Attorney Jerry Schlichter has spent decades fighting for the underdog—and the City of St. Louis.

by Christy Marshall / portrait by John Lore

Jerry Schlichter never shies away from a fight.

As a student at UCLA Law School, he marched for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. Growing up in Mascoutah, Illinois, he didn’t know any lawyers but went to law school because he “wanted to try to use my knowledge of law to work in the field to benefit people.”

When he founded the law firm Schlichter, Bogard and Denton (now Schlichter Bogard) in 1989, the intent was to represent the individual, not the corporate entity. “We only represent people here,” he says. Specifically, they pursue companies that the partners argue “are financially hurting people or are harming people in one way or another.” If the firm wins, they get paid. If they don’t? They don’t.

In 2005, Schlichter decided to explore the world of 401(k)s. To start, he read 401(k) Plans for Dummies. With additional research over almost two years by him and members of his firm, he found that while the government was tasked with protecting those employees from unreasonable fees, no cases had ever been filed. Fees went up and investors lost money but no one was bringing this to the attention of the courts. There were 600,000 401(k) plans and no one had ever brought a case in the 30-year history of the plans.

“I decided we would take that on, knowing it was called ‘bet the farm litigation,’” he says. “It had never been done, the field of law didn’t even exist and we would need to have the staying power for the duration.” The firm did. Over the years, they’ve taken on corporations like Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin, International Paper, Northrop Grumman, Anthem, Kraft Foods and Edison International. Although it took a while, they started winning the cases on behalf of the employees and retirees.

“Now, many federal judges all over the country have said that our litigation has brought fees down by over $2.2 billion all over the country,” Schlichter says. The law firm is now working on 403B cases. “They are the non-profit equivalent of 401(k) plans for non-profit universities,” he explains. “Nobody had ever brought such a case. We did it on behalf of employees and retirees at 12 universities such as Yale, MIT, USC and others.”

Outside the courtroom, Schlichter, a city resident, spent years driving by a then-vacant and deteriorating Chase Park Plaza.

“One of our best assets, if not our best asset, is our wonderful collection of historic neighborhoods and historic commercial buildings,” Schlichter says. In 1980, he fought for a state historic tax credit, a 25 percent tax credit for the cost of the rehab. The Missouri Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program passed in 1997 with the help of Rep. Robert Clayton from Hannibal, who sponsored the legislation. Since then, Schlichter has also been integral in getting the Missouri Rebuilding Communities Act and the Neighborhood Preservation Act passed.

But St. Louis’ decline has gone far beyond the brick and mortar. For years the city lost Fortune 500 companies due to mergers, acquisitions and technology: Anheuser Busch, McDonnell Douglas, Monsanto, A G Edwards. The list goes on and on. As Schlichter noted, “We’re a branch office town for many of the companies.”

So Schlichter, along with Zach Boyers, Joe Schafly and Bob Guller, decided to fight the trend by launching a competition, the Arch Grants, to encourage start-ups to compete for $50,000 non-equity funding and to hopefully establish their ventures locally.

The creators determined the only way to invest in a company but not to have a possibly adversarial relationship “would be a nonprofit model where the investor doesn’t get a piece of the company but instead gets a tax deduction by investing in Arch Grants,” Schlichter says.

The results have been simply spectacular. According to the latest report made by Gabe Angieri, the executive director of Arch Grants, the Arch Grants companies have collectively generated $1.2 billion in revenues and created 4,064 jobs in St. Louis since 2012. “These innovative startups have also attracted $868 million in follow-on capital and paid $230 million in wages to St. Louis-based employees,” he writes. The amounts of the grants have increased to $75,000 for local winners of the competition and $100,000 for out-of-state winners, with follow-up funds possible.

“At some point, if you believe in something, you jump off the cliff without knowing if you are going to land on your head or your feet,” Schlichter says. “You just see what happens. And what happened was we got a lot of interest and we got a lot of applications.

