Toledo law firm founded 45 years ago closes its doors
Once the fourth largest law firm in Toledo, Cooper & Kowalski is shutting its doors 45 years after its founding.
Cooper & Kowalski closed on July 31 and is in the process of dissolution, the Toledo Blade reports.
“It is a sad outcome but these things happen,” co-founding partner Cary Cooper told the Toledo Blade. Cooper and his son, David Cooper, are among four lawyers from the firm who are joining Marshall & Melhorn.
“I think everybody parted on pretty good terms,” Cary Cooper said. “There are good relationships, good feelings, and no animosity that I am aware of.”
At one time the firm had three offices and had a majority of women as partners and lawyers.
Co-founding partner Richard Walinski, who is now a lawyer with Thacker Martinsek, said Cooper & Kowalski achieved early success after reaching some big settlements and acquiring a reputation for handling cases in federal court.
Walinski said the firm sought to recruit women at the top of their law classes, offering them flexibility that big firms could not.
“We needed good people, but it was tough to bring them to Toledo,” Walinski told the newspaper. “We tried to attract the top of the classes. We competed with the big sweatshops for younger lawyers.”
