Reviews

The worst bunch of lawyers I know. Steal cheat and cover up

I’ve been using James Zimmerman for more than 15 years. He’s one of best attorneys in Cincinnati.

The best legal advice in Cincinnati.

We have seen Dark Waters. Heroes!!!!

Expert legal services

After my second year of law school at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, I was one of twelve summer associates that Taft, Stettinius & Hollister hired the summer of 1986. From the moment I entered the firm’s main lobby (18th floor, if I recall correctly), I was a Taft adherent and devotee - and, over the ensuing years, I have been a stalwart promoter of Taft units ethical practice of the law, its heritage, and its many outstanding, world-class attorneys. Thirty-four years ago, I could not envisage that my admiration and support of Taft would remain as strong three decades after that auspicious introduction. There were moments when I was certain that Taft would never extend me an offer to become an Associate attorney upon my graduation. And, oddly enough, I did not have too much doubt surrounding my legal work for Taft, but my doubts came when rebounding from certain structured interaction with certain partners. The legal profession is very time demanding. The firm, i.e., the partners, want excellent legal professionals, but they also want to like the attorneys they will be spending a great deal of time with each day. Mr. W. Stuart Dornette, a Senior Taft Partner, and chair of the firm’s hiring committee at the time, took each summer associate to lunch at least once during the summer. I still get goosebumps, and the hair on my neck stands up as well, when I think back to the first introduction I had to Mr. Dornette, over lunch at The Cincinnati Club. Mr. Dornette is not only a preeminent attorney, he is one of the most interesting and mercurial individuals I have ever had the honor of having passed through my life. As a second year law school student, however, no person could possibly be more intimidating to me than Mr. Dornette. He is erudite and refined – a sophisticated man with charm, grace, and social skills, the likes of which I had never encountered previously, and few I met in practicing law in Washington, D.C. for 25 years can match such an accomplished individual. A question arose about religion, and the formative doctrine of the majority of Protestant churches here in the US. I made, what a comment about the individual, that I had always been taught, that was the leader in forming this doctrine as it exists in America. Struggling to sound as polished as Mr. Dornette, the name I blurted out, that I have no desire to repeat, was not what I knew, and was thinking. Mr. Dornette, corrected my misstatement, in a polite and gingerly manner. I do not recall the remainder of our lunch very clearly because I had made such a blunder that I was certain my intellectual capacity would be brought into question when hiring decisions were made. My concern was, as I later discovered, unfounded. In the hiring committee meeting, I was told that Mr. Dornette was, in fact, one of my staunchest adherents. I have not seen Mr. Dornette since I left the firm a few years after I was hired as an Associate Attorney following that wonderful and amazing summer I spent at Taft. But he has always been a role model for my personal and professional life. Thank you Mr. Dornette. And thank you Taft, Stettinius & Hollister.