Abraham D. Kuhl (J.D. ’08) started his legal career as an intern, assembling a desk at the Lee’s Summit law firm where he would become partner and eventually the sole owner in 2024. Now, he’s added NFL Players Association Certified Sports Agent to his resume.

For Kuhl, family and sports have always been central to his life. They have also shaped his career, first as a family law attorney and now as an NFL agent.

Growing up, Kuhl played baseball, football, soccer and lacrosse, along with boxing and Muay Thai kickboxing. He always wanted to find a way to build a career in sports, but when he began practicing law, sports wasn't an area his firm handled, so he put that ambition aside and took on the role of husband and father.

“For all of us, life is about balance and making time for the things that are important,” Kuhl said. “While being a law firm owner, NFL agent and president of the alumni association does take some time, it is never at the expense of my family. I have an extremely supportive wife, Amanda, and five children, and when 5 p.m. hits, I am either at home or coaching one of their practices or games. Being a husband and father is the role I am most proud of.”

So, why sports now?

“I would occasionally help athletes with their legal matters and had friends and family that played professional sports and worked with agents,” Kuhl said. “A friend of mine had a bad experience with his agent and I thought that one day I could be an agent and really help them. In 2024, the time felt right, so I added sports law to our practice areas at the firm. In 2025, I took the NFLPA exam and hit the ground running.”

As an NFL agent, Kuhl is the sole member of a separate entity, Kuhl Sports.

NFLPA-certified agents are fortunate to sign even one player to an NFL contract in their first year. Of the 139 agents certified in the 2025 class, only 35 have a player that signed a contract with an NFL team. Kuhl had two.

While Kuhl represents athletes at multiple levels, two have reached the NFL: Running Back Elijah Tau-Tolliver, who spent the preseason with the Baltimore Ravens, and Defensive Tackle D.J. Withers, who spent the preseason with the Dallas Cowboys.

“The attorney-client relationship is very similar to the agent-client relationship,” Kuhl said. “It’s all about trust and building relationships. Every single player at the NFL level is extraordinarily gifted. The difference between making a 53-man roster and being on the practice squad is razor-thin. I tell my players that we don’t need every single team to love you. We just need one.”

In Kuhl’s opinion, the work begins with building relationships long before a contract is on the table. It involves getting to know not only the athlete, but also their family, coaches, university staff and the people across the NFL who can help open doors.

“There is a lot more that goes into being an agent than simply picking up the phone and negotiating a contract,” Kuhl said. “You have to also serve as an advisor and mentor for these young athletes as this is unchartered territory for them.”

The skills Kuhl developed before entering the sports world continue to shape the way he builds relationships with clients today. His path to becoming an attorney, and eventually an NFL agent, began with a simple desire to help people.

Kuhl initially considered an accelerated path into law school. He ultimately took more time to make sure law was the right fit, including studying abroad in Ireland and taking a year away from school while pursuing his passion for Muay Thai.

When he was ready to return to academics, the University of Missouri-Kansas City offered him the opportunity to stay in the Midwest, close to his family, while studying at a law school with a strong family law program.

Many professors left lasting impressions on him, not only through their teaching but through the relationships they continued to build outside of the classroom. For Kuhl, that accessibility is one of the defining strengths of a UMKC School of Law education.

“The beauty of UMKC is the faculty are a phone call away,” Kuhl said. “The professors are present. They are on campus. They are at sporting events. They aren't just these mysterious figures that appear for an hour in the front of class then disappear.”

That connection also extended into the practical experience Kuhl gained as a student. Rather than simply preparing him to understand the law, UMKC gave him opportunities to begin putting it into practice.

Through the UMKC Family Law Clinic, Kuhl tried seven cases while still in law school, gaining courtroom experience with faculty guidance. He also published two articles in the Journal for the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and clerked for Jackson County Commissioner Sherrill Rosen, an experience that ultimately connected him with Jim Young, the founder of the Lee’s Summit law firm where Kuhl would begin his career.

Today, Kuhl continues to practice family law. While the firm's name has changed, Kuhl said its mission has remained the same: serving families.

“The transition has been very smooth, and I give credit to that to my tremendous team, especially my paralegal, Crystal England, and office manager, Erin Rasmussen,” Kuhl said. “With our new editions, namely attorneys Luke Kuhl (J.D. ’08) and Chaz Mercer (J.D. 25), as well as paralegal Tina Kolden and office staff Sarah Kleinsmith, our firm continues to grow.”

That same commitment to the people around him has carried into his connection with UMKC. Kuhl has served on the UMKC Law Alumni Association Board, recently as president.

“I give a lot of credit to Jesse Osman as well as past presidents that I was fortunate enough to observe while on the board.” Kuhl said. “You get to meet people from different areas of law, and everyone brings something unique to the table. When I look at the presidents before me, these are people that I admire and respect. I’ve learned from them how to carry yourself, how to do this or how to do that. The beauty of a board is you have all areas of law represented, all aspects of life represented, but we are working together to build something better.”

To Kuhl, remaining connected to UMKC is another way of giving back to the institution that helped launch his career.

"Whether it is the UMKC Foundation, The Big Event, Athletics or the university as a whole, we always try to give back to the university that gave me this opportunity," Kuhl said.

His advice to current law students is to make the most of the opportunities and relationships available to them.

“Law school is so much more than your GPA,” Kuhl said. “Don’t get me wrong, your grades are important. But a lot of the legal world isn’t about necessarily ‘what you know,’ but rather ‘who you know.’ Most of my success in the legal world didn't come from what I read on a Saturday evening in the library. It came from building those connections through networking events, having an internship and just getting to know one another.”

That lesson has followed Kuhl from his days as a law student to his work in the courtroom and now in the NFL.

“I feel confident,” Kuhl said. “I feel ready in any negotiation. I feel the skills that were developed while at UMKC have me prepared to handle any situation.”

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