Nicholas B. Clifford, Jr., and his wife, Maria, bought a four-bedroom, 6.5-bath home at 38 Fair Oaks Dr. in Ladue's Fair Oaks Estates from Paul D. Diemer for $1.525 million on Nov. 25.

Diemer paid $1.25 million for the property in July 2003.

The 4,009-square-foot house was built in 1935.

Mr. Clifford is a partner at the St. Louis office of Armstrong Teasdale, LLP. A member of the firm's intellectual property services practice group, his areas of expertise include patent infringement, copyright infringement, trademark infringement and trade secret misappropriation litigation.

Prior to joining Armstrong Teasdale, LLP, he was a partner in the intellectual property practice group at the St. Louis office of Thompson Coburn, LLP.

Mr. Clifford graduated from Trinity College in Connecticut and received a J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Mrs. Clifford has served as an assistant buyer for G. Fox, a division of May Department Stores in Hartford, Conn.

She also graduated from Trinity College.

There have been 149 sales in Ladue in 2008, with a median price of $735,250.

Address: 38 Fair Oaks Drive
Buyer(s): Nicholas B Clifford Jr. (Husband) and Maria L Clifford (Wife)
Seller(s): Paul D Diemer Trust and Paul D Diemer (Revocable Trust)
Sale date: Nov. 25, 2008