Westlake Lawyers

As of November 2014 I will have been engaged as a full time practitioner for forty years. Over those years I have had the opportunity to represent clients in a wide variety of cases of many stripes. Plainly I have learned that giving my clients good counsel and wise advice based on reliable information is the best path to securing a result that is the best of the available outcomes.

John P. Thomas concentrates his practice in the areas of probate and estate litigation, elder law, estate and trust planning and administration. He has been named a 2010 Rising Star in Ohio Super Lawyers, and received the Ohio State Bar Foundation 2015 Community Service Award for Attorneys 40 and Under in District 18.

He formerly served as Treasurer of The Association of Specialists in Aging, which promotes the well-being of older persons in Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, and Ashtabula Counties. He is a past Board member of the Boston College Alumni Association in Cleveland, and a member of the St. Ignatius High...

Elizabeth L. Perla is the owner and attorney with The Perla Law Firm, LLC where her main areas of practice are estate planning, elder law, probate, and family law. She has an overall client rating on Martindale.com of 5.0 out of 5.0. She is a frequent speaker for local groups as well as NBI at continual education seminars on issues of estate planning and probate. Elizabeth served on the Steering Committee for the Young Lawyer’s section of NAELA, the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys. Elizabeth is a member of the Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law sections of the...

Nick Weiss opened his practice after years of civil litigation and in-house counsel experience. A transplant from Maine, he now represents families, individuals, and businesses, throughout northeast Ohio. He is proud to have been AV Preeminent rated by Martindale Hubbell every year since 2020 and is an Ohio Rising Star on Superlawyers.

Neil is an AV rated Super Lawyer and Board Certified Employment law Specialist. He is a passionate, resourceful and tireless advocate who has represented individuals and companies in employment and business disputes for over 30 years.

Neil began his legal practice at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey in Cleveland in 1986. He practiced employment law with his own firm from 1993 until 2016, when he joined Elfvin, Klingshirn, Royer & Torch, LLC.

Neil's knowledge and experience work for his clients. "I grew up on a Lake Erie winery. There I learned hard work and the values I use today. I...

Eric Valente, JD, MBA, is an attorney and founding member of Valente Law, LLC. He studied business administrations and earned his MBA while attending law school at the University of Toledo. Eric began his career doing business litigation at J.W. Krueger & Associates, LLC, where he still maintains an office. Eric has always had a creative, entrepreneurial spirit, and estate planning and business counseling provides him with the opportunity to engage these interests while helping clients achieve their goals. Eric's focus areas are estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Healthcare Planning), Probate Administration and Business Law. Eric is a...

I always knew I wanted to do something in consumer protection. I started my first career out of graduate school as a policy analyst in the Office Of Public Safety for The Mayor of The City Of Los Angeles. I helped increase the quality of life of 12 million Angelenos and did not know any of them. So, I decided to move back to Cleveland to help the people I grew up with, saw on a daily basis, shared interests and cares with, and came to know and call friend.

II went to law school to do just...

Charmaine Rozario is an Employment Immigration Lawyer in Cleveland, Ohio who practiced law in the High Court of Bombay prior to immigrating to the United States. Charmaine has led Herman Legal Group’s Business Immigration Department since 2002, representing some of the Midwest’s fastest growing and dynamic employers. Prior to joining our firm, Charmaine served as immigration counsel to one of the top 20 software companies in the U.S.

Kamal H. Dari is an attorney from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He currently serves as Of-Counsel to Herman Legal Group in Dearborn, Michigan. In addition, Kamal maintains his own practice (Dari Law, PLLC) in Ann Arbor. His areas of practice are Immigration and Business Law. Kamal received his JD, cum laude, from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, and a bachelor’s degree in sport management (BA) from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. He is fluent in English and Arabic.

Rachel Sabo Friedmann is a founding partner of The Friedmann Firm LLC. Rachel practices all aspects of employment law throughout the state of Ohio. A Cleveland native, Rachel attended Cleveland State University where she received her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Promotional Communication before attending Capital University Law School, where she received her J.D. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys traveling, fitness and spending time with friends and family. Rachel manages a large docket of cases and assists clients with claims involving discrimination, wage and hour issues, unpaid overtime, FMLA issues and harassment. Rachel is...

Attorney Daniel Myers is the founding member of Myers Law, LLC. As an attorney, Dan has successfully represented homeowners, consumers, employees, and small businesses in a variety of legal matters, handling everything from small claims disputes (cases involving $3,000 or less) to million-dollar class actions. Dan regularly represents clients in civil lawsuits and disputes across Ohio.

Dan focuses his attention on representing homeowners against bad residential contractors, employees with minimum wage and overtime pay concerns, and property owners as well as commercial contractors in construction defect cases. Dan knows how to use Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act (CSPA) and Home Solicitation...

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...

I am dual certified as an Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation, and as a Specialist in Elder Law by the Ohio State Bar Association. I am one of twenty-three attorneys with this dual certification. I devote my practice to those issues uniquely affecting the elderly, the disabled and their families. Having been raised by a parent with early onset Parkinson's Disease, and having witnessed a grandparent spend over sixteen years in a nursing facility suffering from Alzheimer's, I gravitated early in my career towards the practice of elder and disability law. I established my Law...

AV Rated by Martindale-Hubble Life Member – Multimillion Dollar Advocates Forum 10.0/10.0 Avvo Rating

Michael Hill has been described as a generational attorney for consistently obtaining 7 and 8 figure trial verdicts and settlements, including the largest verdict against a nursing home in Ohio History—a $26 million verdict in May 2023. Michael has met the stringent Super Lawyers standard, voted by his peers as one of the top 2.5% of attorneys in 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Michael has been rated by the National Trial Lawyers Association as a Top 40 Under 40 trial lawyer in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 and one of the Top 100 lawyers...

Susan’s life work is to help students in crisis and to meet their legal needs. She handles matter ranging from special education issues, student disciplinary matters and Title IX investigations. Susan has the knowledge and experience required to navigate due process complaints and shaping of 504 Plans and Individualized Education Programs. She also handles student matters involving hazing, bullying and social media.

Susan has gained a national reputation for representing student and professors in Title IX cases. She is routinely hired as a student advisor for the campus investigation and hearing phase of proceedings and also subsequent university...