The St. Louis County Bar Association has selected attorney Brian Dudley Dunlop as the recipient of the 2023 Dudley C. Dunlop Distinguished Service Award and attorney Lauren E. Surdyke as the recipient of the 2023 Roy F. Essen Memorial Award for Outstanding Work as a Young Lawyer.

After graduating from Webster Groves High School, Brian first attended Central Missouri State College before transferring to Mizzou, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelors of Arts Degree.  His Junior and Senior years at Mizzou, Brian was a truck driver and a member of the Teamsters Union and St. Louis Atomic Workers Union. After graduating from the Zou, he moved to Salt Lake City and was a long haul trucker. Near the late part of 1976, Brian became engaged to his wife, Dorcas, and moved to Kansas City, Missouri.

Having taken night classes in Columbia, MO for six months in the Fall of 1975 to become one of the first Emergency Medical Technicians in Missouri, he was hired by Acme Ambulance as an E.M.T..  After six months, he became the General Manager.  Between Acme Ambulance and his admission to Washburn Law School in 1983, Brian operated several businesses. Upon graduation from Washburn Law School in 1986, Brian, Dorcas, and their daughter Taylor moved back to Webster Groves and joined his father, Dudley C. Dunlop, in his law practice.  His sister, Beth McCarter, joined the firm upon graduation from SLU in 1988.

Since admission to The Missouri Bar in 1986, Brian has concentrated his practice in Family Law.  He is a Guardian ad Litem for children and at any given time he handles twenty-five or so cases.  Many of those cases he handles pro bono. He serves as a Board Member on the Child Abuse and Neglect Review Board and has for over fifteen years and is the longest serving board member.  Brian has served as a Municipal Judge in several St. Louis County Municipal Courts since 1989, and as such, he has married dozens of couples for free.

Lauren Surdyke graduated magna cum laude from Missouri Baptist University with a bachelor’s degree in history and went on to earn her law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law in 2015. At SLU, she completed a taxation concentration and was on the Saint Louis University Law Journal, making the Dean’s List and earning Academic Excellence Awards in eight courses. During law school, she completed a legal externship with the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, as well as interning at Stifel Financial Corp. in the Wealth Planning Department.

After law school graduation and completing her Stifel internship, Ms. Surdyke worked with small business, nonprofit and estate planning clients first as a solo practitioner and then for several years at Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C. She joined Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. in 2021 and is currently a member of the firm’s Trusts & Estates practice group.

At Greensfelder, Ms. Surdyke focuses her practice on estate planning, with an emphasis on high-net-worth families, charitable planning, complex family dynamics, and business succession. She also counsels clients on trust administration, assists with preparation of estate and gift tax returns, and works with nonprofit organizations. In addition to her estate and tax planning work, she has counseled a variety of business clients.

Ms. Surdyke volunteers with numerous community and professional organizations. This includes her service to the St. Louis County Bar Association as an Executive Committee Member, Secretary, and CLE Chair. She also has served on the gala committee for Gateway to Hope and as a volunteer presenter for the Gateway End-of-Life Coalition.

The Dudley C. Dunlop Distinguished Service Award is an honor conferred on an attorney who has provided distinguished and unselfish service to the organized bar and the community.  The recipient must also show constant devotion to the highest principles and practices of the legal profession and symbolize the highest standards of integrity, honor and unselfish service.

The Roy F. Essen Memorial Award for Outstanding Work as a Young Lawyer is an honor conferred on an attorney in recognition of excellence and distinguished work as a lawyer, distinguished service to the organized bar, and outstanding service to the community. The recipient must be under the age of 40 years.

The St. Louis County Bar Association, founded in 1931, is a 600 plus member, non-profit professional organization for attorneys and judges. It provides professional development, education and service programs for the legal community and supports the St. Louis County judiciary and its staff. The current president is Eric Michael Tuncil of the Law Offices of Mary Ann Weems. The president-elect is Bharat Vadachari of HelplerBroom, LLC.  Mr. Varadachari will present these two awards at a dinner reception on February 4, 2023.