Our Attorneys

Providing our clients with solutions to their legal issues, and representing their interests, in an innovative, professional, careful and efficient manner.

JOHN E. STILLPASS, ESQ.
RONNA S. LUCAS, ESQ.
CAROLYN A. BETTS, ESQ.
SCOTT H. KRAVETZ, ESQ.

Law Offices Located at:

4901 Hunt Road, Suite 103
Cincinnati, Ohio 45242-6990

TELEPHONE: (513) 936-0800
TOLL-FREE: (866) 936-0800
FAX: (513) 794-8800

Directions

JOHN E. STILLPASS, ESQ.

ADMITTED: 1981, OHIO, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio and U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit; 1982, FLORIDA; 1988, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (including Trial Bar); 1991, U.S. Tax Court

LAW-SCHOOL: Case Western Reserve University (J.D. 1981)

COLLEGE: University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Finance & Commerce (B.S.E. 1978)

Senior Associate Editor: Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, 1980-1981; Canada-US Law Journal, 1980 -1981.

Arbitration Panelist, Cincinnati Bar Association/Cincinnati Board of Realtors Earnest Money Arbitration Program, 1989- .

Arbitration Panelist (Chairman), Clermont County Court of Common Pleas Arbitration Program.

Assistant Zone Manager, AB Volvo, Car Marketing Division, Gothenburg, Sweden. (1973-1978).

Managing Member/Development Principal, Vision Implementation Group LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio. (2000- )

Associate, Goodman & Goodman Co. L.P.A., Cincinnati, Ohio. (1981-2001)

MEMBERSHIPS:
Cincinnati Bar Association (Member: Bankruptcy Committee, 1988 - 1992; Common Pleas Court Committee; Board of Realtors Liaison Committee; Vice Chair, Solo Practitioners/Small Firm Committee, 2006-); Palm Beach County Florida Bar Association; Ohio State Bar Association; The Florida Bar.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS:
GFR Leasing Corporation; Klein Motor Co.; Friendly Auto Sales Inc.; Auto Dealers Acceptance Corp.; The Fulton Railroad Co.; Selden Mast Inc.; SASS Realty Corp.; Ohio Corporate Services, Inc.; Peck Film Corp.

EXPERIENCE:
I have provided legal services to individuals and business clients for over 20 years.

Types of businesses represented and advised have included new and used car dealerships, repair facilities, trucking lines, shipping lines, railroads, real estate developers, real estate investors, nursing homes and health care facilities, professional practices (including physicians, architects, engineers, and lawyers), warehousing and distribution, marine terminal, equipment leasing, construction, commodities, sales representatives, financing, technology and manufacturing.

Utilizing a business background, I have provided my commercial clients with representation in the areas of business formation and planning, purchases and sales of businesses, collections, bankruptcies, contracts and commercial transactions, financing transactions, real estate purchases, sales and financing, appropriations, leasing, administrative proceedings, zoning and land use regulation, employment and employee benefit issues, transnational legal issues, and litigation of commercial disputes in state and federal courts and in arbitration and mediation proceedings.

I have provided services and advice to individual clients in the areas of real estate sales and financing, estate planning, probate proceedings, personal injury, consumer matters, and other personal matters.

I have lectured to automobile dealers on legal matters concerning business entities, employment issues, consumer issues, collections and financing. I have also presented seminars to lawyers and real estate professionals on matters of real estate law. I have taught architectural students on the legal topics of practice formation, contract issues, and risk avoidance.

return to top of page

RONNA S. LUCAS, ESQ.

ADMITTED: 1994, Ohio; 1998, Illinois; 2005, United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio; United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals

LAW-SCHOOL: Capital University Law School, Columbus, Ohio (J.D. 1994)

COLLEGE: University of Cincinnati (B.A. 1990)

EMPLOYMENT: Staff Attorney, Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County, Ohio 1994 – 1996

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office 1996-1998

In-house Litigation Counsel, Warrior Insurance Group, Chicago, Illinois 1999-2000

Associate Attorney and then of-counsel for nearly a decade for one of the nation's largest "lemon law" or “consumer” firms and its “brother” law firm and managed the Cincinnati office until her departure.

MEMBERSHIP:
Cincinnati Bar Association
Previously a member of NACA – National Association of Consumer Advocates

EXPERIENCE:
Ronna Lucas began her legal career working in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas and managing the court’s criminal and civil dockets, and researching and drafting many court briefs and opinions. Ronna Lucas then worked as an assistant prosecuting attorney for the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, first in the Child Support Division enforcing child support orders, prosecuting contempt proceedings for non-payment of child support and litigating cases to establish paternity, and then in Juvenile Court prosecuting cases including misdemeanors, felonies, traffic violations, “bind-over” hearings and competency hearings.

Ronna Lucas also has experience with garnishment and citation proceedings, as well as “bad-faith” lawsuits.

During this time Ms. Lucas tried new cases daily – often trying more than one case per day – for a total of several hundred bench trials over the course of her employment in this position.

