Over the course of his 44-year career, Bill Hawkins has tried scores of civil cases and a number of criminal cases, honing his trial skills while demonstrating unfailing professionalism, civility and commitment to the ethical practice of law.
Before joining BakerHostetler as counsel in 2009, he served as senior vice president and general counsel of Convergys Corporation. Prior to that, he was a partner at Frost & Jacobs (now Frost Brown Todd) and served as chair of its Executive Committee.
Bill’s work as a highly successful mediator and arbitrator has helped cement his well-earned reputation for cooperation, collaboration and respect toward everyone. In the past year, Bill has mediated 39 cases, over 80 percent of which were resolved with his assistance.
Bill achieves success by being a keen observer and an active listener, and he draws on his deep trial experience to help him identify the key issues and interests of all parties in a dispute. He nimbly guides them toward common ground on which they can build a mutually acceptable resolution.
His calm and respectful demeanor sets a clear standard and discourages uncivil behavior. This approach encourages the parties to trust the process and his role in it, and to speak with the candor necessary to get to the heart of a conflict and develop options for the ultimate resolution.
Bill leads by example. A perpetual mentor, Bill is a key figure in BakerHostetler’s national coaching program, mentoring attorneys across the firm. He has played a particularly critical role in the firm’s efforts to promote and retain attorneys of diverse backgrounds.
For years, Bill has been actively training newer trial lawyers in the community by taking part in the Cincinnati Bar Association/National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) trial skills program; he is a NITA faculty member and serves on its steering committee.
Via formal and informal channels, Bill coaches lawyers throughout the community, helping drive home the importance of proactively managing the challenges and stresses associated with being a trial lawyer. He has also been active in the community in other ways, as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Greater Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and as chair of the Mercy Hospital Foundation. He currently serves on the leadership committee for the NKU Capital Campaign and as finance chair of the Chase Board of Visitors.
Bill shows how one person can motivate others through action and attitude, making an impact that will last well into the future.
Cincinnati neighborhoods need more attorneys like Jacob “Jake” G. Samad. Born and raised in College Hill, Samad earned his JD and MBA at the University of Pittsburgh – and otherwise, has spent his entire life in this city and in College Hill. After earning his law degree in 2008, he joined Robbins Kelly Patterson and Tucker LPA as an associate and became a partner in 2015. His practice focuses on estate planning, probate estate and trust administration, business formation and succession planning, asset protection planning, and charitable giving.
Samad’s dedication to his beloved community is demonstrated by his tireless volunteerism on the board of the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Cooperation (“CHCURC”). He joined the board in 2009, during a period of economic downturn and when CHCURC had no staff. Samad became actively involved in fundraising efforts and recruiting businesses to the community. Among his many accomplishments, in 2012, he was instrumental in galvanizing residents and business owners to raise $200,000.
Even after CHCURC hired staff in 2016, Samad continued to devote nearly 20 hours per week to making College Hill a more inclusive community. During the pandemic, he led the charge for commercial rent abatement and kept the redevelopment project from collapsing. More recently, he has driven the efforts to create more affordable housing in the neighborhood.
Samad’s work has not gone unnoticed in the community. In recognition of his efforts, College Hill’s own Brink Brewing Company named a beverage after him.
In addition to his service with CHCURC, he also makes time to volunteer within his church community and most importantly, is a supportive husband to Amy and a devoted father to his children Jack and Audie.
Samad’s leadership and optimism has been integral in improving the College Hill neighborhood. In his nomination letter, Seth Walsh, executive director of CHCURC, best describes the impact of Samad’s contributions and why he is most deserving of the John W. Warrington Community Service Award, “It is easy to join organizations when success appears inevitable. It’s a lot harder to join organizations when things are at their bleakest and stick with it through the difficult times to build toward a vision that seemed impossible even 6 years ago.”
All too often in our community, when adults are incarcerated or overdose on drugs, their children suffer. When these unfortunate situations arise, kids and families are thrown into our legal system. Before September 2017, they often had little guidance, unless they were willing and able to hire counsel, which is often not an option due to financial constraints.
That’s when attorney W. John Sellins stepped up to the plate and provided critical time and advice to those kids and families. He became the leading volunteer at the newly created Custody and Companionship Clinic at the Hamilton County Juvenile Court. Over the course of the next two and a half years, Sellins met personally with hundreds of families who needed advice in facing crises involving custody and companionship issues in our Court system. He volunteered over 400 hours of his time to listen to people, explain the system, and guide their efforts in court. Although the clinic has several volunteers, it has been said that the clinic absolutely would not have succeeded without Sellins’ tireless personal efforts, which accounted for a huge portion of the volunteer hours necessary to get the program successfully started. The clinic is still operating today, helping local children and families.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Sellins conducted Zoom sessions until the clinic effectively shut down for a while. Still, looking to help those in need, he transitioned to the Municipal Court help desk which remained open, to help pro se litigants. While navigating some personal health problems over the past couple of years, he has remained dedicated to the Municipal Court help desk to this day.
W. John Sellins’ tireless volunteer efforts have made a major impact in our community by helping children to remain with loving friends and families, through our court processes, during periods of family crisis.
The Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor Foundation is proud to announce Ms. Susan E. Wheatley as our 2021 Volunteer Lawyer of the Year. Wheatley was instrumental in the founding of the “Without a Deed” project with the Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) where we assist clients whose home deeds are not titled in their name. In many instances, when a homeowner dies, informal arrangements are made that do not legally pass title of the house. Without a deed, heirs are unable to get loans to make urgent home repairs, transfer the property, or negotiate with lenders to prevent foreclosures. The project goal is to retain home equity and wealth in the hands of low-income clients by preserving home ownership in our community.
To that end, Wheatley also met with the Hamilton County Probate Court, along with legal aid lawyers, to streamline a waiver process for filing fees for cases involving legal aid clients and home equity issues. She continues to serve in an advisor capacity to legal aid in estate matters as well as having accepted ten cases in the last five years.
“Susan has been a leader in helping us tackle ‘tangled title’ issues and is always game to look at difficult cases with us,” said Stacy Purcell, Ohio Access to Justice Fellow/Attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio. “We are seeing these cases more and more in minority communities, and Susan’s commitment to thinking outside of the box has been a huge benefit in our representation of homeowners.”
Wheatley is a partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, working with clients on their estate and business succession planning. Her extensive knowledge of estate planning issues and successful track record are among the reasons why she has received consecutive honors from Chambers High Net Worth Guide, Ohio Super Lawyers, Leading Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America.
Wheatley is an elected fellow on the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and is certified by the Ohio State Bar Association Specialty Board as a specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. She chaired the Cincinnati Bar Association’s Estate Planning and Probate Committee, served as the president of the Cincinnati Estate Planning Council, and taught both estate planning and alternative dispute resolution as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Involved in numerous community causes, Wheatley has served on boards including the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, the Mercantile Library of Cincinnati, and Ursuline Academy. She was a member of Class 30 of Leadership Cincinnati, a program of the Cincinnati Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Wheatley received her J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law, where she served on the Northwestern University Law Review, and her B.A. in history from Yale University.
Judge Black was sworn in as United States District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio on June 21, 2010 at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. He was nominated for the position by President Barack Obama in December 2009 and confirmed by the Senate in May 2010.
A graduate of Harvard University in English and American literature, Judge Black began his career as a teacher at the Roxbury Latin School and the Seven Hills Schools as he earned his J.D. degree at Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law. He then joined the law firm of Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP in 1983, becoming a partner in 1990. In 1994, he left the firm to become a Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge. After 10 years on the Municipal Court bench, he became a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District Ohio.
Throughout his career, Judge Black has made significant contributions to the greater Cincinnati bar and community. He has served for the past ten years as co-convener of the BLAC- CBA Round Table, a joint program of the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Bar Association, advancing opportunities for minority attorneys. He has also been an integral part of the Cincinnati Academy of Leadership for Lawyers (CALL), enabling attorneys to hone their leadership skills. He has served on the CALL steering committee for ten years, including three years as the chair.
Judge Black is also the founder and was the lead convener of the Hamilton County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council; served on the steering committee of the Hamilton County Family Violence Prevention Planning Project; served as a member of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline; and has worked for organizations supporting summer school programs, Cincinnati’s neighborhoods, adoptive parents, abused and neglected children, and health care. In 2009, Judge Black was the recipient of the Themis Award, the highest honor bestowed by the CBA for extraordinary service to law and the community.
Congratulations on your many wonderful achievements, Judge Black! Your legacy in our community will never be forgotten.
Dean Verna L. Williams exemplifies the attributes of the Themis Award through her involvement in the University of Cincinnati College of Law, the Cincinnati Bar Association, and the Cincinnati legal community.
Throughout her career as professor and dean at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Dean Williams has supported the law school’s many programs, including the Urban Morgan Center, the Innocence Project, and the Freedom Center Journal. Prior to her appointment as dean, she co-founded and co-directed the Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice with the assistance of two other UC professors. Dean Williams has focused her teaching in the areas of family law, gender equality and constitutional law. Twice, she received the Goldman Prize for Teaching Excellence.
Dean Williams is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the UC Law faculty in 2001, Dean Williams was Vice President and Director of Educational Opportunities at the National Woman’s Law Center, where she focused on issues of gender and equity in education. In that capacity, Dean Williams was lead counsel, and successfully argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education. This winning argument established educational institutions have a duty to address known complaints of student-to-student sexual harassment.
Dean Williams was recently recognized by the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati (BLAC) with the Distinguished Service Award for her years of service to the greater Cincinnati legal community.
Dean William is recognized for her work in the Cincinnati legal community. She is forging paths with pipeline organizations, such as the Summer Work Experience in Law (SWEL), dedicated to equality and diversity in the legal profession. She is strengthening the enrollment and curriculum at the College of Law through clinical programs such as the new Legal Access Project. Dean Williams embodies the commitment to equal justice and works to amplify the voices of people who struggle to obtain justice.
Dean Williams achieves these accomplishments with a warm and generous attitude. She has been an accomplished ambassador for the UC Law School. Dean Williams is a pioneer and leader for social justice and makes this a priority at the College of law. Her career is a leading example of dedication to the legal profession and the community.