Charles Tyler Sr. is a compassionate, dedicated attorney with his office located downtown Akron, Ohio. He focuses his practice in the areas of family law and bankruptcy. Attorney Tyler received his law degree from the University of Akron School of Law. He also received his Master’s in Public Administration, and Master’s in Education Administration from the University of Akron. He received a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Instructional Management and Leadership at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is admitted to practice in the State of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the United States District Court for the Colorado District. In addition to his law degree, he holds certificates in general and divorce mediation from Northwestern University and the University of Akron. Attorney Tyler has served as a Summit County Prosecutor and has worked as an insurance defense attorney for State Auto Insurance Company. Although Charles is compassionate and professional, he aggressively and represent all clients. When representing clients in family law cases Charles emphasizes the importance of working to resolve cases without destroying important relationships. When children are involved, he works hard to make sure that children do not have to choose sides. However, when a case cannot be resolved without a trial, he aggressively represents his clients. As a bankruptcy attorney, he works to make sure his clients get a fresh start. Charles provides a high level of personal attention to each client. He works hard to ensure that his clients’ rights are protected. He dedicates time and effort into getting the best results for his clients.

Cincinnati personal injury lawyer Shawn M. Stepleton has dedicated his career to protecting the rights of injured men and women. After graduating, with honors, from the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law, Shawn established his law practice in the Cincinnati area. Over the years, he has recovered millions of dollars for his clients in a variety of personal injury cases. Shawn believes that you, as a client, are entitled to accessible, responsible, and reliable service. You can rest assured that Shawn will always give your concerns his personal attention, whether by meeting you at your convenience or by returning your calls promptly and consistently.

