Question of the Week: Talking Specialization and Kohrman Jackson’s Title IX Practice
“The advantages of being a specialized practice at a midsize firm are twofold,” partners Susan Stone and Kristina Supler say.
By David Gialanella | Law.com
Susan Stone and Kristina Supler lead the Student & Athlete Defense/Title IX group at Kohrman Jackson & Krantz, a firm of about 50 lawyers with offices in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Both are partners. They shared some insights with the Mid-Market Report about how, with their legal backgrounds, they came to launch and build their specialized practice.
*Their answer to the below question was edited lightly for style.
How did you go about developing your practice, and what are the attendant advantages and challenges to specialized practices for midsize firms?
We are full-time moms, attorneys and fierce advocates. We come from different generations and backgrounds, but together have built a national practice drawing from both our unique—and shared—strengths.
Our national Student & Athlete Defense practice brings together Susan’s background handling special education and misconduct cases for students in grade school and college, and Kristina’s criminal defense background, which includes handling rape cases and complex juvenile matters. Susan was at her old firm representing students with disabilities in the K-12 setting when Kristina joined the firm. After a while, a growing number of cases had an education and criminal component, and we started working together. As more Title IX cases started coming in, we decided to team up and develop our practice. Coming to KJK has given us the resources to expand into related areas.
The advantages of being a specialized practice at a midsize firm are twofold. First of all, we have the marketing and staffing resources we need to obtain a national reach and truly deliver results. Second, we have robust in-house legal knowledge at our disposal when clients would benefit from the multi-disciplinary approach of experience in other legal areas such as health care and employment, which can add dimension, perspective and insight into our clients’ needs.
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