Independence Civil Rights Lawyers

Patrick J. Perotti is recognized for outstanding achievements in consumer class actions and employment discrimination, locally and nationally. He is the architect of the firm’s Ohio Lawyers Give Back initiative to distribute unclaimed class action funds to charities. As an award-winning national leader in the fields of consumer class actions, employment discrimination, and wage and hour litigation; with verdicts and settlements exceeding $1 billion dollars, he is regularly selected to lead class suits in Ohio and around the country. His reputation developed from a demand for outcomes which not only offered compensation to class members but also stopped unlawful government...

Nicholas A. DiCello joined Spangenberg Shibley & Liber after graduating from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law in 2002. Mr. DiCello has been selected to the list of Super Lawyers® Rising Stars? on numerous occasions, as well as on the list of Super Lawyers®. In 2012, he joined the Judge John M. Manos Inn of Court. He’s also been named as one of the “Top 40 Under 40 Trial Lawyers” by The National Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. DiCello handles a wide range of litigation matters involving medical malpractice and professional misconduct including insurance claims, accounting malpractice, and misconduct by...

Neal E. Shapero is the managing shareholder of the law firm of Shapero | Roloff Co., L.P.A. and has over 30 years of experience representing injured persons and their families throughout Ohio and across the country. Neal is an experienced litigator and has conducted numerous trials with a high rate of success. His reputation and experience have led to frequent requests by colleagues, throughout the country, to serve as co-counsel in complex and sophisticated matters such as medical malpractice, nursing home abuse and neglect, railroad injury cases, products liability, wrongful death, civil rights violations and commercial litigation. ...

Icove Legal Group Ltd. Is a public interest law firm which handles cases primarily in the areas of social security disability law, consumer law, civil rights law, ADA and housing discrimination law. We do not charge for consultation and many cases can be handled on a contingency fee basis.

John Colan has a profound appreciation for the concepts of fairness and equity. His passion for ethics and doing right by clients helps him effectively advocate for plaintiffs who have been wronged by another person or business’s actions. (John even taught Ethics and Legal Issues at a technical college from 2014 to 2016.) One of his early positions was in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office, where he aggressively sought to hold criminals accountable for the suffering they inflicted on their victims (he maintained a 99.8 percent conviction rate on more than 1,000 crimes as an Assistant Prosecutor in the General Felony...

Subodh (rhymes with “abode”) Chandra (rhymes with “tundra”) is the founding and managing partner of The Chandra Law Firm LLC. Chandra’s practice focuses on high-profile civil and appellate litigation, including civil-rights, employment, and business litigation; and on internal investigations and white-collar-criminal law, in both federal and state courts. The litigation that Chandra handles often has a crisis-communications, public-policy dimension.

Before founding the firm, Chandra served as Director of Law of the City of Cleveland, a billion-dollar corporation. Chandra led the work of an 82-lawyer department with both criminal and civil divisions. He also sometimes served as the City’s acting...

Neal Barkan joined Barkan Meizlish as a Senior Partner in January 2014 when his firm, Barkan & Barkan Co., LPA, which he founded with his father, Irving Barkan, merged with Barkan Meizlish Handelman Goodin DeRose Wentz, LLP. Neal is a partner and practices in the areas of Personal Injury, Trial Practice, and Negligence Law.

Mr. Barkan graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1975 with the summa cum laude distinction. He received his law degree from the George Washington University, National Law Center, in 1978, where he was active in the legal “street” clinic which served those who could...

David is a premier civil trial and employment attorney in Cleveland, Ohio with 38 years' experience. He has been representing individuals in employment disputes nearly his entire career. For four decades, the preeminent Legal Directory, Martindale-Hubbell, has given David its highest rating, AV. Martindale Hubbell assigns the AV certification mark only to those attorneys who have been ranked by their peers at the highest level of professional excellence. David has successfully tried and settled a vast number of cases involving all types of employment discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation, and wage and hour cases. David is an adjunct Professor...

Jacqueline Greene joined Friedman & Gilbert in February 2014. Jacqueline’s civil rights practice focuses primarily on police and prison/jail misconduct, wrongful convictions and wrongful imprisonment, and other government misconduct.

Jacqueline also provides criminal defense representation in federal, state, and municipal criminal cases.

In addition, Jacqueline serves as Co-Coordinator for the Ohio Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. In this capacity, Jacqueline recruits and organizes pro bono criminal defense attorneys for political criminal cases in the Greater Cleveland area, defends protesters herself, and represents the NLG in civil litigation. Jacqueline also trains and organizes NLG Legal Observers (who observe law enforcement conduct at...