Born in the tiny coal-mining community of Williamson and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, by blue-collar working-class parents who placed a premium on hard work, honesty, and personal integrity, Bernie Layne of Mani Ellis & Layne, PLLC learned from an early age that his path to success would have to be paved with over achievement. While both of his parents grew up in abject poverty that can only be understood or imagined by those who have experienced day-to-day life in ‘coal camp’ housing in southern West Virginia, they became acutely aware of the value and necessity of education and sweat equity as a means of rising above their circumstance. It is from this culture and environment that Bernie’s parents instilled in him, and his two sisters, to never forget where they have come from and to always use their God-given talents and abilities to help people around them who are disadvantaged, hurting, disabled, destitute, or who are being abused by those in a more powerful position than themselves in society. Growing up in Parkersburg, just across the river from Marietta and Belpre, Ohio, he gained a deep, abiding respect for the hardworking people on both sides of the border. Rising from the social position of an ‘underdog,’ it isn’t hard to understand how Bernie has come to embrace these roots by becoming a highly successful legal advocate and defender of the rights of injured working-class West Virginians and Ohioans. A Strong Competitive Spirit As you can imagine, it takes tremendous family support and lots of competitive spirit to become one of only a few college graduates in his family and to become the first lawyer in his immediate or extended family. That love for competition was introduced to him as a child, by his father, an accomplished sportswriter at the Williamson Daily News. Bernie developed a love for the game of basketball and baseball and eventually earned a baseball scholarship to attend the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia. As a college student-athlete, Bernie was introduced to the importance of academic and athletic discipline, teamwork, handling success and overcoming failure. As his dream of playing professional baseball faded, his commitment to personal development and higher education strengthened. Before leaving UC, Bernie was named the Ivor F. Boiarsky Award Winner, which annually recognizes the top Political Science Student in the graduating class, won a statewide award for his senior thesis, in the area of Public Law Policy, on the pitfalls and environmental evils associated with an inadequate and corrupt strip mine permitting system in West Virginia, was voted by his peers as the Student Body President and was chosen by the administration to deliver the commencement address on behalf of his graduating class, while sharing the stage with the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. Inspired to help the disadvantaged Using his undergraduate success as a springboard, Bernie went on to attend graduate school at The Ohio University, where he received a Master of Arts Degree in Sociology. After graduate school, Bernie returned to Appalachia where he worked with elderly and disabled individuals through the Title 19 Medicaid Waiver Program in Southern West Virginia. The year spent working with catastrophically injured people through Title 19 firmed his resolve and commitment to make a difference in the lives of the hardworking citizens of this state. This experience made Bernie aware of the obstacles that face disabled and poverty-stricken individuals and the myriad of statutory and legal hurdles they face, while unable to afford adequate legal assistance to address their needs. Bernie’s disappointment in the legal system and its treatment of handicapped, disabled, and elderly individuals led him to attend law school at The University of Dayton School of Law where he graduated with his Juris Doctor in the Spring of 1999. After finishing law school, Bernie remained in Dayton as a judicial extern for The Honorable Barbara Gorman, the first female judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. In the years following his law school graduation, Bernie has remained committed to preserving the rights of injured and disadvantaged citizens of our state and has limited his practice to cases which involve people who have been injured due to the negligence of another person, corporation or governmental body. Throughout his career, he has successfully taken on big corporate asbestos producers who exposed plant workers and pipefitters to deadly and cancer-causing asbestos fibers. He has successfully confronted coal mining companies that deliberately injured workers through a neglect of OSHA regulations and state laws designed to protect this state’s workers. Further, Bernie has successfully resolved wrongful death cases involving children, medical malpractice and poorly designed products by large corporate interests who chose to place profits as a priority over the safety of our citizens. In 2021, Mani, Ellis & Layne, PLLC expanded to a new office in Columbus, OH. For Bernie, who earned both of his graduate degrees in Ohio and has many close family members in Columbus and the surrounding towns, this was a homecoming of sorts, an opportunity to advocate for hardworking people throughout both Ohio and West Virginia. Recognized by his peers Bernie’s success and achievement have been greatly rewarded as he and his partners have built an accomplished law firm at Mani Ellis & Layne, PLLC. His professional attributes and success have also been noticed by his trial lawyer peers. In 2005, he was given the Distinguished Service Award by the West Virginia Association for Justice (WVAJ), which is a group that represents the interests of the injured and disabled in West Virginia. Attorney Layne has been a member of WVAJ and the American Association for Justice for more than a decade. He is past president of WVAJ, serving from June 2013 to June 2014. He has also served on the WVAJ Executive Committee (nine years), the WVAJ Board of Governors and as a member of the LAWPAC organization. He was recently invited to join the prestigious, Southern Trial Lawyers organization and has been apponted to The Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center where he serves on its Executive and Building & Grounds Committees. Additionally, he served a two-year stint as a member of the West Virginia Bar Association’s Judicial Campaign Advertising Committee, which sought to regulate unfair, unethical and untruthful advertising during judicial campaign election cycles. In 2013, he was appointed to the University of Charleston Board of Trustees and served on the Executive and Outreach Committees within that board. He is now serving his twelfth year on the board. In 2014, he was named Alumnus of the Year at the University of Charleston. In 2017, he was appointed chairman of the Welch Challenge Campaign, an $8 million fund-raising initiative at the school. Also in 2013, Mr. Layne received an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating attorneys can achieve from that organization. Only 2% of all practitioners nationwide earn that rating. In 2018, Bernie was selected to the West Virginia Super Lawyers list by his peers. Bernie has obtained several significant verdicts and settlements and has been granted membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. On a community level, Bernie recently completed a seven-year term on the Putnam County Career and Technical Center’s Healthcare Advisory Board, on which he worked with other community leaders to design, implement and guide the LPN Nursing Program at the school. His efforts in this area are consistent with his desire to work toward broad based community and rural health care initiatives which support healthcare for the underprivileged throughout our state’s communities.

Robert S. Bauders specializes in all areas of employment law except workers compensation primarily on behalf of individuals from his office in Cleveland, Ohio. He previously was a Field Attorney in the Cleveland Regional Office of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board for 8 years followed by 4 years as a Supervisory Trial Attorney and 7 years as Regional Attorney of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Cleveland District Office responsible for all Agency litigation in the State of Ohio.

