Find Lawyers in Cleveland, Ohio for Commercial Litigation
Practice Area Overview
Litigation increasingly occurs in various venues, from state and federal courts to private arbitrations and administrative hearings. Proceedings can involve business-to-business disputes or any number of government agencies. Understanding the motivations and outlook of each of the litigation participants is important for determining weak points to exploit and strong points that will persuade the audience in question. During the past decade, commercial litigators have seen a dramatic uptick in multidistrict and inter-disciplinary litigation, making the stakes higher, the cases more complex, the parties more numerous and the discovery more complicated and unwieldy. Firms that are able to develop and implement a creative legal approach to each individual problem, efficiently focus on the key legal and factual issues, and master and manage the various aspects of these complex matters will be the busiest in the years to come.
In the current challenging economic climate, commercial litigators are under increasing client pressure to keep costs in check, which has both sides testing the efficacy of alternative fee arrangements and the scope of reasonable discovery. Whether the “death of the billable hour” is ultimately realized, the keys to a commercial litigator’s success will continue to be strong client relationships, thought leadership, practical management skills, deep experience, and personal commitment.
Andrew has a history of representing corporate clients in sophisticated, complex, and sensitive matters in a wide variety of industries and disciplines. He has tried cases to verdict in Ohio, Florida, and California and has served as lead appellate counsel in the defense of a class certification denial. For the past 15 years, however, his focus has been in spearheading insurance recoveries for corporate policyholders in a variety of business sectors, under various state and international laws...
Brett represents insurers, lenders, transporters, manufacturers, and other business entities in all aspects of litigation in the federal and state courts, and before various arbitration venues. He has tried to verdict, before juries and courts, class actions, insurance, product liability, lender liability cases, commercial, trucking, real estate, and other business disputes. He has defended insurers in all aspects of commercial, life, health and disability coverage. He has tried or negotiated...
Jeffrey A. Brauer focuses his practice on litigation, construction law, and creditors’ rights matters. Jeff regularly handles complex financial, engineering, and technical disputes in state and federal trial courts and arbitrations. Jeff is experienced in addressing potential claims from development through discovery, mediation, trial, and appeal. Jeff is also often called upon to obtain emergency injunctive relief, such as enforcement of time-sensitive noncompete and nonsolicitation ag...
While fully engaged as Managing Partner of Buckley King, Brent Buckley counsels and represents financial institutions, private equity firms, lenders, businesses and executive management on business issues, complex and structured finance, workouts, asset-based lending, corporate internal investigations, and commercial litigation matters. Brent is nationally recognized for excellence in both corporate law and banking and finance litigation. He is named among the prestigious Legal Who's Who as o...
Erica L. Calderas has extensive experience representing commercial clients of varying sizes as plaintiffs and as defendants in complex matters in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Erica has a deep understanding of a wide range of litigation matters impacting businesses, including business torts, contract disputes, consumer protection claims, trademark infringement, employment disputes, fraud claims, enforcing and defending against claims regarding non-competition agreements and tr...
Justin M. Croniser is an experienced trial lawyer who represents corporations, officers, and employees in complex commercial litigation and class-action lawsuits in state and federal courts throughout the United States. While Justin has represented companies and individuals in many different industries, Justin has considerable experience representing construction companies, healthcare insurers, and title insurance companies. Justin’s experience also includes a wide variety of types of c...
Daniel A. DeMarco represents creditors, both secured and unsecured, creditor’s committees, indenture trustees, trustees, receivers and debtors in numerous reorganization proceedings. He served as chair the firm’s Commercial Services & Restructuring Practice Group and was a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. Dan represents secured lenders including The CIT Group, U.S. Bancorp Equipment Finance, Inc., Textron Financial Corporation, BMW Financial Services NA LLC, Foot...
Ted Dunn brings sophisticated strategy and extensive trial experience to his litigation practice. He represents businesses in complex disputes, including risk management, insurance coverage, contract disputes, professional liability, product liability, workplace intentional torts, and casualty and wrongful death cases. Ted also handles trademark infringement, trade secrets, unfair competition, and closely held entity disputes. Ted is licensed to practice law in Ohio, and is admitted to the Un...
Dubbed zealous and creative by opposing counsel, Aaron S. Evenchik specializes in construction and real estate law, where he represents clients in both transactional and litigation matters. His cross-practice technique allows him to help resolve disputes innovatively and effectively. Aaron’s experience with transactions and handling multiple first chair litigation/arbitration matters enables him to better understand the goal of the deal and draft transactional documents to avoid problem...
