It was a late June afternoon as I stood outside the nearly hidden side entrance to a local law firm. I was tasked with greeting our members and directing them upstairs for our event. Pocketing his phone, Terry Coates smiled as he approached me. He leaned in and asked, “Do you want me to hold the door? I can do it. You can head up to the event.” That was my first encounter with Terry. I thanked him for the offer and directed him upstairs. That small act of kindness isn’t unusual for him. His colleagues say he’s always offering to help, send flowers when someone’s sick, or cover a lunch bill. 
While he handles complex class action lawsuits with determination, he still manages to exude generosity and kindness. He explains, “People often misunderstand class action cases. They think it’s just about the money, but it’s about fairness and holding people accountable.” Fairness, connection and civility is something Terry has embraced and learned from an early age and plans to use as his platform for this year’s Cincinnati Bar Association presidency.
Being the youngest of six, Coates childhood was loud and full. “You had to stake out your own spot but also had to find a way to make things work,” he said about his large family. His mom was the disciplinarian, organizer, and a cook at his elementary school in Anderson Township. His father, a Snap-On tool salesman, spent his days visiting auto repair shops and auto dealerships throughout Norwood, Oakley, and Bond Hill. Sometimes Terry would accompany him. He always preferred to visit the houses with dogs, four wheelers, or classic cars he could admire while his dad did his business. 
School and sports came naturally to Terry. He followed in his father and older sisters’ footsteps in attending Archbishop McNicholas High School where he participated in track, basketball, and football. “Sports were a big thing, and a way to be around other kids and friends,” he recalled. Coates went on to play two years of football at Wittenberg University while earning his bachelor’s degrees in history and sociology. 
Terry contemplated attending law school after undergrad and decided to try to work at a law firm to find out if attending law school made sense. His older sister babysat for an attorney at Keating Muething and Klekamp, PLL (KMK) which created a connection for Terry. He started working as a messenger clerk at KMK for almost a year between undergrad and law school. His cousin gave him wise advice that cemented his choice, “If you want to potentially have a stable life and provide for yourself, you can get an education, get a job and work really hard, get someone who can give you a family business, hit the lottery, or start a business venture.” Coates knew he wasn’t creative enough to start a business, and nothing was going to be handed to him. He told me, “I wanted to become more educated and that’s why I decided on law school. It gives you broad opportunities.”
Once the decision was made, his unfaltering determination set him in motion. “Law school had to work. It had to work,” he stated. Terry settled on Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, MI because of the flexibility and year-round curriculum. He secured loans and completed law school classes in two years. He had an externship in place of classes his last semester in law school and returned to Cincinnati for his externship.  
He reached out to Justice Pat Fischer, who, at the time, was a partner at KMK. When Terry left his clerk position at KMK at the end of 2006, Justice Fischer attended the farewell happy hour for Terry and shared his story about people helping him when he was starting out, something Coates kept in mind. Justice Fischer introduced Terry to Bill Markovits, then an attorney at Waite, Schneider, Bayless and Chesley. It was a pivotal moment in his career. “Pat was a mentor. I owe my getting a job to him,” Coates shared. 
Markovits agreed to let Terry complete his work as an unpaid extern under Markovits’ guidance. Terry, who thought about going into estate planning, decided he would see what litigation was all about. He entered with an open mind, did whatever was asked and, “…soaked up all the information like a sponge.” 
Broke and unable to afford an apartment, Terry lived in his friend’s laundry room downtown on Court Street during his externship. He built a plywood loft above the stackable washer and dryer, added a twin mattress on top, and used a Stanley utility ladder to climb up and down. He made it work with what he had, which wasn’t much. 
“I’ve found that there are generally two types of people: the glass half full folks and the glass half empty folks. The glass half full people are optimistic, find a way to persevere and use the difficult times in their lives to set the floor from which they can boost themselves up from. The glass half empty people find a problem with everything and use the tough times in life as the ceiling that stunts their growth and remains an excuse for why they can’t do certain things,” said Coates. The experience of starting out his legal career shacked up in a laundry room closet while serving as an unpaid externship was the floor for Coates and it propelled him forward.
