On the Pulse… The Queen City and Beyond
Founded in 1788 after the American Revolution, the City of Cincinnati was originally called Losantiville. The name was changed a few years after it was established to honor a group of Revolutionary War veterans, Society of the Cincinnati.
Since then, Cincinnati has gathered several nicknames along the way (some flattering and one…not so much): Cincy, The Nati, The City of Seven Hills, and Porkopolis, a nod to the city’s large pork interests at the time. The annual marathon held in Cincinnati is called The Flying Pig. However, one nickname in particular stands out to its residents, The Queen City.
Cincinnatians began calling it The Queen City in the early 1800s. By then, the city had become a creative and economic hub, attracting thousands of new settlers and businesses in the midst of the wildness of the emerging West. That time period marked an explosion in growth for Cincinnati.
The Queen City office of Marshall Dennehey has similar aspirations for growth and expansion. It is one of the firm’s newer offices—opening in May 2014. Sam Casolari and Ray Freudiger were the first two lawyers in the office. It is also currently one of the firm’s smaller offices, although there are opportunities to grow in both numbers and geographic coverage.
Our office is Marshall Dennehey’s westernmost location. It is the firm’s “southern Ohio” office and Cleveland is the “northern Ohio” office. These offices are able to service any client’s needs throughout the entire state of Ohio.
We are located in the business district of downtown, in the Cincinnati Enquirer building, situated directly across from Paul Brown Stadium (Cincinnati Bengals) and a few blocks from Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati Reds). The office enjoys views of the rest of downtown Cincinnati and also looks across the river into Kentucky (in fact, the Greater Cincinnati Airport is actually located in northern Kentucky, not Ohio).
Despite having a small number of lawyers, we represent two of the firm’s largest practice departments. Tim Schenkel and I are in the Casualty Department, and Ray Freudiger is in the Professional Liability Department. We also recently hired an associate, Manuel Cardona, who is an excellent addition to the firm and is assimilating to working on the different types of cases from the three shareholders in the office.
We handle a wide variety of cases. No case is too big or too small. The types of matters we handle run the gamut from automobile liability, general liability, product liability, fraud/special investigation, trucking/transportation liability, catastrophic injury, professional liability, school leaders’ liability, commercial litigation, construction litigation, real estate and E&O liability, insurance agents and brokers liability, insurance services, bad faith insurance defense, and public entity and civil rights defense.
Based on the diverse talents and capabilities of our lawyers, there is opportunity for growth in our office on multiple fronts. Sixty percent of the population in the United States lives within a half-day drive of Cincinnati. Equally as important for our clients is our ability to handle litigation in Kentucky, as we have multiple lawyers who are licensed in the commonwealth. We devote a significant part of our practices, almost half at any given time, to cases in Kentucky, which are assigned all over the commonwealth, not just the northern Kentucky area.
Despite our smaller staff we have in the Cincinnati office, the geographic territory we cover is substantial. We are able to defend civil cases in all of the state and federal courts in both the state of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
All of our work is made possible by an excellent support staff. Our office manager, Nick Boeing, keeps the day-to-day operations running smoothly. Our paralegal and administrative assistants—Tabatha Holt, Shelly Spofford, Melanie Seta, Tammy Barnett and Elizabeth Scolf-Routt—do an incredible job of helping manage work flow throughout the workday, along with our file clerk, John Helbling.
As many of you know, our office has faced significant challenges over the course of the last year, starting with the unexpected passing of our managing attorney, Sam Casolari. I am very proud of how we have all come together since that tragedy and have continued to work together through the COVID-19 pandemic. We owe a special thank you to Scott Dunlop of the Pittsburgh office for acting as the interim office managing attorney and helping us find our way in the immediate aftermath of Sam’s passing. As the office managing attorney, I am excited for the future and to continue to work to expand the Marshall Dennehey presence here in The Queen City.
*Dave is a shareholder and the managing attorney of our Cincinnati, Ohio office. He can be reached at 513.372.6816 and dewilliamson@mdwcg.com.
Defense Digest, Vol. 26, No. 2, June 2020 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent legal developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING pursuant to New York RPC 7.1. © 2020 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm. For reprints, contact tamontemuro@mdwcg.com.