Tyler P. Garretson

Partner/Owner of Garretson & Toth, LLC
Partner/Owner of GT Properties, LLC

I am a criminal defense attorney practicing throughout the State of Kansas. After growing up in Wichita, Kansas, and graduating from Kapaun Mt. Carmel in 1988, I moved to Lawrence to attend the University of Kansas for my undergraduate and law school years. I graduated undergrad in 1992 with a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Communication Studies. After taking nine months off to live on a mountain in Fort Collins and manage a Pizza Hut, I returned to Lawrence for law school, graduating nowhere near the top 10% of my class in 1995/1996. I was hired on in the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office in 1996, after finishing up a one-year internship in that office. 

Over the next five years, I worked across multiple departments/divisions within
the office including juvenile, drugs, and ultimately finishing in the white collar unit in late 2001. On October 15th, 2001, I, and my partner at the time, Christian Webb, hung a shingle and created Garretson & Webb, LLC, a criminal defense firm. In 2007, the Firm added W. Scott Toth and ultimately became what it is today, Garretson & Toth, LLC. 

In 2008, we gutted a perfectly good bar in downtown Olathe, “The Jury’s Inn,” and turned it into space for the Firm’s attorneys and staff, as well as multiple tenants. I’ve been blessed to hold a number of positions and receive many honors for my work as an
attorney over the last 25 years, but I take more pride in forming and maintaining the relationships that have been created through this profession with my colleagues, judges, and court staff.

In 1996, I was asked by Paul Morrison, Rick Guinn, and Tom Hamill to become a Trustee with the Johnson County Bar Foundation. I went on to spend the next twenty years on the Board of Trustees before resigning my position at the end of 2016. During that time, I chaired the nominating committee for a good number of my years with the Board, and ultimately chaired the grant review committee for the better part of a decade. I served as the Vice President in 2003/2004 and President in 2004/2005. In 2002, my wife and I were fortunate to be honored as the chairs of the Valentine Gala presented by Sunflower House. This opportunity would not have been possible without my involvement with JCBF.

During my time with the Foundation, I had the opportunity to see the amazing contributions of volunteers in the form of both time and money, while growing the Foundation’s resources to enable the organization to make bigger impacts within the local community. Whatever slight lasting contribution I may have made to the Foundation over those years will forever remain my most proud experience as an attorney.

I am blessed with a beautiful (and incredibly tolerant) wife, Mary Garretson. We have three children, Abby (18), Caden (16), & Becker (14), who could not be more different from one another if they tried. They are our pride and joy on most days. When time permits, you will find me with a fly rod in hand chasing trout in Colorado or Montana, or bonefish in the Bahamas. In between, I fish “green carp” (bass) tournaments across Kansas and Missouri as an officer for “Backlashers”, a Kansas City club.