Gordon S. Friedman

Practice Areas

Admitted

• 1968, Ohio and U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
• 1969, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio

Education

• George Washington University, J.D., 1967
• Miami University, B.A., 1964

Member

• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• American Civil Liberties Union
• Cuyahoga County Public Defender Commission
• The Innocence Project
• William K. Thomas Inns of Court
• Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Legal Committee

Biography

• Born: Cleveland, Ohio, January 4, 1942
• Assistant Cuyahoga County Public Defender, 1967-1970
• Director, Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland, 1970-1972
• Associate Professor of Law, 1972-1976 and Adjunct Professor of Law, 1976-, Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
• AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell's Peer Review Ratings standards

Speaker

• "Mitigation and Jury Selection in Capital Cases," Louisiana Criminal Defense Seminar, Spring, 1994
• "The U.S. Supreme Court and the Law of Arrest," Cleveland Bar Association Criminal Seminar, 1997
• "Police Misconduct Litigation: U.S.C. 42 1983," Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers
• "We the Jury," Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Cleveland Plain Dealer quoted source on open discovery and prosecutorial misconduct
• "Psychological Defenses," Ohio Capital Litigation, 2001
• "Prosecuting Defending Police Liability Cases," Professional Education Systems Institute, 2004
• "Administrative Searches," Shaker Heights Municipal Court Personnel Seminar, 2005
• "Rethinking the Confrontation Clause Post Crawford," NORML Legal Seminar, 2007

Reported Cases

As both a practicing criminal defense attorney and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, I have developed a reputation as a defense attorney’s defense attorney. I’ve been involved in litigation that has changed substantive law in Ohio.

• State v. Lawrence 44 Ohio St. 3d 24 1989 (death sentence reversed)
• Jones v. Jago 575 F.2d 1164, 6th Cir. 1978 (extends discovery in federal court)
• Smith, et al. v. City of Lorain, et al., 857 F. Supp. 1203 (N.D. OH, 1994)
• Bhola v. State of Ohio, 143 Ohio App. 3d 644 (2001) (verdict against state for homicide in state mental hospital)

Through my brief and oral argument in State v. Lawrence, the Ohio Supreme Court reversed a capital death conviction and created a new standard for mental illness as a mitigating factor in capital cases.

I often  represent professionals charged with a crime and make a concerted effort to fly below the radar screen of public attention to accomplish desired results in litigation.