Locke Lord Makes Play for Ohio Business

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Locke Lord LLP is pushing into Ohio with the opening of an office in Cincinnati as part of an expansion of its public finance practice in the Midwest.

The Cincinnati office will support clients on a broad range of bond counsel, underwriters' counsel and special tax counsel matters, as well as general corporate tax and other work, the firm said in a press release.

Tax specialist Todd Cooper, who previously was a partner at Squire Patton Boggs Cooper, will lead Locke Lord's Ohio based operations. Margaret Comey, also previously a partner at Squire Patton Boggs, will join Cooper in the Ohio office.

Locke Lord expected to add lawyers in other practice areas in Cincinnati, but not immediately.

Cooper and Comey spent 10 years Squire Patton Boggs, the top ranked bond counsel firm in Ohio last year and 7th in the Midwest, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

The firm hired Cooper in April to work on deals nationally.

Cooper's practice has included roles as both bond counsel and underwriter's counsel and assisting in the formation of tax exempt entities, and their retention of tax-exempt status. He is the current vice-chair of the Tax Exempt Financing Committee of the American Bar Association Tax Section and is a fellow and board member of the American College of Bond Counsel.

Comey joined the Locke Lord firm in May as senior counsel in the public finance group. She does bond counsel, issuer's counsel and underwriter's counsel work for tax exempt and taxable debt financings and also does economic development counseling.

"We are excited to announce the opening of the Cincinnati office and continue the expansion of our public finance practice," said Lorde Lord chairman Jerry Clements. "Our already outstanding public finance practice has been strengthened with the addition of Todd and Margaret."

Locke Lord's new office is in Cincinnati's Anderson Center at 7850 Five Mile Road.

The firm, which began in 1891 in Dallas, expanded its size and reach last year when it merged with Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, which has a strong New England presence.

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