Ben is an attorney who brings a social work background and legal expertise to Ritter & Randolph, where he practices in the areas of real estate, civil litigation, probate/estate/trust administration, and business and corporate law. He strives to make clients feel comfortable in the most difficult situations, leaning on his experience in mental health. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yeshiva University in New York City and a master’s degree in social work from The Ohio State University. As a Ritter & Randolph attorney, Ben focuses on effectively resolving clients’ legal issues, guiding them through the process while helping them make tough decisions. He graduated cum laude from Capital University Law School, where he served as an ad hoc member on the university’s board of trustees and Law Council of Capital University Law School. Off-hours, you’ll find Ben hiking nature trails in the Cincinnati area, rollerblading along the Ohio River or playing ice hockey on a rec team.

James has nearly 50 years of experience representing business owners, buyers and sellers, investors, and entrepreneurs in a wide variety of Business and Real Estate matters. He also works with business owners and individuals regarding business succession planning, including Estate Planning and Probate matters. James has a unique background which gives him the ability to look at all sides of a situation. On the Real Estate side, he was legal counsel and owner of a title company. Mr. Weprin takes the time to understand each unique business and is dedicated to helping business clients minimize risks, maximize opportunities, and move their businesses forward. He advises both publicly-traded and private companies with regard to contract and sales transactions, employment matters, incorporation, dissolution, and corporate regulation and compliance. If a business owner is purchasing property, James knows what details should be in the contract. On the Estate Planning side of his practice, James brings the experience of being a former Magistrate of the local Probate Court. He counsels business owners about their business development, growth, and long-term plans. He understands that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to developing a succession plan. He will work to develop an exit strategy that provides clients with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that their life’s work is in good hands and will not get tied up in probate court. When business disputes arise, he has extensive experience representing clients in civil trials, hearings, arbitrations, and mediation before administrative agencies and federal, state, and local courts. He will work with clients through dispute resolution processes such as mediation and negotiation. However, when an amicable agreement cannot be reached, he is prepared to aggressively litigate the matter in court.

If you are facing a family law matter such as divorce, you may be overwhelmed with all of the issues you have to contend with before you can move forward to the next chapter of your life. For over 30 years, Rebecca J. Stumler, Attorney at Law, has been helping clients throughout Ohio with a range of family law matters such as divorce, alimony, adoptions and more. I understand how important it is to reach positive outcomes on matters involving loved ones, and will put my years of experience to use for you. Since 1995, my law firm has represented clients throughout Ohio in family law matters such as: Divorce — My law firm handles divorces and same-sex divorces and can help you pursue fair results when it comes to child custody matters, child support orders, alimony awards and establishing paternity. After the terms of a divorce have been settled, I can help you file for a modification order if circumstances warrant a change in an existing custody or support order. Military divorce & spouses’ rights — I understand the unique considerations involved with military divorce & spouses’ rights. Whether you are serving in the military or married to someone on active duty, I’ll help you with the process of dissolving the marriage. Adoption — I assist families with all aspects of domestic and international adoptions. I handle the legalities of your adoption so that you can focus on welcoming your new family member. My goal is always to give my clients confidence in their future by delivering a successful resolution to their case.

Attorney Issa Elkhatib was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, a city that shaped his values of hard work, loyalty, and resilience. These qualities are at the heart of his approach to law. He is a trial lawyer with a proven track record of defending clients facing serious charges, including murder, rape, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, and drug offenses. He has successfully secured not-guilty verdicts and case dismissals in high-stakes cases where everything was on the line. His practice also extends to white-collar criminal defense, with experience in handling complex cases involving theft, fraud, and embezzlement. Attorney Elkhatib’s ability to navigate these difficult cases has earned him a reputation as a skilled and determined advocate. What sets Attorney Elkhatib apart is his personal commitment to each case. He believes that every client deserves honest counsel, personalized attention, and the best possible representation. He is deeply invested in ensuring that the truth prevails and works tirelessly to protect his clients' rights and futures. Attorney Issa Elkhatib, managing partner of The Elkhatib Law Office, is known for his fierce advocacy and his unwavering dedication to his clients. No matter the complexity of the case, he fights with passion and determination to achieve the best possible outcome.

Dennie O'Neil is a practicing lawyer in the state of Ohio.