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Geagua County Lawyer Named to List of Ohio’s Top 100 Trial Attorneys

Geagua County Lawyer Named to List of Ohio’s Top 100 Trial Attorneys

Susan Petersen again makes list of Ohio’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers & Ohio Super Lawyers 2016

For the sixth year in a row, the National Trial Lawyers Association has named Attorney Susan Petersen to the list of Ohio’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Membership is obtained through special invitation and is extended only to those attorneys who exemplify superior qualifications of leadership, reputation, influence, stature, and profile as a civil plaintiff or criminal defense trial lawyer.

CHARDON, OH, AUGUST 17, 2011: Petersen and Petersen announced today that the National Trial Lawyers Association has named Attorney Susan Petersen to the list of Ohio’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers. The National Trial Lawyers is an organization composed of The Top 100 Trial Lawyers from each state. Membership is obtained through special invitation and is extended only to those attorneys who exemplify superior qualifications of leadership, reputation, influence, stature, and profile as a civil plaintiff or criminal defense trial lawyer.

The criteria used in the Association’s vetting and evaluation process include but is not limited to the following:
• Reputation among peers, the judiciary, and the public
• The previous year’s achievements and verdicts as a trial lawyer (civil or criminal defense)
• Jury Verdict and Settlement research
• Board Certification as Trial Specialist
• Nominations from leading trial lawyers and/or The Association’s Executive Committee
• Nominations from State and Federal Judges
• Leadership and Membership in National and State trial lawyer organizations
• Rankings and ratings of the attorney by established organizations

These Criteria are applied by a leading University’s Trial Advocacy Program with research assistants performing independent evaluations of each lawyer as part of the selection process.

Susan Petersen’s inclusion in this prestigious group comes on the heels of her recent record verdict in Lake County. In July 2011, she obtained a $457,060 verdict on behalf of a 73 year old Geauga County resident, who suffered a serious and permanent soft tissue neck injury in an April 2008 automobile crash. After a day and a half of trial before the Honorable Joseph Gibson, a Lake County jury returned the sizable verdict. According to Judge Gibson’s staff, this verdict is the largest auto accident verdict in the 32-year history of his courtroom and that of his predecessor, Judge Mitrovich.

At trial, the defendant driver, a Lake County resident, admitted fault for running a stop sign at 45 mph and smashing into the side of the plaintiff’s pickup truck. The plaintiff had been lawfully making a left hand turn at the four-way intersection of Auburn and Mentor Roads in Geauga County. Attorney Susan Petersen successfully argued to the jury that the severe side impact caused a severe and permanent injury to the soft tissues of her client’s neck that will necessitate lifelong treatment, and a future surgery.

Susan has been honored by a number of professional groups. The publishers of Law & Politics® recognized her again in 2011 as an “Ohio Super Lawyer Rising Star”. In 2008, she was selected by Crain’s Cleveland Business Magazine to its prestigious list of Forty under 40. She is a certified member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, recognized as the most prestigious group of trial lawyers in the United States. She focuses her practice in the representation of injury victims in the areas of wrongful death, medical malpractice, personal injury, product liability, nursing home negligence, automobile accident, and employment discrimination matters. Over the years, she has handled cases resulting in substantial compensation awards for injured clients all over Ohio, including Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga Counties, and her hometown of Youngstown.

She is currently serving a sixth term on the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys, and a second term on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Association for Justice. She previously served as President of the Ohio Women’s Bar Association. She and her husband, Todd Petersen (also a respected trial attorney and Petersen & Petersen Partner) have four children.

The law firm of Petersen & Petersen provides outstanding legal advice, representation, and advocacy across a wide range of legal specialties, including the legal counseling of individuals and small businesses in the areas of personal injury, civil litigation and criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. The lawyers of Petersen & Petersen have the experience and resources to handle every type of litigation matter, from the most basic to the most complex to include wrongful death, medical malpractice, product liability, automobile negligence, nursing home negligence, premises liability, employment discrimination, business disputes, and criminal defense.

The firm’s office is based in Geauga County, but its lawyers regularly practice in Cuyahoga, Summit, Ashtabula, Stark, Trumbull and Mahoning counties, as well as in other courts around the State and Federal Court, Appellate Courts, the Ohio Supreme Court, and before state and federal agencies.

For more information about Petersen & Petersen, visit www.petersenlegal.com.

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