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Brouse McDowell expands by adding two firms
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: January 27, 2023
Brouse McDowell has once again expanded its legal force and geographic footprint after adding lawyers and employees from two law firms.
In November, Ickes Holt founders Jim Ickes and Joel Holt joined the Akron office of Brouse McDowell as counsel and on Jan. 1 eight attorneys and all the staff members from Sharon, Pennsylvania-based Ekker, Kuster, McCall & Epstein (EKME) officially became a part of the firm.
Brouse McDowell Managing Partner Dan Glessner said the additions allowed Brouse to add depth to existing practice areas while expanding the firm’s reach to the neighboring state of Pennsylvania.
“We are thrilled to welcome the attorneys from both of these firms,” said Glessner. “The deals are part of Brouse’s effort to grow the firm strategically by adding attorney expertise and extending our geographic reach in areas where we already had a significant presence or client demand.”
As per its agreement with EKME, the combined firm is operating under the name Brouse McDowell, with Brouse assuming the lease of EKME’s Sharon office.
Brouse now has a total of six locations, including four in Ohio and one in Naples, Florida.
“We already had an office in Canfield so it seemed like a natural progression for us to cross the border from the Mahoning Valley into Pennsylvania,” said Glessner. “EKME is a cornerstone of the legal community in Mercer County and has an excellent reputation. The EKME attorneys also have a longstanding relationship with our lawyers in Canfield, so it is a very good fit.”
EKME Managing Partner Richard W. Epstein said the deal enables the firm’s attorneys to offer greater depth of service to their existing clients while providing brand new opportunities in the state of Ohio.
“This agreement allows our two firms to bridge the gap between western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio,” said Epstein, who focuses on civil litigation and business and succession planning. “There are not too many firms of our size that reach across the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.
“Our client needs had been expanding in recent years and we’re now able to capitalize on the experience and expertise of Brouse’s attorneys in practice areas such as environmental, cybersecurity and healthcare.
“Our firms shared similar cultures and values,” said Epstein. “We look forward to serving as a resource for continued growth in the region.”
A native of Sharon, Pennsylvania Epstein joined EKME in 2001, becoming managing partner in 2005.
Epstein began his career in Washington, D.C. as a legislative aide to former U.S. Rep. Marc Lincoln Marks after earning his juris doctorate from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.
He then returned to Sharon, where he became an associate and later a partner at one of the EKME predecessor firms Routman, Moore, Goldstone & Valentino.
In 2001 Epstein and his partner Ronald McCall joined Henry Ekker, Thomas W. Kuster and William G. McConnell to form Ekker, Kuster, McConnell & Epstein, which later became Ekker, Kuster, McCall & Epstein.
“While we were a full service firm, we did not have the depth of service in certain specialty areas that Brouse did,” said Epstein. “Now we can refer those clients in need of certain services to Brouse and better serve our clients.”
A member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Epstein is the 2023-2024 president of the Mercer County Bar Association. He also serves on the board of governors at the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and is the chair of the LindenPointe Development Corporation.
In addition, he is a former president of the board of directors at the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce and is the solicitor for Penn-Northwest Development Corporation.
“Our attorneys are extremely excited to be a part of the Akron community,” said Epstein. “I hope to find ways to become involved in the area so that I can promote development projects between our two states.”
Two months before EKME became a part of Brouse McDowell, Ickes and Holt started working in the litigation and business transactions & corporate counseling practice groups respectively, effectively dissolving the firm they started in 2016.
“We’re excited to add both of these experienced attorneys to our litigation and corporate practice groups,” said Glessner. “Joel brings expertise to the firm in the areas of cannabis law and appellate advocacy, while Jim has focused on civil litigation and family law.”
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Brouse and its attorneys,” said Ickes. “But the main factor in joining the firm for me is the ability to offer a full spectrum of services to our clients.
“It’s refreshing for me to be in an environment where I can just focus on practicing law.”
Born in Akron, Ickes grew up in Canal Fulton in Stark County, Ohio.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Ohio University, where he majored in finance and business pre-law.
“My mother encouraged me from a very young age to be a lawyer,” said Ickes. “She took me to Harvard Law School when I was nine years old. I never wavered from that path.”
After obtaining his juris doctorate from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2000, he began his career in Dayton as an associate at the insurance defense firm Jenks, Surdyk, Oxley, Turner & Dowd Co.
He then joined Williams, Welser & Kratcoski (now known as Williams, Kratcoski, Griffin & Can) in Kent, where he later became a partner.
“My focus at the firm was on litigation, general civil and family law,” said Ickes.
In 2016, Ickes and Holt started Ickes Holt in Kent. The firm moved to Stow in 2018.
An (ISC)²-certified HealthCare Information Security and Privacy Practitioner (HCISPP), Ickes handles HIPPA compliance matters for mental healthcare clients.
“After medical cannabis became legal, we began assisting clients in the preparation of applications and represented industry participants,” said Ickes.
A member of the Ohio State and Akron bar associations, Ickes previously served as president of the Portage County Bar Association.
While he’s not currently on any boards, he said he is looking for ways to become more involved in the community.
“For now my plan is to keep growing my practice at Brouse, which has a wide reach that will allow me to service clients in Ohio and beyond,” said Ickes.
In the case of Holt, he began his career in the U.S. Air Force in 1998, obtaining his bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Phoenix while stationed at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, where he was deployed globally for three to four months each year.
After earning his juris doctorate from The University of Akron School of Law in 2005, Holt served as a judicial clerk to 9th District Court of Appeals Judge Beth Whitmore.
He met Ickes in 2010 when he joined Williams, Welser & Kratcoski.
“Jim obtained cybersecurity credentials and we decided to start our own firm focused on cybersecurity,” said Holt, who became a CIPP (Certified Information Privacy Professional)/US in 2016.
The two have since presented seminars, developed legally compliant cybersecurity governance plans and advised clients during data breach responses.
Over the years, Holt has focused on representing businesses in transactions and cybersecurity matters as well as working with cannabis clients.
He said as the country recovered from the pandemic, the firm started to take on more and more work.
“From my perspective, our firm had grown to a point where we needed to make a decision as to how we wanted to proceed in the future,” said Holt. “We either needed to expand our firm and bring in more attorneys or join a more established firm like Brouse.
“I went to school with some of the attorneys at Brouse and they all spoke highly of the firm,” said Holt. “I’m excited to be a part of this team. I have spent a good portion of my career at small firms that did not have a lot of staff or resources so this is a welcome change.”
Holt is a member of the Ohio State, Akron and International Cannabis bar associations.
For many years, he was on the legal committee of the Daughter Project, a Toledo-based nonprofit focused on helping victims of human trafficking.
While Holt currently does not sit on any boards, he said he is always looking for a way to meaningfully impact his community.
“I want to get involved with causes I believe in because I think that is when a person can make the most difference,” said Holt.