Community Involvement
We take your community personally.
After all, it’s our community too – we live, work and play right here in the same places you do. We believe strongly in making our communities better places for everyone. Our firm maintains a proud tradition of supporting both corporate-wide and individual efforts in the community.
Our attorneys and professional staff participate in many diverse community service and outreach programs, often taking active roles of leadership. We serve on boards and committees for charitable, arts, civic, and professional groups – locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. We support education at all levels.
Dinsmore & Shohl LLP takes its community service as seriously as it does client service. We are committed to building our community relationships with the same integrity and competence we bring to our business relationships. We know that supporting our colleagues in their interests strengthens the service we provide our clients.
The firm focuses its corporate community efforts on youth activities, including education and assistance programs for homeless and disadvantaged children. A number of charities in each of our locations receives gifts of both resources and time from the firm throughout the year.
Dinsmore & Shohl LLP celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2008, marking the milestone with a $100,000 contribution and volunteer commitment to nine Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliates in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
“Our founding partners believed in giving back to the profession and the community – and the firm has followed in their footsteps throughout our history,” said George H. Vincent, Managing Partner and Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Today, we honor our founders and continue that legacy through our support of Big Brothers Big Sisters.”
"It is with profound gratitude that we accept the donation from Dinsmore & Shohl. As a fellow centurion organization (Big Brothers Big Sisters was founded in 1903), we congratulate Dinsmore & Shohl on their milestone and express our sincere appreciation for their gift of financial and volunteer support. The partnership is instrumental in helping us reach the most at-risk children in our region,” said Kathy List, President & CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Cincinnati.
In addition to a financial contribution, Dinsmore & Shohl attorneys throughout the region have volunteered their time and energy to support Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliates and their mission.
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Congratulations to the Dinsmore & Shohl runners who competed on June 18th in the Cincinnati Bar Association's Annual Run for Kids 5K to benefit ProKids. The Dinsmore & Shohl squad placed 3rd overall in the law firm division and included Alan Abes, Jessica Bauml, Carla Bauer, Pat Burns, Molly Campbell, Eric Cook, Mike Dailey, Peter Draugelis, Doug Feichtner, Sarah Sparks Herron, Josh Lorentz, Devon Merling, Geof Oberhaus, Alfred Shikany, Jay Spencer, Matt Whitlow and Rachel Wilson.
ProKids trains volunteers within the community to become Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs). The program helps to ensure a safe and nurturing environment for children who have been neglected and abused. To learn more about ProKids, visit www.prokids.org.
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Congratulations to Dinsmore & Shohl's team, "Still Practicing", which participated in the 13th annual Cincinnati Corporate Olympics, "Hoots with the Suits," on Friday, July 9th. In the spirit of the games, the team permitted some of the other teams to take home a few medals this year ("Still Practicing" had taken home the gold medal in 2007 and 2008), coming in a respectable 5th out of 20 teams. One of the firm's clients, 5th/3rd bank claimed the gold medal this year.
Special commendation to team members Anitra Walden-Jacobs, Michael Gray, Pat Palascak, Hannah Hinton and this year's Team Captain Pat Burns (a 4-year veteran). Thanks to all who came out to support the team and the Special Olympics of Hamilton County!
"Hoots with the Suits," is a major fundraiser for the Hamilton County Special Olympics and was created to build corporate teamwork and support local athletes in the community. This is the seventh year Dinsmore & Shohl has participated in the event.
Last summer, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP’s Cincinnati office partnered with the Armleder School, a unique private school. The school offers inner city children an education that stresses accountability and achievement.
Partner Jeff Hinebaugh enjoys visiting the school. Its bright interior reflects the positive attitude of the staff and students and lifts his spirits. Last year, he heard that reading abilities drop off by nearly 24 percent over a summer – primarily because the students don’t read during break. They don’t have the books.
So Jeff recruited his colleagues at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP to sponsor a book fair at the school. Each student picked out three books to read over the summer.
“Reading is so important that we just couldn't ignore the situation,” Jeff said. “By pooling our resources, we were able to find a way to help students maintain – and perhaps even increase – their learning over the summer.”