Greg’s practice encompasses a variety of litigation matters, including commercial disputes and the litigation of lender liability, insurance coverage, and consumer fraud claims. He has represented defendants in numerous class actions in state and federal courts. Greg has successfully challenged the unconstitutional aspects of Ohio’s medical marijuana law and successfully presented other arguments for cannabis companies in courts around Ohio.
Matthew K. Grashoff focuses his practice on construction law and commercial litigation and has experience in the areas of insurance coverage and appellate practice. Matt manages cases at all stages of the construction process, from bid disputes through project correspondence, scope disputes, change order disputes, alternative-dispute-resolution mechanisms such as dispute review boards and the ODOT step process, and lien and bond claims. He represents clients through all stages of litigation b...
Tom represents growing businesses at each stage of their development, and is regularly asked to serve as outside general counsel for his clients. In that role, Tom advises his clients with respect to innumerable legal issues, including regulatory compliance, corporate governance, contract negotiations, risk management, litigation and other day-to-day business issues. He often works with his clients to overcome short-term regulatory and financial uncertainty to achieve long-term success in dev...
Mark Jacobs is a creative and accomplished litigator with deep experience that is enhanced by his background as a transactional lawyer. Mark has broad commercial litigation experience in state and federal trial and appellate courts, arbitration proceedings, and mediation. As lead trial and appeals counsel, he advises businesses on all aspects of legal issues with a focus on defining and achieving successful business outcomes. Mark also has experience in advising clients in mergers and acquisi...
Elected by fellow partners as the first-ever Managing Partner and to the inaugural Management Committee at Frantz Ward, Chris is involved in establishing the firm’s strategic direction and its day-to-day operations for the growing needs of the firm and the expanding needs of the firm’s clients. He is named to Cleveland Magazine’s Cleveland 500, a list of the most powerful and influential leaders in our community. In addition to his Managing Partner and Management Committee r...
Chris focuses on helping clients navigate disputes, whether by handling litigation or by counseling them on how to best avoid or resolve their disputes. He handles trial and litigation of business disputes of all types, including claims involving business torts, trade secrets, non-competition agreements, and breach of contract and warranty claims. He also has extensive experience in the defense of product liability and toxic tort claims, and has represented manufacturers of a wide range of pr...
Ken Laino began his career in 1978 in New York City, specializing in corporate and securities law. A few years later, he moved to Ohio, and he has now been practicing law in Cleveland for more than forty years. While his practice is diverse, Ken focuses principally on asset protection planning, business law, real estate, and estate planning. In addition to Ohio, he is also licensed to practice law in Florida and New York. Ken counsels both individuals and business entities with respect to ass...
A Partner in Hahn Loeser’s Litigation Area, Eric B. Levasseur is a commercial litigator and trial attorney who represents clients in business disputes around the country. A trusted advisor and creative advocate, Eric designs strategies that guide his clients from the pre-litigation planning stage through trial and the highest levels of appeal. In twenty years in practice, Eric has earned a reputation for cutting to the core of disputes to deliver a successful result, whether inside or o...
To address clients’ most complex commercial disputes, E. Sean Medina provides targeted, creative legal counsel to protect businesses both inside and outside of the courtroom. He represents clients in industries as diverse as healthcare (hospitals and health systems, physicians, and managed care organizations), mining and natural resources, title insurance and escrow, and the hospitality sector. Sean represents one of the top tier health insurance corporations in America. His experience ...
CARL A. MURWAY is a partner in the Cleveland office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP and co-chair of the Private Client Practice Group. He represents clients in a variety of family law matters, including dissolution of marriage, divorce, custody and premarital agreements. Mr. Murway's experience includes complex business valuation issues, treatment of deferred compensation and retirement assets in divorce, analysis of complex executive compensation arrangements, and tax considerations i...
Andrew J. Natale devotes his practice solely to construction law, where he represents general contractors, design/builders, surety companies, subcontractors, specialty trades, suppliers, manufacturers, developers, lenders, owners, and design professionals in all aspects of construction law, including arbitration, mediation and complex commercial litigation. Andy has extensive experience with construction-related litigation, mediation, arbitration, claims management and avoidance, insurance co...
Jim focuses his practice on competition law—resolving disputes between and managing the relationships among competitors and businesses at different levels of the distribution chain. This includes litigating and counseling clients with respect to distribution, antitrust, intellectual property, franchising and licensing matters. Jim has extensive experience in litigating business disputes in the alcoholic beverages, motor vehicle and telecommunications industries, as well as disputes invo...
