Business torrents

Two experienced federal prosecutors are leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office here to start their own firm, both men told the Post-Dispatch this week.

Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen and Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Schelp, who together have more than 17 years experience handling federal cases, will open the doors Monday on the Clayton firm of Jensen, Bartlett & Schelp.

"It’s a big gamble, but we think we see … a niche in the market," Jensen said Thursday.

Jensen said legal experience, combined with a small firm’s low overhead, would have a competitive advantage over "big firms with big overhead" and "big rates" who were having difficulty "pricing down to the economy."

The pair is forming the firm with Bruce Bartlett, a private attorney with his own firm in Clayton.

Jensen and Schelp said the firm will specialize in civil litigation, white-collar defense, whistle-blower lawsuits and administrative and regulatory issues. They also plan to conduct internal investigations for companies.

Jensen, 43, spent 10 years with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and 10 years as an FBI agent, balancing his responsibilities as an active agent with five years of night law school at St. Louis University.

Jensen said that during those two decades, he worked on a number of major white-collar cases, including the Engineered Support Systems stock option back-dating case.

Schelp, 39, spent about 7½ years with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Before that, he worked for two large local law firms and spent four years on active duty with the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps.

He recently handled the prosecution of the largest grain fraud case in Missouri’s history.

"Between Jeff and I, we have handled a very large percentage of some of the biggest cases in the office in the last five years or so," Schelp said.

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