Alumni Spotlight: Howard Bobrow ’96

This simple yet insightful advice comes from Howard Bobrow, a business lawyer at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. Mr. Bobrow is well known for his success in structuring and closing various high level corporate finance transactions. As a result of his work, Mr. Bobrow has been recognized not only by The Best Lawyers in America in the categories of Venture Capital and Corporate Law, but he has also been named a Leading Lawyer by Inside Business magazine and selected to Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars in Law & Politics magazine. His esteemed reputation in the Cleveland area and his countless number of achievements clearly demonstrates that Mr. Bobrow is passionate about his work.

As a Cleveland native, Mr. Bobrow attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he majored in Political Science and Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs. Mr. Bobrow originally aspired to work for the government in foreign service and saw attending law school at Case Western Reserve University School of Law as a way to attain that goal. However, he was drawn to private practice after his first year of law school when he had the opportunity to work part-time at a law firm. According to Mr. Bobrow, “If you can do it, working part-time is a very important experience while in law school. It allows you to see the daily activities of a firm and gives you an idea of what private practice is like.” His exposure to private practice led Mr. Bobrow to his first job at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP after graduating in 1996.

Mr. Bobrow later joined Kahn Kleinman as he wanted to work for a smaller sized firm. In 2008, however, Kahn Kleinman merged with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, a prominent regional firm. Mr. Bobrow acknowledges that the experience of working for a small firm greatly differs from working in a larger firm, especially when it comes to the clientele. According to Mr. Bobrow, the large firm clientele tend to have more complex matters. Yet, Mr. Bobrow maintains that he loves the challenge of working and interacting with clients on a daily basis. He sees his job not just as a lawyer, but also as a counselor who helps businesses grow by offering his corporate finance expertise and advice.

For students interested in transactional law, Mr. Bobrow’s advice is to take as many business classes as possible. As someone with a Political Science major, he asserted that taking business classes while in law school would have definitely helped with the learning curve when he started working in private practice. Drawing on his own experiences at Case Western, he also advises students to take advantage of the law school experience, “The Socratic method, if done properly, taught me that you have to be on your toes, which is a valuable lesson once you get in the real world.”

Mr. Bobrow is undoubtedly a humble, yet hard working person. Keep an eye out for him on campus this coming year as he teams up with Corporate Finance & Law Alliance, helping to bring leadership and expertise to the organization’s year-long venture capital program. Those students interested in Mr. Bobrow’s work in transactional law are encouraged to attend.

Written by Karelia Rajagopal, 2L
Contributing Editor, The Docket
This article previously appeared in the Docket, our law student newspaper

Alumni Spotlight: Howard Bobrow ’96

This simple yet insightful advice comes from Howard Bobrow, a business lawyer at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. Mr. Bobrow is well known for his success in structuring and closing various high level corporate finance transactions. As a result of his work, Mr. Bobrow has been recognized not only by The Best Lawyers in America in the categories of Venture Capital and Corporate Law, but he has also been named a Leading Lawyer by Inside Business magazine and selected to Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars in Law & Politics magazine. His esteemed reputation in the Cleveland area and his countless number of achievements clearly demonstrates that Mr. Bobrow is passionate about his work.

As a Cleveland native, Mr. Bobrow attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he majored in Political Science and Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs. Mr. Bobrow originally aspired to work for the government in foreign service and saw attending law school at Case Western Reserve University School of Law as a way to attain that goal. However, he was drawn to private practice after his first year of law school when he had the opportunity to work part-time at a law firm. According to Mr. Bobrow, “If you can do it, working part-time is a very important experience while in law school. It allows you to see the daily activities of a firm and gives you an idea of what private practice is like.” His exposure to private practice led Mr. Bobrow to his first job at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP after graduating in 1996.

Mr. Bobrow later joined Kahn Kleinman as he wanted to work for a smaller sized firm. In 2008, however, Kahn Kleinman merged with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, a prominent regional firm. Mr. Bobrow acknowledges that the experience of working for a small firm greatly differs from working in a larger firm, especially when it comes to the clientele. According to Mr. Bobrow, the large firm clientele tend to have more complex matters. Yet, Mr. Bobrow maintains that he loves the challenge of working and interacting with clients on a daily basis. He sees his job not just as a lawyer, but also as a counselor who helps businesses grow by offering his corporate finance expertise and advice.

For students interested in transactional law, Mr. Bobrow’s advice is to take as many business classes as possible. As someone with a Political Science major, he asserted that taking business classes while in law school would have definitely helped with the learning curve when he started working in private practice. Drawing on his own experiences at Case Western, he also advises students to take advantage of the law school experience, “The Socratic method, if done properly, taught me that you have to be on your toes, which is a valuable lesson once you get in the real world.”

Mr. Bobrow is undoubtedly a humble, yet hard working person. Keep an eye out for him on campus this coming year as he teams up with Corporate Finance & Law Alliance, helping to bring leadership and expertise to the organization’s year-long venture capital program. Those students interested in Mr. Bobrow’s work in transactional law are encouraged to attend.

Written by Karelia Rajagopal, 2L
Contributing Editor, The Docket
This article previously appeared in the Docket, our law student newspaper