[January 15, 2015]

Thompson Hine Elects Eight New Partners

Thompson Hine LLP has elected eight lawyers to the firm's partnership effective January 1, 2015. The new partners, located in the firm's Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton offices, represent a broad range of practice areas including Antitrust, Competition & Distribution; Business Litigation; Construction; Corporate Transactions & Securities; Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation; and Intellectual Property.

"Each of these lawyers exhibits exceptional skill in his or her area and demonstrates our firm's commitment to client service excellence by continually delivering high value to clients. We welcome them to our partnership and, as future firm leaders, anticipate that they will contribute valuable insight and innovative ideas to shaping our SmartPaTH^SM initiative, which focuses on providing value and transparency to clients," said Deborah Z. Read, Thompson Hine's managing partner.

The new partners are:

Jurgita Ashley, a member of the Corporate Transactions & Securities practice group in Cleveland, focuses her practice on public company matters, primarily securities law, corporate governance and takeover matters. She has significant experience in public and private equity and debt securities offerings, including initial public offerings, follow-on public offerings, PIPEs, "equity line" transactions and Rule 144A offerings. Her practice also includes working with public companies on SEC (News - Alert) reporting, shareholder meeting matters, and public disclosure, investor relations and compliance issues. She also has experience in proxy contests and other contested shareholder matters. Ashley was selected for inclusion in Rising Stars by Ohio Super Lawyers® in 2013 and 2014. She received her J.D., summa cum laude, from The University of Akron School of Law in 2006 and her B.A., summa cum laude, from East Tennessee State University in 2003.

Heather A. Bartzi, a member of the Construction practice group in Cleveland, represents owners, developers, contractors, architects and other construction professionals in all aspects of construction and development projects. A significant potion of her work involves counseling clients on selection of project delivery systems, preparing and reviewing construction documents, negotiating construction and design professional agreements, and project management counseling for a wide variety of public and private projects, including sports facilities, government buildings and utility systems, museums, mixed-use developments, hotels, regional shopping malls, offices and headquarters. Bartzi was selected for inclusion in Rising Stars by Ohio Super Lawyers in 2013, and listed in The Legal 500 United States for construction in 2014. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 2005 and her B.A., with distinction, from Cornell University in 1998.

Cori R. Haper, a member of the Corporate Transactions & Securities practice group in Dayton, advises on mergers and acquisitions, organization and governance of nonprofit and for-profit entities, and contract negotiation. She also counsels health care providers on a wide array of issues including fraud and abuse, Stark law, regulatory compliance, false claims, billing investigations and repayments, Medicare provider/supplier revocations, HIPAA, state health care laws, licensure/change of ownership requirements, business transactions, hospital-physician contracting, clinical integration and joint ventures. Haper previously served as associate general counsel at a large health care system in Dayton, providing legal support to hospitals and physician groups. She received her J.D., summa cum laude, from University of Dayton School of Law in 2004 and served as valedictorian for her class. She earned her B.S., magna cum laude, from Union College in 1999.

Richard A. Freshwater, a member of the Business Litigation practice group in Cleveland, focuses his practice on advising and representing financial institutions on consumer finance-related matters. In addition to providing counsel on regulatory and compliance issues to national banks, mortgage servicers and auto lenders, he routinely defends these entities from common law claims and those arising under Ohio's Uniform Commercial Code, the Truth in Lending Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act. Freshwater's experience in this area spans the class action, appellate and trial levels. He is a sought-after speaker for his expertise on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's mortgage servicing regulations from both a compliance and litigation perspective. Freshwater was selected for inclusion in Rising Stars by Ohio Super Lawyers in 2014 and 2015. He received his J.D. from University of Dayton School of Law in 2006 and his B.A. from Mississippi College in 2001.

Susan M. Oiler, a member of the Intellectual Property practice group in Dayton, focuses her practice on patent preparation and prosecution and opinion work, and has experience in joint development and transfer of ownership agreements, and trademark clearance, preparation and prosecution. Her practice also includes the assessment and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the United States and around the world and the management of worldwide intellectual property portfolios. Oiler received her J.D., summa cum laude, from University of Dayton School of Law in 2006 and her B.A. in chemistry, summa cum laude, from Kent State University in 2003 after nine years of teaching at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School. She also earned a B.S. in secondary education (chemistry and physics), summa cum laude, from Kent State University in 1994.

Stephen R. Penrod, a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group in Cleveland, focuses his practice on all aspects of tax-qualified pension, 401(k) and profit-sharing plans; nonqualified deferred compensation plans; change in control plans and agreements; equity compensation arrangements; and health and welfare benefit plans. He has considerable experience in the employee benefits aspects of corporate acquisitions, dispositions and mergers, as well as employee communications regarding benefit plans. Penrod also counsels clients on compliance with ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code, and on the unique issues relating to multiemployer plans and multiple employer plans. In addition, he provides guidance on compliance with health care reform, COBRA and HIPAA. Prior to joining the firm, Penrod worked in-house at The Timken Company, where he led the strategic planning, implementation and communication of global Total Rewards benefits including health, welfare and retirement benefits, as well as cash and equity compensation. He received his J.D., summa cum laude, from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 2000 and his B.A. from The College of Wooster in 1997.

Edward C. Redder, a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group in Columbus, counsels clients on all aspects of employee benefits, including those involving qualified retirement plans, health and welfare benefit plans, and executive compensation plans. Redder's common areas of practice include advising clients with respect to compliance with the requirements of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, HIPAA, COBRA and the Affordable Care Act. He previously served as assistant general counsel of Nationwide Insurance Company, where he advised the company on various employee benefit matters including ERISA fiduciary compliance, prohibited transactions and exemptions, and qualified retirement plan issues. Redder received his J.D., with honors, from The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law in 1998 and his B.A., summa cum laude, from Muskingum College in 1995.

Matthew David Ridings, a member of the Antitrust, Competition & Distribution practice group in Cleveland, represents clients in a wide range of competition- and anticorruption-related matters, but focuses on antitrust law, anticorruption and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, white collar criminal defense, and governmental and internal investigations. He also counsels clients on compliance issues related to antitrust, anticorruption and the FCPA. In addition, Ridings has drafted and negotiated distributor and franchise agreements, licensing agreements, sales representative agreements and other general commercial contracts. He was selected for inclusion in Rising Stars by Ohio Super Lawyers in 2013 and 2014 and listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in 2014 and 2015. Ridings received his J.D., cum laude, from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 2005 and his B.S. from Indiana University (News - Alert) in 2002.

About Thompson Hine LLP. Thompson Hine LLP, established in 1911, is a full-service business law firm with approximately 400 lawyers in 7 offices. Thompson Hine is ranked as one of the top 5 firms in the country for overall Client Service Excellence and one of the top 4 firms for "Value for the Dollar" and "Commitment to Help" in an independent survey of over 300 in-house counsel. For the second straight year, the firm is ranked in all categories of Service Delivery Innovation, and is one of only 7 U.S. firms noted for "making changes to improve the client experience," in the BTI Brand Elite. The firm's commitment to innovation is exemplified by Thompson Hine SmartPaTH^SM, which offers a smarter way to work - predictable, efficient and aligned with client goals. Key components of SmartPaTH include Legal Project Management, Value-Based Pricing, Flexible Staffing and Process Efficiency. Rated a leading law firm in Chambers USA for 12 consecutive years, Thompson Hine serves premier businesses worldwide. For more information, please visit www.ThompsonHine.com and read about SmartPaTH at http://www.thompsonhine.com/about/SmartPaTH.

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