That’s taking your community personally.
For the past 6 years Joe Tucker, a partner in the Louisville Office, has participated in St. Baldrick's Day in order to raise money for childhood cancer research. Since 2004, Joe has raised over $40,000 by shaving his head in exchange for charitable donations to the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Nationally, St. Baldrick's is the largest volunteer driven charitable organization in the world dedicated solely to funding childhood cancer research. Since its inception in 1999, the St. Baldrick's Foundation has raised over $30 Million Dollars. In 2006, Joe's middle daughter, Brennan (age 7 at the time), joined Joe and shaved her head to show solidarity and sympathy for those young cancer patients who typically lose their hair during treatment. Each year since 2004, Joe has been one of the leading fundraisers in Louisville for the St. Baldrick's Foundation. For more information on St. Baldrick's visit www.stbaldricks.org.
On Saturday, November 14th, Dinsmore & Shohl employees participated in the Basket Brigade event at God's Pantry Food Bank. During this event, boxes of food were put together for later distribution during Thanksgiving week, along with turkeys, produce and milk. The Dinsmore team put together 1,160 boxes during their shift.
For 54 years, God's Pantry Food Bank has been collecting and distributing donated food to agencies across central and eastern Kentucky. To learn more about God's Pantry Food Bank, visit www.godspantry.org.
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During this season of celebrating holidays, such as Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa, many members of the legal community are sharing their good fortunes with less fortunate children by participating in the Holiday Giving Basket. The Holiday Giving Basket is a community service project sponsored by the Cincinnati Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section, as well as by local Cincinnati attorneys. The program benefits children associated with the ProKids, Boys & Girls Club and Boys Hope - Girls Hope.
The Holiday Giving Basket program was started more than a decade ago by the Cincinnati Bar Association. Rick Porotsky, an attorney at Dinsmore & Shohl, has been involved with the Holiday Giving Basket since the mid-1990's. "In 2004 Dinsmore took a lead role, along with a few other firms in continuing the program in a number of ways, including working with local charities and organizations, and then setting up an interactive website for use by donors and charities alike.", Porotsky said. "The Giving Basket has taken a lot of hard work behind the scenes at times, but has always been a lot of fun too."
Dinsmore & Shohl's Columbus office was recently honored at the 2009 Operation Feed Finale for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. The firm's Central Ohio office raised over 10,000 meals for the Foodbank in its first year of participation and was recognized for the accomplishment with the "Most Outstanding New Campaign" award. Operation Feed's mission is to raise food and funds that provide assistance to individuals and families in need.
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Congratulations to the Dinsmore & Shohl Track Team on their third place finish in the Big Brothers Big Sisters 5k on Saturday, August 22! Doug Feichtner, Brian Judkins, Warner Off and Peter Draugelis ran like the wind to raise money for the mentoring of at-risk youths in the Tri-State Area. To learn more about how you could positively influence a child's life, call BBBS of Greater Cincinnati at (513) 421-4120 or visit www.bigsforkids.org.
Brett Miller, a partner in Dinsmore & Shohl's Columbus office, recently formed a team of 70 Dinsmore employees for Columbus Race for the Cure. Brett has participated in Columbus Race for the Cure since it began in 1993, while his sister was battling breast cancer.
"If it is your first year I will warn you, odds are you will cry at some point. You will see some heart-touching things," Miller said. "You'll go from smiling and laughing to tearing up a bit and laughing a bit more. It makes for a good day."
To learn about how you can join the battle against breast cancer, visit www.komencincinnati.org.
Over the holiday season, Dinsmore & Shohl employees joined forces with local organization, "Wings of Hope", in an effort to alleviate the struggles of the swiftly expanding homeless community. In all, the Columbus office raised nearly $2,000 and donated several bags of clothing.
Wings of Hope was started in 2003 with the hope of assisting the homeless of Columbus achieve a successful return to mainstream society. To learn more about Wings of Hope, visit www.wingsofhopefoundation.org.