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The Lazzaro Law Firm
JANUARY 27, 2017
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MARC DANN The Dann Law Firm Co., LPA. NAOMI GRANT
As Ohio Attorney General, Marc Dann focused on protecting the Ohio consumer.
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“We brought cases against everybody from mortgage servicers to security fraud cases against the folks that you probably read about or watched in the ‘Big Short’ to bringing claims even against bond-rating agencies to try to protect Ohio consumers who were taken advantage of by predatory mortgages that originated prior to the housing collapse in 2008,” he said. Despite his focus on a particular area, Dann said one of the great things about being attorney general is the variety that comes with the job. “We ran the crime lab, so we were able to solve cold cases like the show on TV. (We would) take DNA from cases that were 10 or 20 years old and match it to somebody and solve crimes,” he said. “We did everything from solving crimes to trying to create at least some sort of a barrier to the abuse that was going on of Ohio homeowners by these predatory mortgage lenders.” Dann also helped found the attorney general’s joint task force with other states. He resigned as Ohio Attorney General in 2008 after a scandal. In November 2012, the Ohio Supreme Court suspended his law license for six months for a 2010 “conviction for mishandling campaign financial matters.” Once he got back his license, he began practicing and handled foreclosure cases. “It was obviously a little nervewracking because I didn’t have any clients,” Dann said, “but I’ve always been a little bit entrepreneurial as a lawyer and I wanted to try to do things other people just weren’t doing.” He said there wasn’t an existing firm he could join where he could practice his specialty, so he started The Dann Law Firm Co., LPA. As Ohio Attorney General, Dann had organized volunteer lawyers to represent individual homeowners, so when he left office, he said he thought it made sense for him to take his share of those cases, too. Upon digging into about a dozen cases, he realized there were some
Marc Dann
City: Lakewood Synagogue: Beth IsraelThe West Temple Firm: The Dann Law Firm Co., LPA. Areas of practice: Consumer
serious problems. “The people suing my clients didn’t have the right to sue them, and so we figured out ways to both defend those cases and to bring actions against those folks who were abusing the court system,” he said. Dann considers it “extremely rewarding” to be able to help clients with something as important as their homes. “I have the greatest job in the world,” he said. “Our clients come in kind of at one of the worst times of their lives and usually we’re either able to work out a settlement where they’re able to go back to being regular mortgage-paying citizens or we work out a deal where they can move on with their life, move out of their house in a dignified way.”
Naomi Grant is the Violet Spevack Editorial Intern.