“Arch Grants, to the credit of the entire St. Louis community, has been the kind of success that we hoped it would be. We have some really exciting companies that are building their businesses here. It’s very gratifying.”

Schlichter’s battles have focused on making a more vibrant St. Louis as a whole, and, central to that, the city of St. Louis.

“In the city, we have been hemorrhaging population for decades,” he says. “In the 1970 census, we were in the top 10 in the nation in metropolitan area population.” But it ended then. After holding that coveted ranking for a century, the city’s population started to dwindle and then nosedive. The metropolitan area is not only stagnant but actually losing population. In the last couple of years, we’ve dropped to 23. The trendline is not sustainable. What does it mean? It means that we don’t have opportunities for our young people. We have less diversity and people are depressed about where they live. So as young people move on, their parents often follow - moving where their children and grandchildren are.”

Jerry Schlichter with Doug Spencer of Bold Xchange.

Encouraging new enterprises is one way to fight the trend. Welcoming immigrants is another. With the recent moves by the current administration in the White House, getting those new citizens has become nigh impossible.

“There are probably not going to be any significant numbers of refugees coming from other countries in the foreseeable future,” Schlichter says. “It’s unlike what occurred when the Taliban took over and all the Afghan refugees were coming to this country.” After witnessing the positive impact the Bosnian community had on the South St. Louis area near Bevo Mill, Schlichter saw a similar opportunity with the newly arrived Afghans. Through the International Institute, he started the Afghan Support Program, which included starting an Afghan newspaper, an Afghan Community Center, an Afghan Chamber of Commerce, $15,000 business grants for Afghan small businesses, setting up soccer for the children and starting up coding classes. More recently, Schlichter replicated the effort for the Latino community with the Latino Outreach Program.

“The point is to make St. Louis stand out above all other cities in its welcome and support by having the institutions that enable people to build their lives immediately,” Schlichter says.

So if the borders are being blocked and new immigrants turned away, St. Louis is going out to other cities to recruit new neighbors.

“We are pivoting and focusing on immigrants already in the country,” he explains. “We’re expanding it to people who have been here in the country legally.”

Schlichter detailed how it is being done: “For the Afghan Support Program, Hamdullah Hamdard is the liaison for the program and doing the recruiting. For the Latino Outreach Program, Karlos Ramirez is heading that program and doing the recruiting. Both are working through the International Institute. Hamdullah arrived when the Taliban took over with the group of Afghans in 2021, has won a $15,000 entrepreneur business grant in competition with other Afghan recent arrivals for his video production business and is now a full-time employee of the International Institute. Karlos is the former head of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and headed community outreach at Midwest Bank. In recruiting Afghans includes having been to Qatar, California, Texas, Chicago and Virginia. Karlos has been in San Diego and El Centro, California; McAllen Texas; Chicago; New York City; Boston, and Chicago.”

Beyond the United States, Ramirez will travel to Puerto Rico. The men “are offering housing, transportation costs to St. Louis, job assistance, free indoor soccer for the kids and assistance from the International Institute,” Schlichter explains. “It is working well. We are seeing Afghans and Hispanics who have heard about the programs coming here with their families. Hundreds of each group have arrived. Jobs have been plentiful and people are building their lives here.”

Through all of it, Schlichter stays in the ring, fighting. And he encourages everyone else to do the same.

“As a community, we need to roll up our sleeves,” he says. “If you own a business and have a nice home in Ladue and your kids are doing well, you might ask yourself the question: What kind of community is this going to be for my kids and grandkids? Is there going to be enough opportunity here for them to stay here or are they going to have to leave? The community as a whole is in a sick bed. We need to address that. It’s bad. It’s not a positive trendline when you’re not only not growing your population but you’re actively losing the population. And the downtown has to be part of that…

“For people who are anywhere in the region, it’s vital to recognize that your future and children and grandchildren’s future requires a downtown that’s thriving and robust if we’re going to be a thriving community.”

And to thrive—if not survive, a few leaps off buildings may be required.

Leaping Off Cliffs