Joseph E. Cordell Named 2019 ICON Award Honoree by Missouri Lawyers Weekly
Cordell & Cordell Co-Founder and Principal Partner and MenRights.com’s sponsor, attorney-CPA Joseph E. Cordell has been named an honoree of the 2019 ICON Award from Missouri Lawyers Weekly for his notable and sustained success and leadership both within and beyond the field of law.
The ICON Awards, launched in 2018, are presented to distinguished attorneys age 60 and older in recognition of their exemplary careers and longstanding commitment to the Missouri legal community. Click here to learn more about the ICON Awards.
Along with 26 other attorneys from around the state, Mr. Cordell will be celebrated at the second annual ICON Awards luncheon, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday, May, 31, at the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis, Mo.
Mr. Cordell, along with the other honorees will be profiled in print and online in a special section of Missouri Lawyers Weekly, which will be published May 27.
Learning more
Mr. Cordell is licensed to practice law in the states of Missouri and Illinois. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor’s degree in accountancy from Oklahoma State University. He and his wife also are graduates of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where he presently resides as an adjunct faculty member.
In 2014, Mr. and Mrs. Cordell generously made a gift commitment of $1 million to establish and endow the Cordell & Cordell Visiting Professorship at the Washington University School of Law. In 2017, the couple was award the Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus, and in 2018, Mr. and Mrs. Cordell pledged a donation to Washington University to establish a new institute, the Joseph and Yvonne Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine and Law, to study issues of ethics, medicine, and law.
This institute’s stated mission is to “pioneer an ethical data-driven future, promoting health and protecting people.”
Mr. Cordell is a graduate of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and holds a Missouri CPA license. He also is the past president of the American Academy of Attorney-CPAs and the current AAA-CPA Missouri Chapter President.
Cordell & Cordell
When he was in law school, Mr. Cordell envisioned himself practicing in areas related to family law and personal planning. However, in 1990, while practicing general law, Mr. Cordell noticed that most of his clients were coming to his firm, Cordell & Cordell, for domestic relations help.
“During the course of that experience, I couldn’t help but notice the challenges consistently facing the guys’ side of the table, when it came to custody, maintenance issues, and accusations of domestic violence,” said Mr. Cordell.
Since co-founding Cordell & Cordell with his wife, Yvonne, Mr. Cordell and his team of more than 200 family law attorneys have helped thousands of men going through divorce. With offices in 35 states, as well as an office in the United Kingdom, Cordell & Cordell has remained a prominent partner for men in need of a partner they can count on for over 25 years.
Cordell Planning Partners
As he has gotten older and watched his family age, he wanted to return to his original focus from his days in law school: helping clients plan for the uncertainty of the future.
As a Senior Partner and Founder at Cordell Planning Partners, Mr. Cordell has renewed his commitment to assisting clients and their loved ones in the next chapter in their life. By helping them navigate the intricacies of Medicaid planning, trusts, Powers of Attorney, estate planning, wills, and many more areas of elder law, he has made a commitment to making seniors feel secure when it comes to the future.
Forging his own path
Mr. Cordell also has been an accomplished author, writing informational books dedicated to helping men who are facing family law issues. “Your Civil War: A Father’s Guide for Winning Child Custody,” “Divorce Full-Force: The Guide for Guys,” and “The 10 Stupidest Mistakes Men Make When Facing Divorce” all highlight the strategies that men need to utilize during the divorce experience.
He also is the founder of MensDivorce.com and DadsDivorce.com, popular resources for divorced men and fathers, where he contributes articles, videos, podcasts, and other content. Mr. Cordell also founded MensRights.com, a website focused on empowering, educating, and directing men to resources and advocates when their basic rights are violated or compromised because of their gender.
Mr. Cordell has been highlighted in numerous national media outlets to share his knowledge on family law and to engage with the breaking news occurring in the legal industry. These outlets include The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Men’s Health, USA Today, Time Magazine, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg Radio, and many local and regional television and radio outlets.