For nearly a decade, Ms. Lucas’ practice has primarily been concentrated in the area of consumer protection litigation and has represented over a thousand consumers. She has been involved, throughout the entire State of Ohio, in all aspects of the litigation of consumer law cases, including pre-lawsuit settlement negotiations to trial. She has represented thousands of consumers in various stages of litigation including drafting pleadings, propounding and responding to discovery requests, conducting depositions, handing mediations and arbitrations, arguing motions before the courts, preparing cases and clients for trial and drafting both State and Federal Appellate briefs.

Ms. Lucas has personally first-chaired over eighteen (18) trials, tried over a hundred bench trials, and argued numerous cases in Ohio’s appellate courts.

return to top of page

CAROLYN A. BETTS, ESQ.

ADMITTED: OHIO, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio and U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit; DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (inactive)

LAW-SCHOOL: Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University (J.D. 1984)

BUSINESS SCHOOL: University of Cincinnati Graduate College of Business Administration (M.B.A., Finance, 1978)

COLLEGE: Bryn Mawr College (A.B. 1975)

MEMBERSHIPS:
Cincinnati Bar Association (Secretary, Women Lawyers Committee, 2007-2009).

EXPERIENCE:
Carolyn Betts has provided legal and financial advisory services to business and government clients for over 25 years. During a significant portion of her career she served as an associate and then partner in the corporate finance departments of Omaha and Washington, DC law firms, representing affordable housing development, federal government, capital market, financial services and other major clients in connection with large mergers and acquisitions, mortgage securitizations and other finance transactions, many involving commercial real estate and affordable housing, and with securities and regulatory compliance matters. During the savings and loan crisis, her practice group represented Resolution Trust Corporation in designing and executing transactions involving assets of savings loans in government receivership. She later served on the business side as senior investment banker for the Federal Housing Administration’s lead financial advisor and as part of that work provided advice on work-outs, the FHA budget, the Section 8 rent subsidy program, government mortgage insurance programs and programs for securitization and other disposition of government-held loans.

As of counsel in the health care litigation practice of a major Cincinnati-area law firm, Carolyn provided advice to the pharmaceutical contracting division of a major consumer products company on federal and state Medicare, Medicaid and other health care contracting and regulation issues and assisted it in developing and maintaining a corporate policies and procedures manual. She participated in the defense of malpractice and Medicare/Medicaid fraud claims, federal whistleblower (qui tam) and breach of contracts cases. As in-house counsel to the target of a Federal False Claims Act case and plaintiff in a government breach of contract case, she handled litigation management and investigation with respect to twelve related affirmative and defensive claims in federal district court, superior court and the court of federal claims over a ten-year period, resulting in a global settlement and no finding of wrongdoing on the part of the client.

Drawing on her business finance background in the securities, mutual fund and financial advisory industries, Carolyn has assisted financial advisory, financial education, alternative media, venture capital investment and other small business clients with capital raising, securities compliance, investment advisory registration and online commerce related matters. Her experience runs the gamut from corporate and LLC formation to debtor-creditor relations, work-outs, liquidations and bankruptcy. Her ongoing representation of public and private businesses has involved rendering advice involving strategic planning, government, internal and external audits and investigations, business reengineering, financial reporting, investor and board of directors relations and general corporate matters. She has negotiated contracts involving employment, confidentiality, sales and leasebacks, manufacturing, equipment and real estate leasing, IT services, intellectual property licenses and assignments, Internet affiliate programs, health care provider services, health care management and financial services.

She also provides services and advice to individual clients in the areas of real estate sales and financing, landlord-tenant disputes, debt collection, state, federal and local tax issues, probate and other personal matters. Carolyn has served as pro-bono counsel for Zacchaeus Free Clinic in Washington, D.C. and currently provides services to Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor in Cincinnati, dealing with foreclosure mediation and defense, social security disability appeals landlord-tenant disputes, guardianship and other matters.

return to top of page

SCOTT H. KRAVETZ, ESQ.

Practice Description
Scott Kravetz’s practice focuses on general civil litigation including Appeals.

Awards and Honors
Scott graduated from the University of Cincinnati summa cum laude, with High College Honors and was admitted into Phi Beta Kappa. Scott is currently working towards obtaining certification as a Specialist in Appellate Law.

Personal Affiliations
Scott is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, the Cincinnati Bar Association and the Southwest Ohio Trial Lawyers Association. With regard to his former profession as an Army officer, he is a member of the Military Intelligence Corp. Association, the Reserve Officer’s Association, and the U.S. Cavalry & Armor Association.

Bar Admissions
Ohio State and Federal

Education
The Ohio State University College of Law, 1993 The University of Cincinnati, Bachelor of Arts, 1988 Indian Hill High School, 1984

Community Involvement
Scott has lived in Cincinnati and been involved in various community activities for most of his life with the exception of law school and military service, including most recently, the Board of Hillel at the University of Cincinnati. Scott is a member of and active in the American Legion. In addition, Scott is a member of the Veterans and Military Law Committee of the Cincinnati Bar Association, which provides legal support to veterans. Scott is also a volunteer attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which seeks to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system.