Meet the people in your corner.
Silya Shaw and James Boyce spent years at one of the region's largest nonprofit legal services organizations, handling the complex, high-stakes cases that most private firms refer out. That experience, thousands of cases across bankruptcy, tax, student loans, and probate, taught them how to find a path forward in situations that look unsolvable, and how rarely someone needs to be as scared as they are by the time they call.
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Shaw + Boyce was built around a simple belief: people who've been knocked down by something they didn't see coming deserve direct access to real expertise. Every client works with the attorney handling their case, start to finish.
What That Looks Like in Practice
You talk to an attorney. Every time.
Not a paralegal, not a case manager. The attorney who takes your call is the one who handles your case.
You'll hear from us.
If something's happening on your case, you'll know. If there's nothing new yet, we'll tell you that too.
We make it easy.
Video calls, e-signatures, document uploads. You shouldn't have to take a day off work to deal with a legal problem.
We've done this before.
Thousands of times. We usually know what's coming before you do, and we'll walk you through it.
Meet The Team
Silya Shaw
Partner, Shaw + Boyce
Silya Shaw has spent 15 years helping people through some of the most stressful financial moments of their lives. With deep expertise in tax law, probate, and consumer protection, she has resolved millions of dollars in tax debt and represented clients before the IRS, the U.S. Tax Court, and the Missouri Department of Revenue. Silya holds a JD from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude, and an LLM in Taxation from Villanova University, where she was named a Caritas Scholar. She is admitted to practice in Missouri and before the United States Tax Court, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. Before founding Shaw & Boyce, Silya served in executive leadership at one of the region's largest nonprofit legal services organizations, where she also taught Tax Procedure and the Tax Clinic as an adjunct professor at UMKC Law School. She continues to present at state and national legal education conferences on tax controversy and probate. Outside the office, she coaches youth basketball and volunteers with Legal Aid of Western Missouri's Volunteer Attorney Project. What drives her is straightforward: getting people back on their feet after something has knocked them down.
James Boyce
Partner, Shaw + Boyce
James Boyce has spent 8 years focused on one thing: helping real people navigate some of the most consequential financial situations of their lives. His practice centers on consumer bankruptcy, with deep experience in student loan resolution, probate, and consumer defense. He has filed more student loan adversary proceedings than any other attorney in the Western District of Missouri since 2024, helping discharge hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal and private student loan debt. James holds a JD magna cum laude from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where he was a member of Order of the Coif, the National Moot Court Team, and the Washington University Law Review. He is admitted to practice in Missouri and Kansas, and before the U.S. District Courts for the Western District of Missouri, the Eastern District of Missouri, and the District of Kansas. Before founding Shaw & Boyce, James practiced in both private and nonprofit legal settings, bringing the same direct, attorney-led approach to every client he represented. He currently serves on the Missouri Supreme Court's Associate Circuit Rules Committee and volunteers with Legal Aid of Western Missouri's Volunteer Attorney Project. What drives him is straightforward: using real expertise to get real people from where they are to somewhere better.
