Duane E. Cox - Cleveland, OH

Duane Cox is an Attorney of Counsel at NRS Injury Law, focusing on workers’ compensation law. Now semi-retired, Duane’s passion for helping injured workers drives him to continue providing essential counsel to the firm’s practicing attorneys.

“It was a radical time,” Duane said when asked to reflect on his early years as an undergraduate, law school student, legal clerk, and newly barred attorney. Duane had enrolled at Kent State University just one year after the tragic Kent State Shootings, and he was the only one from his family to go to college. Motivated to change the status quo, Duane studied political science and became involved in the Black United Students advocacy group, eventually serving as the organization’s Vice President and later President.

Quoting Kent State’s Alumni publication, “His [Duane’s] leadership had a lasting impact on the university as BUS was able to raise significant funding and helped develop the Institute of African American Affairs, now known as the Department for Africana Studies, and secured dedicated space in Oscar Ritchie Hall.”

Duane graduated from Kent State in 1975 and, on the advice of Professor Charles Greene, took the LSAT and enrolled in the nearby University of Akron School of Law. He graduated and passed the bar in 1979.

After brief stints as a District Hearing Officer for the Ohio Industrial Commission and an employer’s defense attorney for the Greater Cleveland Region Transit Authority, Duane decided his skills would be best used as a plaintiff’s attorney representing hardworking Ohioans who had been injured on the job. Duane opened a private practice and became the only Black workers’ compensation attorney in Cleveland.

“I was in private practice for almost 40 years before I began to wonder if it was time to throw in the towel,” Duane said. “But I really didn’t want to retire, and around 2020, my grandson was playing baseball with the son of this young fella who I took a real liking to, a man named Jerald Schneiberg. Jerry and I got to talking, and he asked if I’d like to come on over to NRS Injury Law and serve in a semi-retired Of Counsel role. Partial retirement that would still let me work and help people? Now that sounded good to me!”

Despite his many accomplishments, Duane insists that other people and the Lord should take credit for just about every milestone in his long and impressive career. “The folks at the community rec center gave me a job when I was in high school, which instilled in me a strong work ethic and an understanding that community roots go just as deep as family, but only if you water them and help them grow. During undergrad, Professor Charles Greene pointed me towards law school so I could stay close to my new girlfriend Jackie at the time, who is now my wife of over 40 years and the mother of my children,” Duane said.

Duane continued. “Thanks to Mr. Greene, I secured a place to live, acceptance into Akron’s law school, and a job clerking for a prominent judge. That judge, the Honorable Joseph D. Roulhac, taught me how to think and love the law. And my mother, Ernestine Cox, well she was behind the scenes every step of the way, telling me to never forget where I came from, and to work hard and be humble.”

Not a homebody by a long shot, Duane leaves the house every morning at 10:00 a.m. for a walk or drive, no matter the weather. “I’m still a student of the 60s and 70s,” Duane says through a grin. “I’m a hippie kinda guy and I love a good nature walk.”

Tuesdays are Duane’s library days. He spends hours reading and researching for both pleasure and legal practice. Wednesdays and Sundays are church and volunteering days. On Fridays, he’s at the firm’s offices in either downtown Cleveland or Euclid.

Whenever he can, Duane spends his free time striking up conversations with strangers and loved ones, dropping nuggets of wisdom like the following: “No matter what chapter of life you’re in, you have to maintain your sense of whatever you think is right or wrong,” Duane said. “If we’re all going to get along with each other, we must refrain from criticizing each other directly. If you disagree with someone, speak your mind in a way that begs accountability for that person’s actions, not their character. We’ve come a long way since I was a young man, but we still have a long way to go, and it all starts with understanding each other and resolving our differences in a way that allows us to move forward, not backward.”

Duane’s values, principled stance, tireless work ethic, and his ability to relate to everyday working people and help them improve their material conditions are traits that align with NRS Injury Law’s mission to: “Provide empathetic and patient service to every person who calls the firm, and to relentlessly pursue the best possible outcome on behalf of every client by putting collective experience, knowledge, and passion to work every day.” To retain an effective legal team with a proven track record and to speak with the firm about your case, call 855.468.4878 or fill out a convenient online contact form.

Duane coached youth baseball for 35 years and has been a longtime parishioner at Starlight Missionary Baptist Church. As an active member of the congregation, Duane volunteers in the church’s outreach programs and community betterment initiatives. “I’m at my best when I’m engaged in an organizing campaign or large-scale project,” Duane says. “Pastor Anthony L. Small gives me an assignment and I go do it. Yes I do love the Lord, but when the Lord comes knocking, I plan to tell him I ain’t home, because there’s still so much good work I gotta do.”