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Dan Mizell, Deputy & Mizell, LLC
I wanted something more. I wanted a community.
In 2007, we left the custom-built house we loved at the Lake and moved to Lebanon. I’d been practicing law at the Lake for nine years. I had a successful firm, and from the outside, it probably looked like we had everything figured out.
At the time, I was president of the 26th Judicial Circuit Bar Association, and I just knew I didn’t want to keep living in a place where most of the houses were dark during the week, where I didn’t know my neighbors. I said to my wife, “I want to live somewhere that feels real.” We had a baby on the way and I just wanted more for her. We looked at several communities and then Lebanon. Lebanon. We came to visit and it just felt right. The possibilities here, the people…
Darrell Deputy had offered to sell me his practice a year before, and at the time I said no. I had just won a jury trial against him, and I think that sealed it for him. He said, “That’s the guy I want.” So I went back and said, “Let’s do it.” And then it all happened in a hurry. We bought a house and that was it.
I didn’t know a lot of people here. From the beginning, people assumed we wouldn’t stay. They said, “Dan will never stay in Lebanon.” And I’ll admit, it got to me at first. It was discouraging. But I just kept saying, “I’ve invested here. My family is here. I own a business here. I bought a home here. I’m not going anywhere.”
I’ll never forget one day sitting around a table at the Laclede County Courthouse and Jack Miller looked at me and said, “Dan, look around you. Every other lawyer at this table went to Lebanon High School. How does that make you feel?”
And I said, “Good. Are you happy I’m here? Because I’m happy I’m here.” I told him, “I’m a good lawyer. I bring a lot to the table. Isn’t it a good thing that I chose to invest in Lebanon?”
That moment stayed with me. Over time, people saw that I wasn’t going anywhere. They started saying, “Send the case to Dan.” And now? I’m busier than I’ve ever been.
I didn’t grow up with money. My dad was a police officer in St. Louis, my mom stayed home, and I was the youngest of four. When I met my wife at a fraternity party in college, we were just kids. We lived with her brother for years while I was in law school. We had nothing. I still remember the day I looked at our grocery list and said, “We have to cut cheese out of the budget.” That stuck with me. I know what it means to sacrifice, and I’ve never forgotten it.
I’ve tried to bring a different perspective to the table – on city council and in the community. I ask hard questions. I push back. I challenge the idea that “this is just how we do it.” That’s not enough for me. I don’t think we have to choose between being a manufacturing town and having great healthcare or vibrant downtown life. We can be all of it. That’s what I fight for, this idea that Lebanon can be more, if we’re willing to believe in it.
People tell me I’m a provocateur, and maybe I am. But I don’t provoke just to stir things up. I do it because I believe in this place. I’ve lived in a lot of towns, worked in a lot of courtrooms, and seen a lot of communities. This one – this is where I planted roots. My kids went to school here. This is where we live. This is home.
I didn’t just build a business here. I built a life. I found purpose. I found people who care deeply about this town, who show up, who want to make it better. Lebanon has become my community, not just because I stayed, but because I was welcomed. I believe in this place, and I believe even more in what Lebanon can be.
Dan Mizell, Deputy & Mizell, LLC