Alex has represented private and publicly- traded companies and non-profit organizations of all sizes, as well as their owners, in litigation along the entire spectrum of business disputes: commercial and contract, real estate, shareholder and partnership, broker-dealer, employment, unfair competition, and many others.

When experience counts...Call me to help you navigate your way through your situation! I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. When I was young my passion has always been to bring fairness to our justice system. I have been chasing this objective ever since. I earned my Bachelors Degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Clarion University in Political Science. While at Clarion University, I played football on a full athletic scholarship, was a 4 year starter and the team Captain. I earned a Masters Degree in Public Administration at the University of Akron. ...

Matt Besser is a discrimination lawyer in Cleveland, representing employees in employment discrimination, harassment, whistleblower, and wrongful termination cases. In addition to his work at Bolek Besser Glesius LLC, Matt is the General Counsel of the ACLU of Ohio. Matt holds the prestigious “AV Preeminent”® rating from attorney rating service Martindale-Hubbell. U.S. News' Best Lawyers Magazine has repeatedly named him one of the “Best Lawyers” in Cleveland for employment law, and named him the 2022 Cleveland Employment "Lawyer of the Year" for his work representing employees in discrimination cases. For its part, Super Lawyers Magazine has named him to its Cleveland...

More than 20 years experience finding solutions to legal problems.

Cathleen is an accomplished civil trial attorney and a principal in the firm Bolek Besser Glesius LLC. She has been representing individuals in employment disputes for more than twenty years. Cathleen is listed in the 2014, 2013 and 2012 publications "Best Lawyers," her firm has been listed those same years in "Best Law Firms," and she has been included in Ohio Super Lawyers and Ohio Rising Stars Magazines multiple times. Since 2005, the Legal Directory, Martindale Hubbell, has given Cathleen its highest rating, AV®. Martindale Hubbell assigns the AV® certification mark only to those attorneys who have been ranked...

I have been in the practice of law for over two decades and have clients all over the United States and some overseas. I have years of jury trial experience against all kinds of opposing parties from multi-billion dollar corporations to the local county prosecutor's office. I am a member of the prestigious million dollar advocates forum which less than 1% of all trial lawyers are members of, and I have prevailed in litigation against companies such as big three auto manufacturers, steel makers, nuclear materials providers, and won cases against corporate giants like Kellog Brown and Root (KBR)and Halliburton....

Agressive, Honest and Affordable representation available for all of your legal concerns. I am an expericenced Trial Lawyer ready to fight for your rights. My practice focuses predominantly on Criminal Defense, but I have expertise in the areas of Family law, Small Business representation, Contract disputes, Probate law, and Personal injury. Let your problems become mine to solve in a proficient, expedient, and cost-effective manner. If you are looking for an Attorney who will truly advocate for your interests, and one whom still believes this is a noble and respected profession that...

Warner represents brave whistleblowers who expose the misuse of federal dollars in local government grant programs, military contracting, Medicare and Medicaid programs, and at for-profit proprietary or career schools. These actions, brought under the Federal False Claims Act, empower citizens to act on behalf of the Federal Government to recover misspent and wasted funds. To date, Warner’s clients have helped return almost $20,000,000.00 to the United States Treasury.

Former Asst. Canton City Prosecutor (misdemeanors) Former Asst. Stark County Prosecutor (felonies) Over 100 jury trials Former Elected Official (Jackson Twp. Trustee), Adjunct Professor (Mount Union), Corporate Counsel Certified Agent by the National Football League Player's Association (NFLPA)

Professional Experience:
Private practice attorney since 2002.
Assistant Prosecutor, Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office 1998 - 2002

Education:
B.A. from University of Rochester
J.D. from University of Akron School of Law

Bio:
Sarah was raised in Rye, New York and after college, she and her husband moved to Northeast Ohio. They raised their three children in Warren, and it has been the family’s home for nearly 30 years.

Sarah was interested in the law from a very young age. It was her respect for our Constitution that led her to enroll in law school at the University of Akron School...

Experience Magistrate, Lake County Domestic Relations Court March 1992 - December 31, 2002 Magistrate, Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court July 1997 - December 1998 Acting Judge, Painesville Municipal Court March 2008 - continuing Education Bachelor of Business Administration, Kent State University, 1983 Juris Doctor, Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, 1989 Admitted to practice before the Courts of the State of Ohio, the Federal District Court and the United States Supreme Court. Professional Organizations Lake County Bar Association Ohio State Bar Association Ohio Womenâs Bar Association Family Law Committee, Lake County Bar Association Ohio Association of Domestic Relations Judges (former member) Ohio Association...