Robert Pottroff, a Manhattan-based attorney with plans for developing a new mixed-use building near the Kansas University campus, this month began his one-year term as president of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Assn.

Pottroff is managing partner for Myers, Pottroff & Ball PA in Manhattan. He joined the firm in 1979, after earning his law degree at KU, and is considered a leading practitioner in the fields of railroads, highways and grade crossings.

In Lawrence, Pottroff is working with Jeff Morrow to propose plans for a new five-story building at the corner of 12th and Indiana streets, on the site where The Crossing bar and Yello Sub now operate.