Cole David Bradbury

Cole Bradbury joined Ellinger Bell in 2026. His practice centers on complex litigation and real estate development, with substantial trial and appellate experience in Missouri state and federal courts.

Mr. Bradbury served as City Attorney for Osage Beach, Missouri, from 2023 to 2026. In that role, he represented the City on several major economic incentive projects, most notably the $496 million Lakeport Oasis development, which combined a TIF, CID, and TDD with a $130 million bond issue through the Missouri Development Finance Board. He has structured and litigated incentive financing matters from both the public and private sides, and routinely handles the contract, land use, and inverse condemnation questions that follow.

On the litigation side, Mr. Bradbury’s work in 2026 with Ellinger Bell cleared the way for the first new landfill permitted in Missouri in 24 years, overturning a Pettis County order that had blocked the project. In 2024, he persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to strike down a section of the Missouri Constitution as a violation of the First Amendment. He also won two appellate writs for the City of Osage Beach and, as City Prosecutor, tried dozens of cases, including a DWI conviction obtained after the line-of-duty death of the arresting officer.

Mr. Bradbury began his career in real estate and business litigation, representing developers and homeowners in disputes and transactions involving real estate, contracting, and utilities. His complex litigation work includes TIF disputes, First and Fourteenth Amendment claims, inverse condemnation, and the WARN Act.

Mr. Bradbury served two terms as Municipal Judge for the City of Iberia, Missouri, and worked in the office of Governor Matt Blunt from 2007 to 2008. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law in 2010, where he was a member of the Moot Court team and Board of Advocates and an Associate Editor of the Missouri Law Review. He interned for U.S. Circuit Judge Raymond W. Gruender (8th Cir.) and U.S. District Judge Nannette K. Laughrey (W.D. Mo.), and received the R. David Day Trial Advocacy Award, the Chamier Award in Public Speaking, the Roscoe Anderson Award for Excellence in Advocacy, and the Excellence for the Future Award in Professional Responsibility.

Honors

2024 President’s Award, Lake Area Chamber of Commerce

2019 Small Business of the Year, Lake Area Chamber of Commerce

2010 Order of the Barristers

2010 R. David Day Trial Advocacy Award

2010 Roscoe Anderson Award for Excellence in Advocacy

Civic Involvement

Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, Director (2016–Present), President (2021–2023)

Public Office

City Attorney, City of Osage Beach, Missouri (2023–2026)

Municipal Judge, City of Iberia, Missouri (2016–2022)

Office of Governor Matt Blunt (2007–2008)