Before taking the externship position, Markovits told Terry unequivocally that WSBC didn’t hire young attorneys and there would be no job offer following the externship. Terry and Markovits cut a deal, if Terry did well during the externship, Markovits would be willing to write Terry a letter of recommendation and try to introduce him to other attorneys in Cincinnati. But things never got that far. Before the externship was over, Markovits offered Terry a paid clerk job. “This was the first time in years I was actually making some money,” said Coates. Within weeks of becoming a paid law clerk, Markovits and Stan Chesley offered Terry a full-time associate attorney position pending his passing the Ohio Bar Exam. He welcomed the promotion and the paycheck. Terry finally moved out of the laundry room closet after 13 months and got a place of his own.
Long Hours to Leadership
Coates, to his surprise, enjoyed the litigation work. He worked long hours and took every opportunity to learn from his peers. Terry counts Markovits, Chesley, Chris Stock and Paul DeMarco as those who pushed him early in his career. He moved to Markovits, Stock & DeMarco (MSD) in May 2013. Terry believes that the practice of law is a relationship business. “The stronger relationship you have with opposing counsel, the better info you’re going to get.” He credits his success to being kind and cordial to not only counsel, but to everyone he encounters. 
Early in Terry’s career, he played a key role in two high-profile cases that helped establish and cement his reputation as a litigator. The first was In re Fannie Mae Securities Litigation, where he represented Ohio public pension funds as lead plaintiffs in Section 10b securities class action litigation, which resulted in a $153 million court-approved settlement. The second was Williams v. Duke Energy, where he represented a class of energy consumers against the energy provider in complex antitrust and RICO class action, which resulted in court approval of an $80.875 million settlement. With those wins behind him, Terry continued to build on that momentum. His work ethic and belief system were rewarded when he became managing partner at MSD in January 2016. He still hasn’t added his name to the firm. “As managing partner, I’d be tasked with changing the signs and websites, and I don’t want to do it. Besides, people treat you differently when your name isn’t on the door. I try to use it to my advantage,” Coates said. 
Life Beyond the Office
A few months after his promotion, Terry reached another significant milestone, marriage. He had reconnected with his high school girlfriend, Katie. They dated from their junior year in high school to freshman year in college. Both moved out of town for college but remained loosely in touch over the years. Eventually they found their way back to the same city. In 2014, they attended Cincy Beerfest and decided to give things another try. In July 2016 they tied the knot. They have four children, Harvey, 8, Cliff, 7, Mabel, 5, and Georgina, 2.
“Life is full and busy,” said Terry. Katie works as a nurse practitioner at Christ Hospital. He credits his in-laws for helping watch the kids every Wednesday and Thursday while Katie is at work. It’s a delicate balance that Terry acknowledges. “I know the time with my kids when they’re young is limited. I try to spend as much time at home as I can while still running our law firm.”
Leading with Civility
As his career has grown, so have his responsibilities and impact. Terry has been on the winning side of several high-profile class action lawsuits and even settled a multi-million-dollar case during our interview. He helped plan a civility symposium for the CBA last fall and has served as Executive Director of the Potter Stewart Inn of Court with the CBA. As he looks ahead to his time as president, he plans to continue with some of former President Alan Abes’s civics platform. “Alan is a tremendous leader, very thoughtful and precise. With the current challenges to the rule of law, Alan was the perfect leader at the right time,” Coates added. 
Terry’s focus primarily will be on strengthening relationships in the Cincinnati legal community. That focus is central in everything he does. In his article, Civility in Action, published in the January/February 2026 issue of the CBA Report, Coates emphasizes the importance of collaboration, mutual respect, and practicing civility every day. He believes the best results come from connection, not conflict. Terry is ready to take on his next role as CBA president, leading with the same commitment to respect and relationships.