Frost Brown Todd (FBT) welcomes its newest Members to the team. Promoted from Managing Associate in April, the diverse group of attorneys are located in the firm’s Columbus, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington and Pittsburgh offices. Their practices range from business litigation to finance and real estate. The promotions took effect on April 1.
Yazan Ashrawi maintains a diverse practice representing both public and private clients in a wide array of business issues and litigation matters, focusing on land-use and zoning, eminent domain, real estate, and appellate matters in state and federal courts. Based in Columbus, he has successfully defended his clients as lead counsel in jury trials, bench trials, and through pre-trial motion practice in various courts throughout the state. In addition to his trial work, Ashrawi successfully represented clients in appellate proceedings in front of numerous administrative agencies, state courts of appeals, and the Ohio Supreme Court. Ashrawi has briefed and handled over 30 appellate matters and presented oral argument on multiple occasions in state appellate courts. Prior to joining FBT, Ashrawi served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Ohio in the Health and Human Services Section as well as the Legal Initiatives Section.
Alyse Bender Hoffer focuses her practice in the Cincinnati office on commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, sales, leasing, and development of retail, restaurant, office, and warehouse projects. She graduated magna cum laude from Northern Kentucky University (NKU) Salmon P. Chase College of Law, where she was a member of the Salmon P. Chase Inns of Court and Chase’s National Arbitration Team. Prior to law school, Bender Hoffer graduated summa cum laude from Northern Kentucky University, where she was a member of the university’s Board of Regents and served as Student Government Association President. She volunteers with Welcome House of Northern Kentucky, Northern Kentucky University and the Northern Kentucky Teen Court Program.
Jenai Brackett focuses on complex business litigation and white-collar criminal defense with jury and bench trial experience and has practiced before both state and federal courts. She was a member of the Indianapolis Bar Association Bar Leader Series, Class XIV and was named an Up & Coming Lawyer by the Indiana Lawyer in 2017. Brackett has been consistently recognized as an Indiana Super Lawyers Rising Star in Indiana for Business Litigation since 2015.
Kevin Carter is a business litigator in the Cincinnati office with experience across a range of industries and practice areas. His focus is on unfair competition litigation with experience in cases involving trade secret violations, breaches of non-compete agreements, contract interference claims, antitrust claims, and partnership disputes and business dissolutions. He has represented clients in state and federal courts throughout Ohio and in all phases of litigation, from motion practice to bench and jury trials to briefing and arguing appeals.
Tommy Gleason has significant experience in complex litigation matters involving breach of contract, business torts and general commercial disputes in state and federal courts. He also regularly represents clients in arbitration proceedings. Gleason attended law school at the University of Notre Dame, where he was a staff member on the Notre Dame Law Review. Before joining Frost Brown Todd, he served as a law clerk for Judge Joy Flowers Conti in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Ben Hager counsels clients on tax and corporate law out of the Lexington office. A substantial part of Hager’s practice involves joint ventures, limited liability companies and partnerships, including within the context of venture capital, private equity and real estate equity funds. Hager has experience representing clients before the Internal Revenue Service in tax controversies and federal tax controversy experience includes representation of businesses and individuals during examination, administrative appeal and litigation.
Nicholas Koch has broad business litigation practice that spans two states and several industries. Working out of the Pittsburgh office, he represents companies in contract disputes, personal injury and property damage claims, class action suits, mass tort claims, and insurance coverage and bad faith claims in both state and federal courts. The breadth of Koch’s practice is complemented by his experience; he has successfully defended clients in all phases of litigation, including trials and appeals.
Jana Syrcle concentrates her practice on representing lenders in real estate and other asset-based loans, construction loans, and working capital facilities and serving as bond counsel for Industrial Revenue Bonds. She also represents non-lending clients in various real estate purchase and leasing transactions and serves as opinion counsel. Syrcle has experience representing manufacturing clients in drafting and negotiating supply agreements, terms and conditions, confidentiality agreements, and sourcing and tooling agreements. She works out of the Lexington office.
Allison Weyand focuses her time on fire and explosion litigation, insurance bad faith, drug and medical device litigation, and product liability defense. On the products liability side, she represents clients in matters in a variety of industry sectors, ranging from medical devices to automotive and agricultural equipment manufacturers. Weyand also has a depth of experience defending insurers in bad faith, unfair claims settlement practices, and coverage disputes. She is experienced at all stages of litigation, including pre-suit dispute resolution, arbitration, pretrial discovery, trial, and appeal. She is based in the Louisville office.