Gary W. Kisling - Fairlawn, OH

Overview

Gary W. Kisling was born and raised in the countryside of southeastern Iowa. At an early age he developed a strong sense of justice and anger toward injustice. He decided to become a lawyer at the age of seven, when he discovered there was actually a profession that would pay him to argue. Gary has now practiced law for over 37 years and is a founding partner of Kisling, Nestico & Redick, LLC. His broad legal experience and years of practice give him perspective and insight in helping people.

While in law school, Gary worked for one year as a judicial legal assistant in the Akron Municipal Court, then two years as a judicial legal assistant in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas. It was in the Court of Common Pleas that Gary cites as having received his real legal education. In addition to legal research, writing memorandums, and draft opinions, Gary's judge requested his presence during jury trials to assist with complex evidentiary issues. This gave Gary the opportunity to watch good and bad lawyers try cases and observe jurors' reactions.

Gary went into private practice immediately following law school and tried his first jury trial in his second week of practice. He has since tried dozens of jury trials to verdict as lead counsel and settled multi-million dollar cases. In addition to trying complicated and serious injury cases, he counts a jury verdict of nearly one million dollars in a soft tissue injury case as one of his most satisfying experiences.

Gary has also won cases in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Ohio dealing with various issues including the unconstitutionality of the Ohio Workers' Compensation subrogation statute, defeating sovereign immunity for a county owned nursing home, lack of customer's prior notice of a defective condition despite previous use in premises liability cases, the admissibility of an expert witness's testimony based partially upon hearsay, and the limitation of the former doctrine of parental immunity in personal injury cases.

In addition to his law school education and other continuing legal education courses, Gary is a graduate of the University of Virginia’s Institute of Trial Advocacy in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College. He has given presentations on personal injury trial practice and cross examination of expert witnesses to other lawyers.