As a partner with Hahn Loeser, Robert B. Port has extensive experience in business tort litigation, representing both plaintiffs and defendants, nationally, including breach of contract, tortious interference with contractual relations, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of fiduciary duty. Robert has represented clients nationally in class-action lawsuits. Robert also has significant experience in analyzing business financial information and developing damages models based on both ...
Kim, a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rated attorney, is one of the founding Partners of the insurance subrogation firm of Rathbone Group, LLC. Recognized as a National Women in Law Honoree, a Super Lawyer Rising Star for 4 years, as an Inside Business One to Watch, and as one of the Top 25 under 35 in Cleveland, she has focused on insurance subrogation throughout her entire legal career. Kim was elected Managing Partner in 2019. Her responsibilities include supporting the firm’s clie...
Rob Remington maintains a national legal practice encompassing a broad range of business disputes with a focus on complex commercial, construction and real estate litigation. Sophisticated clients with national litigation management experience describe Rob as a “class A” trial lawyer. He has a proven style when it comes to developing cases for trial, jury selection, and connecting with juries on even the most complex of issues. Rob represents contractors, owners, lenders, material...
For more than 25 years, Mark has focused his practice on commercial, construction and real estate litigation and development. He is an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association (Commercial and Construction Panels) and a mediator for Cuyahoga County business cases. He also represents real estate brokers and salespersons in contract review, regulatory compliance, and litigation. Mark prides himself on solving problems and advising clients on how to avoid them altogether. He is both p...
For more than 30 years, Dean has represented individuals, corporations, partnerships and other legal entities in civil litigation, including hearings, bench trials, jury trials, arbitrations, and mediations in state and federal courts in a number of locations throughout the United States. He has counseled clients in a wide variety of business disputes in such areas of law as contracts, shareholder disputes, lender liability, construction claims, securities fraud, trade secrets, non-compete ag...
Dennis R. Rose represents clients across a wide spectrum of industries at both the trial and appellate level. Dennis has extensive experience handling a broad range of disputes in federal and state courts throughout the country. He has served as national litigation counsel in products liability litigation and Ohio counsel for lender liability and toxic tort matters. He represents clients in a diverse spectrum of industries, including financial services, paper, manufacturing, retail, real esta...
Aanchal Sharma is a Partner at Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell LLP. Her multifaceted practice combines business and commercial litigation with real estate disputes and trust and estate litigation. She regularly handles contract disputes, business tort claims, and commercial real estate disputes. These practice areas also make her uniquely suited in the more specialized area of trust, estate and probate litigation, often involving corporate or financial institutions as fiduciaries. In this area, ...
Mike is one of the founding partners of Frantz Ward. He has a broad-based general litigation practice involving both business litigation and personal injury litigation. Mike’s business litigation practice includes general contract and business torts, ERISA, insurance coverage litigation, professional malpractice, regulatory, consumer sales practices, and health care, including the defense of class action claims in several of those areas. He also represents a wide variety of companies in...
Area of Emphasis Cary Snyder is a shareholder in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland. He primarily works in the areas of complex commercial litigation and appellate practice. Mr. Snyder has experience in all stages of litigation, from drafting complaints through dispositive motions, discovery, settlement, and trial. He also represents clients in matters before federal and state appellate courts. Prior to joining Babst Calland, he was an associate in the Cleveland, Ohio office of a full-serv...
Christopher W. St. Marie focuses his practice on business litigation, complex commercial disputes, and construction law, and is experienced in counseling clients on a wide variety of litigation matters, including breach of contract, business tort and negligence claims, insurance coverage issues, real estate and construction litigation, bankruptcy, collections, commercial equipment lease/loan enforcement, patent infringement, franchise issues, and claims for the return of stolen or illegally e...
Jim Vail joined the firm in 1979 and has been a Partner since 1986. He served as the firm's Managing Partner from 1996 through 2019. Jim primarily counsels businesses, nonprofit and health care organizations in all aspects of their operations, including formations, mergers and organizations, joint ventures, contracting, and succession planning. Jim argued a case before the United States Supreme Court where he obtained a unanimous favorable decision. Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan, 506 U.S...
DAVID H. WALLACE is a partner in the Cleveland office of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. Mr. Wallace is Co-Chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group, practicing in the area of complex business litigation, intellectual property litigation, employment litigation and construction law. He earned his B.A. degree from Middlebury College, and his J.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Mr. Wallace is a former trustee of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Associatio...
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