Freking Myers & Reul LLC

Focus and practice areas

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, the firm handles general litigation with most of its work in employment law and personal injury. It opened in 1990, so it has run for more than three decades. The firm states that it now has twelve attorneys, and those lawyers serve clients across Ohio and Kentucky.

Calling itself a general litigation firm tells a reader something plain about how it operates. It takes disputes to court, and it covers several kinds of civil matter under one roof.

The firm sorts its work into a short list of areas. Employment and labor disputes come first. Personal injury is the second main area. Estate planning and mediation fill out the services the site names. That combination puts everyday employment problems and injury claims in the same place, which suits people who want one firm for more than one kind of dispute.

Who the firm represents

The firm describes its clients as working people and injury victims. That focus shapes the two areas it names most. Employment claims and injury claims each put one person on one side and a larger party, an employer or an insurer, on the other. The firm places itself on the individual's side of that line.

How the team is built

The firm names its attorneys on both its home page and its firm overview. Randolph H. Freking is listed as the founder, the name that also opens the firm's title. Kelly Mulloy Myers, George M. Reul, Jr., Katherine Daughtrey Neff and Jon B. Allison appear with the title of attorney. Charles T. McGinnis III is listed as of counsel, which usually marks a lawyer tied to a firm on an ongoing basis, short of full partnership.

The pages list more lawyers under the attorney title: Niroshan M. Wijesooriya, Austin H. LiPuma, Laura Welles Wilson, Paige E. Richardson and Sarah Froehlich. The named lawyers add up to eleven, while the firm overview states a headcount of twelve. As a reviewer, I find the firm clear about who works there and what each person's role is.

A group of about a dozen lawyers is a mid-sized setup for this kind of practice. It is large enough to carry several matters at once and small enough that a client is likely to work with a named attorney. The founder still carries his name on the door, which points to continuity in how the firm has run since 1990. Name partners who stay active in a firm often take on the more detailed files, a common pattern in practices of this size.

Employment and labor disputes

Employment law is the firm’s main area of work. The matters it names include wrongful termination, non-compete and other contract disputes, workplace harassment, discrimination and sexual harassment. Each of these starts from a workplace relationship that has broken down, and each asks whether an employer met its legal duty to a worker. Ohio and federal law both set rules for these claims, so a case can rest on state statutes, federal statutes or a mix of the two.

Wrongful termination claims usually turn on the reason behind a firing. A court looks at whether the dismissal broke a contract, a statute or a clear public policy. These cases can move quickly, because a worker may need a ruling before starting new work.

Non-compete agreements draw close reading in Ohio courts. A judge weighs whether a limit is reasonable in time, area and scope, and whether it protects a real business interest while still leaving a worker room to earn a living. A firm that handles these disputes may act for the employee who wants the limit narrowed, or for the employer trying to hold a former worker to the terms. The firm names non-compete and contract disputes among its employment matters, so this reading of agreements is part of its regular work.

Harassment and discrimination claims

Workplace harassment, discrimination and sexual harassment claims follow their own route. In many cases a worker first files a charge with a state civil rights agency or the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That step can lead to an investigation, a finding and, in some cases, a right to sue in court. The timing of that charge matters, because agencies set their own deadlines for filing.

Discrimination law protects workers from unfair treatment tied to categories such as race, sex, age, religion, disability and national origin. A claim usually needs the worker to show a link between the treatment and one of those protected traits. Sexual harassment claims, which the firm lists on its home page, cover unwanted conduct that makes a workplace hostile or ties job terms to sexual demands. This is general background on how such matters tend to proceed, and any single case follows its own facts.

Personal injury and wrongful death work

Personal injury is the firm's second main area. The site lists vehicle accidents, nursing home abuse and wrongful death as the injury matters it handles. These cases center on physical harm to a person and the question of who should pay for it.

Vehicle accident claims usually involve insurers, medical records and a dispute over who caused the crash. Nursing home abuse cases look closely at the care a resident received and whether a facility met the standard the law sets for it. Wrongful death claims let close family members seek compensation after a death caused by another party, and Ohio law sets who may bring the claim and what they may recover. These claims often bring in more than one defendant, such as a driver and an employer, or a facility and its staff.

Timing matters in injury cases. Each state sets a deadline, called a statute of limitations, for filing a claim after an injury or death. Evidence such as medical records, crash reports and witness accounts tends to be gathered early, while it is fresh. A firm that lists vehicle accidents, nursing home abuse and wrongful death handles cases where these deadlines and records shape how fast a claim must move.

The firm handles this injury work alongside its employment practice. One office covers both a fired worker and an injured driver, and the same lawyers move between the two kinds of case. In my opinion, keeping both areas in one practice fits a firm that describes its clients as working people and injury victims.

Reach across Ohio, Kentucky and beyond

The firm serves clients across Ohio and Kentucky and describes its reach through the Tri-State area around Cincinnati. Its site states that it has resolved cases in Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois. Work in three states points to lawyers who can handle more than one court system and more than one set of state rules.

Handling cases in Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois means dealing with separate filing deadlines and local court rules in each place. For a client near a state line, as many are around Cincinnati, that reach can decide which lawyer is able to take a case. The firm's Cincinnati base sits close to the Kentucky border, which fits the Tri-State framing it uses.

For meetings, the firm offers consultations in person or by phone, and it says its lawyers may travel to clients. That travel option matters in injury cases, where a client may be hurt and unable to come to an office. A phone consultation is also a first point of contact for someone weighing whether they have a claim. The firm frames its client base as working people and injury victims across the region.

Estate planning and mediation

The firm's list includes two further services beyond litigation. Estate planning covers the documents a person uses to direct their property and their care, such as wills and powers of attorney. Mediation is a way to settle a dispute with the help of a neutral third party before a case reaches full trial.

Both services fit a firm whose main work runs through disputes. Through mediation, a client can resolve an employment or injury claim by agreement, and many courts ask parties to try it before trial. Estate planning adds a service that people often need at the same stage of life when other legal questions come up. The firm lists these areas next to its litigation work on the same overview page.