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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.

Protect What You Have Built

Your freedom, career, professional license, reputation, business, finances, family, and future can all be affected by a legal problem. Our strategy starts by understanding what is actually at stake for you.

You Will Know Where You Stand

Good decisions require good information. We explain what is happening, what has changed, what your options are, and what comes next. We will tell you the good, the bad, and the uncertain—and give you our assessment even when it is not what you hoped to hear.

A Clear Plan Through the Legal Storm

Legal problems create uncertainty. Our job is not to pretend the storm does not exist, but to help you navigate it deliberately. We investigate the facts, identify risks and opportunities, anticipate what may come next, and build a strategy designed around your circumstances and goals.

Practical When Practical. Aggressive When Necessary.

Conflict is a tool, not an identity. We look for practical solutions when they serve the client, but we are prepared to push when the facts, law, leverage, or stakes require it. We do not create conflict for show—and we do not surrender leverage simply to avoid it.

One Moment Does Not Define Your Future

A charge, accusation, complaint, mistake, or lawsuit is part of your story. It does not have to become your entire story. We treat clients as people, not case files, and pursue outcomes that protect their ability to move forward whenever possible.

Advice, Not Orders

You live with the consequences, so the important decisions remain yours. We explain the options, risks, and tradeoffs, listen to what matters to you, and give you a clear recommendation when you want one. Our job is to help you make informed decisions—not make them for you.

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 laude
Managing Editor, Washburn Law Journal


University of Kansas

Bachelor’s degree

Professional 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.

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 


Ethics for Lawyers

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 

Selected Publications & Media

Forbes 

What Do You Wish You Could Tell Your Clients During Coronavirus?


Realtor.com 

Learn These Basic Rules of Seller Disclosure So You Don't Get Sued


Realtor.com 

Bad Neighbors, and Other Nightmares You Might Need to Disclose to Buyers