About TopCity Defense
TopCity Defense is a Topeka law firm representing people facing criminal charges, professional and licensing matters, and serious civil litigation.
The firm was built around a simple idea: a legal problem can be serious without being the only thing that defines a person or their future.
Criminal charges, investigations, professional complaints, and lawsuits often put much more at risk than the immediate legal case. They can threaten a person’s freedom, career, professional license, business, reputation, financial security, family, and years of work building a life. TopCity Defense helps clients understand what is at stake, evaluate their options, and build a strategy designed to protect what matters most.
Our approach begins with listening. We want to understand not only the legal problem, but also the person facing it and the consequences that matter to them. From there, we explain the situation and available options in plain English, identify the risks and opportunities, develop a strategy, and keep the client informed as the case moves forward.
Clients should not be left wondering what is happening with their case or what comes next. We believe in candid advice, clear communication, practical judgment, thorough preparation, and determined advocacy. Sometimes the best result comes from finding a practical solution. Other times, protecting the client requires pushing back, litigating an issue, or preparing to take the case to trial. The strategy should be driven by what best serves the client—not by what is easiest for the lawyer.
TopCity Defense was founded by attorney Rick Davis, whose career has included litigation, trial and arbitration work, and the ownership and operation of businesses in the real estate, title, and related industries. That combination of legal and business experience shapes the firm’s perspective. Legal decisions do not happen in isolation, and a good legal strategy should account for the client’s real life, livelihood, responsibilities, and future.
We also believe accountability and advocacy can exist at the same time. People are more than the worst allegation, mistake, or legal problem they may face. A charge, complaint, licensing issue, or lawsuit should not unnecessarily erase a career, reputation, business, or future that took years to build.
No lawyer can promise a particular result. What TopCity Defense can promise is that we will take the problem seriously, tell clients the truth about where they stand, prepare thoroughly, pursue the reasonable paths available to protect them, and make sure they understand the decisions along the way.
When what you’ve built is on the line, our job is to help you understand the problem, build a clear plan, and protect what comes next.
We guide clients through their toughest moments with clarity, respect, and resolve. We listen first, tell the truth, build the strategy, and stand firm.

About Rick, Attorney/Founder
Rick Davis is an attorney and the founder of TopCity Defense in Topeka, where he represents people facing criminal charges, professional and licensing matters, and serious civil litigation.
Rick believes good legal representation starts with understanding what is actually at stake. A criminal charge, investigation, professional complaint, or lawsuit rarely affects only the case itself. It can threaten a career, a professional license, a business, a reputation, financial security, family stability, or years of work building a future.
His approach is straightforward: listen first, understand the problem, explain the options and risks in plain English, and build a strategy around what matters most to the client. Rick believes clients should know where their case stands and understand the decisions in front of them. He is practical when a practical solution serves the client and prepared to push hard when it does not.
That perspective comes in part from a career that has extended beyond the traditional practice of law. In addition to representing clients in litigation and other legal matters, Rick has founded and operated businesses in the real estate, title, and related industries. He understands firsthand the pressures of running a business, meeting a payroll, protecting a reputation, and making consequential decisions when there is no perfect option. That experience influences the way he practices law: legal strategy should account for a client's real life, not simply what happens in the courtroom.
Rick was the first person in his family to attend college. That background helped shape his belief that the legal system should not feel inaccessible simply because someone does not speak the language of lawyers, courts, or institutions. Clients deserve to understand what is happening, what their options are, and what comes next.
Rick earned his law degree magna cum laude from Washburn University School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the Washburn Law Journal. Before entering private practice, he served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Eric F. Melgren of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas and completed an internship with the United States Air Force JAG Corps.
Since entering practice, Rick has represented individuals and businesses in more than 30 trials and arbitrations. His experience includes a three-week construction-industry arbitration in which he secured a complete defense award for his client, along with an award requiring the opposing party to pay his client's attorney fees. He has held leadership positions within the Kansas legal community, including service on the Kansas Bar Association's Board of Governors and Executive Committee and as Chair of the KBA's Young Lawyers Division. He has also been recognized as AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell, its highest peer-review rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
Rick's experience as both an attorney and business owner has reinforced a simple belief behind TopCity Defense: people are more than the worst allegation, mistake, or legal problem they may face. When the stakes are high, his job is not to make promises he cannot keep or manufacture reassurance. It is to give clients a clear assessment of where they stand, identify the available paths forward, prepare thoroughly, and advocate for the outcome that best protects what they have built and what comes next.
10.0
AVVO Rating
30+
Trials and Arbitrations
AV+
Peer Rating
13+
Years of Practice
Education
Washburn University School of Law
Juris Doctor, magna cum laudeManaging Editor, Washburn Law Journal
University of Kansas
Bachelor’s degreeProfessional Leadership
Kansas Bar Association
- Board of Governors
- Executive Committee
- Young Lawyers Division
American Bar Association
- Council/YLD Liaison
- District Representative
Trial Law Institute
- Fellow
American Bar Foundation
- Fellow
Honors & Recognition
AV Preeminent® — Martindale-Hubbell
Highest peer-review rating for legal ability and ethical standards.Client Champion — Martindale-Hubbell
Outstanding Service Award — Kansas Bar Association
Top Legal Innovators — Missouri Lawyers Media
Bar Admissions
Kansas
Missouri
U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri
Rick has been invited to speak to attorneys, real estate professionals, business owners, and industry organizations on litigation, evidence, ethics, and other legal issues. His commentary and writing have also appeared in national and professional publications.
Rick has been invited to speak to attorneys, real estate professionals, business owners, and industry organizations on litigation, evidence, ethics, and other legal issues. His commentary and writing have also appeared in national and professional publications.
Selected Speaking Engagements
Effective Use of Evidence
NBI Seminars: Trial Prep from Start to Finish
Useful Discovery for Trial
NBI Seminars: Trial Prep from Start to Finish
Negotiating for Damages
NBI Seminars: Trial Prep from Start to Finish
Ethical Considerations
Title Law in Kansas
Title Law in Kansas
Ethics for Lawyers
Construction Law: Advanced Issues and Answers
Construction Law: Advanced Issues and Answers
Conflicts of Interest
Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors
Contract and Title Issues
Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors
Remote Online Notarization: Implementation and Practical Application
Kansas Register of Deeds Association




