council Meeting, December 2017
• Presenter at the Arkansas Bar Association Mid-Year Meeting, January 2016
• Presenter at the Missouri Bar Estate, Trust & Elder Law Institute, 2016, 2017 & 2018