Dennis R. Wilcox

As Chairperson of the Commercial, Transactional & Business Law Section, Mr. Wilcox supervises transactional, commercial litigation and general business matters. He also heads the Firm's Public Finance and Municipal Bond Practice and has participated as Bond Counsel, Underwriter's Counsel or Issuer's Counsel on over $3,000,000,000 in public finance transactions since 1979. Mr. Wilcox graduated cum laude with a degree in Political Science from the Ohio State University in 1974 an received his Juris Doctor degree in 1977 from Case Western Reserve University where he was a member of the Order of Coif.

Mr. Wilcox is also primarily responsible for handling a myriad of issues as general counsel for Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, including the following transactions since 1993: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Applied Industrial Technologies Headquarters Project, OfficeMax and MTD Corporate Office Expansions, Acquisition of C&P Ore Docks and Old River Properties, financings for new Cleveland Football Stadium, ESSROC, Inc., Jergens, Inc. and NOACA, Playhouse Square and RITA.

Mr. Wilcox has served as the supervising principal of the Firm since 1990 for the representation of Gateway Economic Development Corporation of Greater Cleveland, including involvement in over $350,000,000 in financing, and handling real estate issues, litigation and negotiation of structure of transaction and leases to the professional sports franchises. He has also served as special counsel to the Ohio Attorney General for Kent State University and acted as chief outside special counsel for litigation matters to Kent State University from 1983 to 1994. In addition, Mr. Wilcox has extensive experience in transactional work for private and public clients in areas of Finance, Real Estate, Securities and Bankruptcy and in Litigation, including commercial, education and employment law litigation for private and public clients.

Mr. Wilcox currently serves as Counsel to Starwood Wasserman LLC, in its $100 million University Square retail redevelopment of the "Kaufmann's on the Heights" in University Heights, Ohio.

Mr. Wilcox is admitted to the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, the District of Columbia, the United States Tax Court, the United States Courts of Appeals, for the Third and Sixth Circuits. He is a member of the American, Ohio and Cleveland Bar Associations, the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the National Association of College and University Attorneys.

Mr. Wilcox has also served in a variety of community activities and offices, including: Member, City Council, Cleveland Heights, Ohio; Member, Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Cleveland Heights, Ohio - October 1998 to December 1999; Member, Fair Housing Board, City of Cleveland Heights, Ohio - February 1998 to October 1998; Board of Trustees, Cleveland Heights Democratic Club, 1999; Chairperson of Facilities Committee for Cleveland Heights/University Heights, Ohio Schools Five Year Strategic Plan - 1991-1996; Member of the Temple. Mr. Wilcox received PVA Circle of Homes Award for Community Service - 1994.