Stephen C. Ellis
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Steve Ellis is a business lawyer who provides a broad range of senior level business, financial, and transactional counseling to privately held companies.
Industries served include medical imaging products and services, consumer products, metals, plastics, and automotive, as well as technology-based software and biotechnology companies. Steve has served as lead counsel in scores of acquisitions and financings with dollar values ranging from $500,000 to more than $500,000,000. His 35+ years as a “deal-making” business lawyer and 10 years as the CEO of a major national law firm have made Steve a valuable business counselor, as well as a highly respected lawyer. He has been named one of The Best Lawyers in America® for more than 20 years. In 2009, Steve was named “Cleveland Corporate Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in America, as well as a Leading Lawyer (Mergers and Acquisitions) by Inside Business magazine.
Steve served for 10 years as National Managing Partner for the national law firm of Arter & Hadden. An honors graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, he was asked to deliver the law school’s commencement address in 2008, and in 2013 Steve received the school’s Centennial Award, the highest honor it awards to its alumni.
Steve is a lifelong Cleveland resident and is a valued member of Cleveland’s civic and charitable community. Notwithstanding his numerous professional and civic accomplishments, Steve views his greatest achievements as his happy marriage to his high school sweetheart Jean, his five grandchildren, and a single-digit handicap (a handicap level that presently eludes him).
- Education
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law (J.D.); Order of the Coif
- Denison University (A.B.)
- State Admissions
- Ohio,
- Service Areas
- Corporate Governance
- Financial Services
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Middle Market
- Public & Structured Finance
- Venture Capital
- Private Equity
- Educational Institutions
- Corporate Law
- Industries Represented
- Accounting Firms
- Advertising
- Automobile & Truck Suppliers
- Banks
- Chemical
- Civic Organizations
- Computers & Electronics
- Consumer Products
- Fabricated Metal Products
- Medical Devices
- Medical Professionals (Doctors & Nurses)
- Pet Products
- Petroleum & Coal
- Plastics & Rubber
- Restaurants
Speaking Engagements
- “Professionalism,” Business Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law (April 2020)
- “Leadership Lessons Learned from the Collapse of Arter & Hadden and the Launch of Tucker Ellis,” Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Leadership Academy, Cleveland, Ohio (December 2019)
Publications
- “80/20 Rule Applies in Deals, Too,” Crain’s Cleveland Business (January 2013)
- The Centennial Medal Award, Case Western Reserve University School of Law (2013)
- ORT America 2013 Jurisprudence Award (Cleveland Region)
- Ohio Super Lawyers® (2004-2016, 2018-2020)
- The Best Lawyers in America© (1995-2021)
- 2009 Cleveland Lawyer of the Year (Corporate Law)
- Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, Board of Directors
- Greater Cleveland Partnership (formerly Greater Cleveland Growth Association), Secretary and General Counsel
- HealthSpace Cleveland, Trustee and Vice Chair
- Lake Hospital System, Trustee and Chair of Finance Committee
- Lakeland Community College, Trustee
- Board Vice Chair
- Finance Committee Chair
- Leadership Cleveland, Alumnus
- Kramer Law Clinic, Advisory Committee
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- Adjunct Professor, Negotiations and Drafting
- 2008 Commencement Speaker
- Visiting Committee
- Society of Benchers, Chair
- Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
- Banking & Corporate Law Section, Former Chair
- Hiram College, Visiting Committee
- Kent State University, Center for Entrepreneurship & Business Innovation (CEBI), Board Member
