Page 17 - November December CBA Report

Explore a regular feature that
highlights our experienced
attorneys and the unique
paths that lead them
to this chapter of their
legal career.
A Look Back
With Daniel J. Hoffheimer
From this vantage point, on the cusp of retirement and after
a half-century in a profession I love, I look back on innumerable
details: so many clients, cases, and community activities. On what
do I reflect? Foremost is gratitude for the lawyers who taught me—
sometimes through very hard lessons in court or in negotiations.
Starting with my lawyer father, lawyer brother, and the values
I learned growing up, I look back to 1976 and to the Cincinnati
Bar Association, of which I would later serve as president, and to
its staff and members, who have been my anchor at every turn. I
feel an urgent need to thank all of these people, including many
who are gone, and I do so belatedly here and now.
My practice has been unorthodox, especially for a large firm
like Taft Stettinius & Hollister, because I kept taking on clients
in areas outside litigation and estate planning, the two areas in
which I have nominally worked. Being asked by partners to take
on my first deportation case and my first divorce led me to start
the immigration and family law practices. I later turned those
over to other lawyers, and after 1993 I focused on estate planning
and nonprofit organization work. I would identify the following
as representative of my career:
1. At the request of fellow trustees of the National Conference
of Christians and Jews, I became legal counsel to create the
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. I chaired the
building committee and became presiding co-chair. Today, she
sits on Cincinnati’s central riverfront telling the world that our
city’s vision is grounded in courage, cooperation, and persever-
ance to protect human rights everywhere.
2. I was retained to represent Sen. John Kerry in his 2004 pres-
idential campaign in Ohio. That work included a number of
lawsuits around the state that I supervised, all challenging voting
irregularities before and on Election Day. On election night,
Ohio’s electoral votes were to determine the presidency. I was up
all night on the phone with Sen. Kerry confirming returns until he
decided at dawn to concede Ohio and thus the presidency.
3. Out of my immigration practice came a case for a Chinese
student facing indictment for larceny. As his second offense,
a conviction would have meant permanent exclusion from the
country. I took the case to the Ohio Supreme Court and then on
habeas corpus to the U.S. Supreme Court. I won on a constitu-
tional double jeopardy principle, and the Sixth Circuit praised me
in its opinion for defending the Constitution. My client is now a
U.S. citizen in a responsible career.
I have served for decades as legal counsel to five presidents of
Hebrew Union College and on its board for many years. This has
given me wonderful colleagues with whom I’ve shared a passionate
commitment to Jewish life and education and to Reform Judaism,
alongside serving as president of my synagogue.
Many other stories I could tell even where confidentiality is
protected. I served as legal counsel for decades to the Cincinnati
Symphony Orchestra, whose board I chaired; co-founded, repre-
sented, and chaired the board of Cincinnati Public Radio; and
counsel to The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, among others.
Many of my estate planning, trust, and probate matters brought
me fascinating clients many of whom have been friends. Each one
gave me the honor of helping to carry out their wishes, sometimes
charitable. That I was elected a Fellow of the American College of
Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and became board-certified
in this field, I hope, offers me some bona fides.
My most important “accomplishment” was co-parenting
my three amazing daughters, who have made the most of their
education to become strong professional women. They survived
my commitment of time to the law. Each has married the right
husband, and they have brought six grandchildren into my life.
Given the challenges of the world, we may retire from the law,
but not from life. The law is our engine to keep working to make
the world a little better than we found it. With the law in our
blood, we can do it.
Dan Hoffheimer is past president of the Cincinnati Bar Association, and is now
chairman of the Planned Giving Committee of the Cincinnati Bar Foundation.
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