At Taft, we work as one team, driven and committed to helping you succeed. Our attorneys understand that innovative, value-creating solutions help our clients reach their goals. Our collaborative approach, advanced technological resources, and depth of services can transform what you expect from your legal team.

With more than 925 attorneys, Taft has offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Delaware, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Detroit/Southfield, Mich.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Covington, Ky.; and Washington, DC.

The firm practices across a wide range of industries in virtually every area of law, including:

  • Business
  • Bankruptcy and Restructuring
  • Employment and Labor Relations
  • Energy
  • Environmental
  • Health Care
  • Intellectual Property
  • Lending and Finance
  • Litigation
  • Private Client
  • Real Estate
  • Tax

Since 1885, Taft has maintained a constant focus: to provide clients, both large and small, with legal advice and services that meet the highest possible standards.

Affiliated Businesses

As an additional service to our clients, Taft attorneys often partner with members of our affiliated businesses to provide comprehensive service to our clients. Our affiliated businesses include:

  • Focused Capitol Solutions LLC
  • Ginovus LLC
  • Ingardus LLC
  • Taft Business Consulting LLC

Through these businesses, clients can access business consulting across a variety of disciplines, from general planning and forecasting to government relations and public policy.

Awards and Honors

Taft has received numerous awards and honors:

  • 85 Taft attorneys and 34 practice areas are listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
  • Eight Taft attorneys are listed in Chambers High Net Worth (HNW), and the firm is named a leading law firm in the HNW guide in Private Wealth Law for Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio.
  • Taft is ranked among the Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms." Taft received 20 national Tier 1 rankings, and Tier 1 rankings by metropolitan area in 137 practice areas.
  • 363Taft attorneys were honored with inclusion in the most recent edition of Best Lawyers in America, with an additional 136 attorneys honored in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.
  • 112 Taft attorneys were named to the most recent list of Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers magazine.
  • 78 Taft attorneys were named to the most recent list of Rising Stars by Super Lawyers magazine.
  • Taft is rated a Highly Recommended Firm in Ohio and Indiana as well as a Recommended Firm in Minnesota by Benchmark Litigation, and Taft attorneys hold 22 rankings by Benchmark in one or more categories.

Main Areas of Practice:

Business: We provide legal services to public, private and non-profit clients in a wide variety of industries, including banking, construction, distribution, finance, health care, housing, insurance, manufacturing, private equity, professional sports, real estate, retail, and utilities. Members of the group represent clients of different sizes, from emerging companies to Fortune 500 companies, on issues ranging from local matters to transactions with national and international implications.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring: We represent debtors, lenders, committees, suppliers, real estate owners and developers, equipment lessors, receivers, trustees, buyers and sellers, and other parties in connection with a wide assortment of transactions and litigation. We have extensive experience in the automotive, steel, telecommunications, basic manufacturing, retail and wholesale goods, and distressed-debt trading industries.

Employment and Labor Relations: We represent clients in a wide range of legal services to manage the complex relationship between employers and employees, including labor management relations, employment litigation, day-to-day counseling, benefit plans and ERISA compliance, workplace safety and health, immigration and citizenship, and workers’ compensation.

Energy: We provide full-service representation to a broad range of energy providers, public utilities, transmission-only utilities, independent power producers, developers, regional entities and other energy-sector participants.

Environmental: We provide services in the areas of trial practice, Superfund defense and negotiation, enforcement defense, cost-recovery for plaintiffs and defendants, criminal environmental defense, environmental insurance and toxic tort litigation, mold and sick building litigation, lawsuits involving environmental problems discovered as a result of real property transfers or mergers and acquisitions, Brownfields redevelopment, defense of claims of occupational exposures, and administrative proceedings before state and federal agencies.

Health Care: We advise individual and institutional healthcare providers, research institutions, and pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology clients in multiple areas of law, including business and finance, employment and labor relations, malpractice litigation, insurance, regulatory and administrative law, ERISA, third-party reimbursement (Medicare, Medicaid and private payers) and hospital financing (tax-exempt bond financing).

Intellectual Property: We counsel and assist clients with patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical and life sciences litigation, including Hatch-Waxman litigation, biosimilars, computer software and internet-related issues.

Lending and Finance: Lenders and borrowers alike need lawyers that understand market dynamics and help simplify the complexity of transactions wherever possible. Clients trust our team to bring a practical, business-oriented approach to each transaction. Our team represents lenders and borrowers in all types of financing transactions, including asset-based lending, mezzanine finance, traditional working capital and equipment finance, acquisition finance (senior and mezzanine), capital call lines of credit, real estate finance, equipment leasing, regulatory compliance, investigations and enforcement, and consumer financial services and lending.

Litigation: We represent clients in pretrial, trial and appellate litigation in federal and state courts, before regulatory agencies and arbitration panels, and in alternative dispute resolution in a full range of matters, including antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy, construction, ERISA, education, estates, trusts and fiduciary, environmental, FCPA and international anti-corruption, First Amendment and media law, government contracts, insurance, intellectual property, pharmaceutical and life sciences, product liability and personal injury, securities, sports, and corporate compliance and white collar criminal defense.

Private Client: We counsel owners of family businesses in establishing organizational structures to satisfy current and long-term needs, to plan for the transfer of the business to the next generation (whether during the owner's lifetime or upon death), and to implement strategies. We also represent clients on personal planning, taking into account estate and income tax issues, closely-held businesses, second marriages, and planning for special needs of children and other heirs.

Real Estate: We represent clients in all services related to the acquisition, disposition, financing, leasing, management, and use of real estate, including lease, financing agreement, construction contract, and purchase and sale agreement negotiations, land use representation and litigation, and tax valuation representation and litigation.

