Lara Q. Plaisance
Lara Plaisance has practiced law since graduating from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 2008. She began her career as an associate attorney with MVP in the Workers’ Compensation Defense practice group in the Kansas City office practicing in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. In 2013 she moved to Iowa as staff counsel for Travelers Insurance to focus her practice exclusively on Iowa Workers’ Compensation Defense. In 2017, Lara returned to private practice and joined a Des Moines firm until her return to MVP, this time in the new Des Moines office.Lara enjoys working in close collaboration with her clients, looking for opportunities for early resolution, while not shying away from necessary litigation. Lara has been trying workers’ compensation cases in Iowa since 2011 and has extensive experience in resolution through mediation. Always seeking ways to provide value added opportunities to her clients, Lara is a frequent presenter at lunch-and-learns, one-on-one claims training sessions, and firm seminars.
Lara and her family recently gave up suburban living to join the small, more rural community of Adel, Iowa, west of Des Moines. Lara was the past President of a non-profit organization, Drew’s Crew for Kids, and has been active in local and regional food insecurity organizations including Hunger Free Dallas County Coalition and Eat Greater Des Moines. In 2019 Lara was recognized as a Des Moines Business Record Forty Under 40 Honoree.
Lara and her husband, John, enjoy very little free time with their calendars loaded with the activities of their three boys. If she’s not practicing law, she can generally be found on the sidelines of a baseball, basketball, football or soccer game, with her camera in hand as “team photographer” or in her Subaru running kids to lessons, practices or tournaments with coffee in hand.
