J. Richard Emens and Beatrice Wolper Found Law Firm to Focus on Family and Closely Held Businesses
Columbus, Ohio – April 17, 2009 – Two of Central Ohio’s best-known attorneys, Dick Emens and Bea Wolper, have opened the Emens Wolper Jacobs & Jasin Law Firm to provide legal services specifically for family owned businesses and closely held firms.
Emens and Wolper, who are co-founders of the Conway Family Business Center of Central Ohio and authors of a book on best practices in running family businesses, are moving their high-profile practice from Chester Willcox & Saxbe to start their firm, which will have offices in Easton.
“We want to spend time working with clients and continue to work with the fine attorneys at Chester Willcox & Saxbe in co-counsel engagements. We dedicate ourselves to helping family and closely held businesses grow,” said Mr. Emens. “We’ll have flexibility in how we structure our client relationships and be located closer to the Conway Family Business Center.”
“Our clients appreciate that we are working to partner with them in new, creative ways,” Ms. Wolper said. “We recognize that our clients are going through challenging times during the recession and we are helping position them to take advantage of the economic upturn when it happens. “In addition, our new location is something our clients have told us they would find convenient.”
Emens and Wolper, who are married, have decades of experience in family business law, succession and estate planning, and other legal experience.
Emens Distinguished as Attorney, Director, Lecturer
Mr. Emens was Managing Director of Emens, Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter before moving to Chester Willcox & Saxbe with Ms. Wolper in 1997. For more than 40 years, he has represented clients in business and corporate law, corporate finance, oil and gas law, governmental agencies, family business law and succession planning.
He has served on and advised many boards of directors, and negotiated numerous multi million dollar transactions with corporations, limited liability entities and limited partnerships.
In 1998 he co-founded with Ms. Wolper the Conway Family Business Center, which today serves more than 100 Central Ohio family businesses and service providers. He serves as Advisory Board Chair and Executive Director for the Center, and teaches classes on family business succession and entrepreneurship at Ohio Dominican University and for the Ohio State Bar Association.
Mr. Emens also is Chair of the Ball State University Foundation, a past Trustee and Board Chair at Franklin University, and a Trustee and Past President of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation, and a member of the Ohio State Bar Association Corporation Law Committee. He received his undergraduate degree Phi Beta Kappa from DePauw University and his law degree from the University of Michigan.
Wolper Recognized for Legal, Civic and Business Leadership
Ms. Wolper has practiced law in Central Ohio for more than 25 years, with an emphasis on family-owned business and women business owners; estate planning and wealth transfer; outside general counsel to privately held businesses; mergers, acquisitions and corporate governance.
In particular, her practice has included an emphasis on implications of philanthropic giving, and preservation of wealth. Her clients have included those in the service, retail, distribution, manufacturing, real estate and construction industries, among others.
Ms. Wolper has been elected as a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business and was named a YMCA Woman of Achievement in Central Ohio. She serves as the Ohio President of the International Women’s Forum, is the Founder and President of the Women’s Business Board, and is a board member of the Conway Family Business Center. Ms. Wolper also serves on the Wexner Director’s Circle Council Board, and the Columbus Foundation Legal Advisory Board and the boards of the Capital Club and Columbus Sister Cities, among others.
Ms. Wolper is a frequent author and lecturer on estate planning, wealth transfer, family owned business issues and acquisitions. With Mr. Emens, she authored two editions of Family Business Basics: The Guide to Family Business Financial Success” and her views on business practices and law are widely published in regional and national business and legal journals. She teaches courses on entrepreneurship and succession planning at Ohio Dominican University and for the Ohio State Bar Association.
Ms. Wolper was graduated cum laude with a B.A. from the University of Cincinnati and received her J.D. cum laude from Northern Kentucky University.
For more information, contact the Emens Wolper Jacobs & Jasin Law Firm at 614.414.0888
Emens Wolper Jacobs & Jasin Law Firm Co, LPA
One Easton Oval, Suite 340
Columbus, OH 43219
