Ron Mitchell serves as a mediator in more than 200 cases per year. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He was President of the Missouri Bar for 1994-1995. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and a Diplomate member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.

Ron was awarded the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus from Missouri Southern State University on September 26, 2021.

Ron received the Spurgeon Smithson Award from the Missouri Bar Foundation in 2005 “for significant contributions to the administration of justice.” He was presented the Missouri Bar President’s award in 1999 for his work as Chair of the Missouri Statewide Legal Services Commission. Ron served on the Supreme Court Committee studying Regional Justice Centers, the Venue Commission and the Commission on the Impartiality of the Judiciary. Most recently, Ron chaired the Lawyer to Lawyer Dispute Resolution Committee.

A member of the Board of Governors of the Missouri Bar from 1985 to 1996, he also has been active in a variety of other bar activities. He was a longtime member of The Missouri Bar’s Legal Education Committee, and previously served as vice chair of that committee. He has made contributions to the Missouri Bar CLE as an author and lecturer.

He was chair of The Missouri Bar’s Young Lawyers’ Section in 1983-84 and President of the Jasper County Bar in 1988-89. He served as an assistant prosecutor for Jasper County from 1978 - 1986.

A resident of Joplin since 1960, he graduated from Missouri Southern State University in 1971 and received his J.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1974. He has served as counsel for MSSU from 1994 to 2006.

He served as Chairman of the American Cancer Society’s Doctor/Lawyer Softball Games in 1982 and 1983. In 1986-1987 he served as a Cub Scout Pack Master. He has also served on the board of directors of such organizations as the Missouri Southern Alumni Association, Kiwanis, Boys and Girls Club of Joplin, the United Way, Sheltered Workshop and the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce.