Cleveland, OH Lawyers

Wills and Trust Law

1350 Euclid Ave., Suite 280, Cleveland, OH 44115

Andrew C. Goodwin is principal attorney at Rhodium Law, LLC, in Cleveland, Ohio, where his practice includes estate planning and elder law. Before becoming a lawyer, he worked in information technology for more than a decade, holding management and senior positions at a Fortune 500 company and a flagship state university. Goodwin earned his law degree at Harvard Law School; his Ohio admission dates to 2015. Commercial agreements, privacy and cybersecurity were the subjects of his early legal work at a large firm. An in-house counsel position with a global health system followed. Outside his professional work, he was his mother’s primary caregiver during five and a half years with dementia. At Rhodium Law, Goodwin’s estate planning work ranges from wills and revocable living trusts to beneficiary reviews and trust funding. He advises families in Ohio about Medicaid planning, guardianship and special needs trusts, as well as planning for long-term care. Executors and successor trustees also turn to him for advice on administration, including the filings and court requirements that accompany those responsibilities. Business and property matters form another part of his practice. For entrepreneurs and business owners, his work includes operating agreements, contracts and succession planning; he also serves Ohio businesses as fractional general counsel. His real estate work covers both residential and commercial transactions, with assignments including title review, deeds and commercial leases. Goodwin’s professional memberships include WealthCounsel and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

Criminal Defense Law

323 West Lakeside Ave., Suite 200, Cleveland, OH 44113

Henry Hilow’s legal career in Cleveland has encompassed criminal defense, prosecution and litigation involving the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association. His legal education culminated in a Juris Doctor from Cleveland Marshall Law School in 1981. Before law school, he studied history and English at Miami University, earning his undergraduate degree in 1978. After his admission to the Ohio bar in November 1981, John T. Corrigan hired Hilow as an assistant county prosecutor in the criminal division. He spent eleven years in the prosecutor’s office. An assignment to the major trial division followed in 1985, with work that included murder cases, rape cases and special investigations. Hilow moved into private practice after an unsuccessful campaign for a judgeship. In 1992, he and William McGinty established McGinty Hilow; Kevin Spellacy joined them in 1994. His earlier exposure to legal work included a job as a messenger at Jones Day while he was a high-school freshman. In December 2022, Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals listed Hilow as counsel for the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association in Cleveland v. Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Assn. The appeal concerned the city’s challenge to an arbitration award and the association’s request to confirm it. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s judgment confirming the award. His civic background also includes service on Lakewood’s Zoning Board of Appeal.

Medical Malpractice Law

6105 Parkland Blvd #200, Cleveland, OH 44124, USA

Jay Kelley is the Managing Partner of Elk + Elk and one of Ohio’s most respected medical malpractice attorneys, with more than 25 years of courtroom experience. Based in Cleveland, Jay has handled high-profile birth injury, maternal death, surgical error, and wrongful death cases across the state. Jay’s legal career began as a felony prosecutor, followed by a role defending major Ohio hospital systems. This rare dual background gives him a unique advantage in medical negligence litigation, allowing him to anticipate defense strategies and advocate effectively for injured clients and their families. In 2002, Jay joined Elk + Elk. He became a Partner in 2011 and was named Managing Partner in 2017, where he now leads the firm’s litigation strategy and case development in state, federal, and appellate courts.

Aviation

600 Superior Ave, Cleveland, OH 44114, USA

Area of Practice: Aviation Law With compassion, dedication, and years of aviation litigation experience, Jamie R. Lebovitz has focused his practice on helping families who have lost loved ones in aviation disasters. Jamie is a senior partner at Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy. He practices in the areas of personal injury and wrongful death litigation with a concentration in aviation, railroad, and trucking calamities. Jamie has more than 35 years of experience as a trial attorney, and he has recovered numerous multi-million dollar settlements and jury verdicts in cases against commercial airlines, aircraft manufacturers, railroad and trucking companies, and the federal government. He’s a member of the American Association for Justice, the Ohio Association of Justice, the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys, the Ohio State, Cleveland, and Cuyahoga County Bar Associations, the Lawyers-Pilots Bar Association, and numerous other organizations. Jamie has been appointed by federal and state courts as a member of the lead trial counsel team and the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in aviation and railroad accident cases. In these roles, he has coordinated the investigation and preparation of cases for trial on behalf of all claimants and litigants. He has earned an AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell®, which has been the leading authority on peer review evaluation of a lawyer’s capabilities for more than 100 years. The rating is awarded to lawyers who have achieved the highest levels of professional skill and integrity in their fields. In addition, Law & Politics recognizes Jamie as an Ohio Super Lawyer®. Attorneys who receive this title are chosen by their peers and the independent research of Law & Politics as representatives of the top attorneys in their state. Jamie is married and has three children. Outside of the office, he enjoys skiing, reading, traveling, playing golf and tennis, and wine tasting.

Family and Divorce Law

4785 Memphis Ave, Cleveland, OH 44144, USA

Lindsay Nickolls practices family law in Cleveland, Ohio, at The Nickolls Law Firm. Before entering law, she worked with children and families while studying social work at the University of Michigan. That advocacy began during her master’s studies, with counseling that addressed divorce, domestic violence, substance abuse and delinquency. Her work drew on “love and logic” and other solution-focused techniques. She went on to earn a law degree from Cleveland Marshall College of Law, pursuing legal training as another way to advocate for families in crisis. Family law is not the only role described in her professional background: her firm biography also identifies work as a mediator, parenting coordinator, guardian and estate planner. It connects her law and social work education with domestic matters, elder matters and estate planning. The Nickolls Law Firm has its office on Memphis Avenue in Cleveland. Its geographic reach extends beyond the city: the firm serves clients throughout Ohio and identifies Cleveland and Lorain as frequent locations of its practice. At the firm level, the listed services cover divorce and dissolution, division of property, support for spouses and children, custody and grandparents’ rights. The firm also lists mediation, parenting coordination and guardian ad litem services. Its post-decree work concerns enforcement and modification of agreements after final divorce, dissolution and parenting agreements have been entered with the court.

Personal Injury Law

55 Public Square, Suite 1700, Cleveland, OH 44113

MARK J. OBRAL is the founder and President of Obral, Silk & Pal, LLC. Since the start of his legal career in 1984, Attorney Obral has dedicated his law practice to representing the injured. Mr. Obral completed his undergraduate degree at Cleveland State University and obtained his Juris Doctorate from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Mr. Obral is licensed to practice in all Ohio Courts, including the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and has argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court of Ohio. He has successfully represented injured clients in the State of Ohio and throughout the United States for over 26 years. Mr. Obral has extensive experience in providing first-class representation to injured persons, including successfully litigating multi-million dollar claims for his clients. He takes great pride in providing professional and personal initiative in the representation of each client.

Labor Law

1468 West Ninth St., Suite 720, Cleveland, OH 44113

Since 1994, Teresa Pofok’s practice has been devoted to the representation of multiemployer benefit plans jointly sponsored by unions and management. After starting her legal career with a union labor law firm, she served as an in-house compliance consultant with The Segal Company, a national multiemployer actuarial and consulting firm. This background provides her with a detailed understanding of the critical funding issues confronting most pension and health funds today. Teresa’s practice is concentrated in the area of employee benefits. She works with multiemployer benefit plans and employees on health and welfare and retirement benefit issues. She advises clients concerning legislative compliance issues, including retirement plan qualification, Affordable Care Act, continuation coverage under COBRA, and Health Insurance portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA) and ERISA claims procedures. Teresa represents clients with respect to employee plan investigations and routine audits before various governmental agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of Labor and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporations. These matters also include obtaining IRS determination letters, prohibited transaction exemptions, private letter rulings and opinion letters along with utilizing the IRS Employee Plan Compliance resolution System. Teresa graduated, cum laude, from Kent State University and earned her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University College of Law at Camden. She is a member of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Ohio State Bar Association and American Bar Association. She was recognized in the 2006 edition of Ohio Rising Stars magazine.