Tax: We represent public corporations, financial institutions, domestic joint ventures, new business ventures, non-profit and tax-exempt organizations, and individuals in tax matters such as business transactions, employee benefits and executive compensation, international taxation, mergers and acquisitions, state and local tax, and tax controversy and litigation.

Management & Demographics
Management & Personnel
Chairman and Managing Partner
Contacts
Contacts
David R. Melloh
Taft Health Care Practice Co-chair
James D. ("Jimmy") Shanahan
Taft Public Finance and Economic Development Practice Co-chair
Kostas A. Poulakidas
Taft Public Finance and Economic Development Practice Co-chair
Michael P. Boulette
Taft Domestic Relations Practice Chair
Elizabeth M. Brama
Taft Energy Practice Chair
William J. Serritella, Jr.
Taft Commercial Litigation Practice Co-chair
Jason R. Asmus
Taft Commercial Litigation Practice Co-chair
Lynn Rowe Larsen
Taft Commercial Litigation Practice Co-chair
David Tavolier
Tax
216-706-3838
Howard Zweig
Taft Higher Education Industry Chair
Dominic A. DiPuccio
Taft Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Chair
Michael C. Jurasek
Taft Private Equity Practice Chair
Howard Bobrow
Taft Venture Capital Practice Chair
Douglas C. Anspach, Jr.
Taft Employment and Labor Relations Practice Co-chair
Heather A. Jackson
Taft Employment Practice Co-chair
Kathryn Kovitz Arnold
Taft Real Estate Practice Co-chair
(312) 836-4031
Carl A. Murway
Private Client
216-241-2838
Stephen Auten
Taft Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences Litigation Practice Chair
312-840-4313
David H. Wallace
Taft Cleveland Litigation Chair
216-241-2838
Melvin S. Shotten
Health Care
513-357-9311
Frank J. Deveau
Taft Environmental Practice Chair
317-713-3520
Michael Wager
Business & Finance
216-706-3940
Jeffrey S. Schloemer
Business & Finance
513-357-9609
Michael O'Neil
Taft Business Restructuring, Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights Practice Co-chair
317-713-3561
Paul Hage
Taft Business Restructuring, Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights Practice Co-chair
Richard O. Kissel II
Taft Private Client and Estate Planning Practice Co-chair
Alison Midden
Private Client and Estate Planning Practice Co-chair
Mark D. Rubenfire
Taft Real Estate Practice Co-chair
Jonathan G. Polak
Taft Intellectual Property Practice Chair
317-713-3532
Gregory W. Bee
Taft Health Care Practice Co-chair
(513) 357-9673
Kimberly Copp
Taft Gaming Practice Co-Chair
312-836-4068
Paul T. Jenson
Taft Chicago Partner-in-Charge, Gaming Industry Co-chair
Todd C. Lady
Taft Tax Practice Chair

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  • Administrative / Regulatory Law
  • Antitrust Law
  • Appellate Practice
  • Arbitration
  • Banking and Finance Law
  • Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
  • Bet-the-Company Litigation
  • Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships)
  • Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Construction Law
  • Copyright Law
  • Corporate Compliance Law
  • Corporate Governance Law
  • Corporate Law
  • Criminal Defense: White-Collar
  • Education Law
  • Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law
  • Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
  • Employment Law - Individuals
  • Employment Law - Management
  • Environmental Law
  • Family Law
  • Financial Services Regulation Law
  • Gaming Law
  • Government Relations Practice
  • Health Care Law
  • Immigration Law
  • Information Technology Law
  • Insurance Law
  • International Arbitration - Governmental
  • International Trade and Finance Law
  • Labor Law - Management
  • Labor Law - Union
  • Litigation - Antitrust
  • Litigation - Banking and Finance
  • Litigation - Bankruptcy
  • Litigation - Construction
  • Litigation - Environmental
  • Litigation - ERISA
  • Litigation - First Amendment
  • Litigation - Intellectual Property
  • Litigation - Labor and Employment
  • Litigation - Land Use and Zoning
  • Litigation - Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Litigation - Municipal
  • Litigation - Real Estate
  • Litigation - Regulatory Enforcement (SEC, Telecom, Energy)
  • Litigation - Securities
  • Litigation - Trusts and Estates
  • Litigation and Controversy - Tax
  • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
  • Mediation
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Law
  • Patent Law
  • Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants
  • Real Estate Law
  • Securities / Capital Markets Law
  • Securities Regulation
  • Tax Law
  • Technology Law
  • Trademark Law
  • Trusts and Estates
  • Venture Capital Law
  • Workers' Compensation Law - Employers

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Managing The Pitfalls of Restitution in Federal White-Collar Cases


by Taft Stettinius & Hollister

While defense attorneys’ primary focus is on their clients serving as little jail time as possible, giving attention to restitution owed is just as important.

managing-the-pitfalls-of-restitution

The Struggle Is Real


by Justin Smulison

Businesses are overlooking state and federal laws when downsizing or closing operations, driving a tidal wave of class action lawsuits from former employees.

Silhouetted figure has a tug of war with shadow

Generation Gaps


by Victoria Brenner

A major case upended aspects of grandparents’ disputed visitation rights regarding their grandchildren. 20 years on, where do laws around the country stand?

Child with hands over older man's eyes

Don’t Cross the Line


by John R. Mitchell and Mira Aftim

Settlement negotiations tend to instigate the most zealous advocacy among attorneys. But how far is “too far?”, and when can settlement demands turn into extortion?

Nike check over image of man in suit with court document in background

Meeting Halfway


by Julia B. Meister

To resolve family and business disputes including wills, trusts, estates and more, mediation is often a more effective, gentler and cheaper option than litigation.

mediation-to-resolve-wills-trusts-estates

In the News: Indiana


by Abigail Rowe

News on listed lawyers in Indiana.

In the News: Indiana

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