Michael Hardy didn't become a lawyer to follow in his father's or grandfather's footsteps. In fact, he was the first person in his family to graduate from college. Nor did he head to law school because he admired the attorney character Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird." His reasons for choosing the legal profession were less romantic, but no less idealistic.
"I had the perception that as a law-yer I could help people solve complex problems," says Hardy, partner-in-charge of the Cleveland office of Thompson Hine LLP. He oversees 150 lawyers and more than 400 total employees at the firm's headquarters. He also practices law in Thompson Hine's Environmental, Life Sciences and Product Liability practice groups.
Hardy came to Cleveland in 1965 as a student at John Carroll University. After graduation, he attended law school at the University of Michigan. Then he spent a short stint in active duty in the Army in Virginia before settling in Northeast Ohio.
"I developed an affection for the area while going to school at John Carroll," says Hardy. He also became enamored with a local girl named Marti, whom he eventually married. Today, they have two grown sons living in Boston.
In 1973, Hardy began his career at Guren, Merritt, Feibel, Sogg & Cohen, a Cleveland law firm that disbanded in 1984. In June of that year, he joined Thompson Hine as a partner. In the 1990s, he was named head of the Environmental practice group, a position he held until February 2003, when he was appointed partner-in-charge.
Hardy found his niche in environmental law while with Guren, Merritt.
"At the time, there really wasn't anybody practicing environmental law," he recalls. "Early on, I was exposed to significant matters of environmental law, working largely with the electric utility here in town — Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. Over time, I kept developing that part of my practice."
One of his most memorable cases occurred in 1999, when he represented Ohio Edison in an enforcement initiative brought by the federal government against numerous utilities. During the case, which concerned equipping utilities with more stringent pollution controls, Hardy took numerous depositions across the country and participated in a long trial.
The first part involved liability, with the judge ultimately deciding that the utilities weren't liable. The second part focused on how to remedy the problem and was settled on the eve of trial. "That led to publicly available documents showing the commitments the company is making toward installation of pollution-control equipment," says Hardy.
Today, many of his cases involve "cutting-edge issues, such as medical monitoring and fear of cancer," says Hardy. "They're a lot like the Erin Brockovich-type case," referring to the 1993 litigation against a California utility, which was later made into a Hollywood movie. And he often faces off against fierce opposing attorneys.
One of those is Stephen M. O'Bryan, partner-in-charge of the Cleveland office of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP, who served as opposing counsel in a highly publicized electric line dispute in Geauga and Portage counties in 1980.
"I gained a great deal of respect for Mike as a litigator and as a person during that case," says O'Bryan. "That admiration has only grown. Mike is one of the leading environmental lawyers both in this region and nationally." They remain friends and occasionally face off in court.
Hardy's current cases involve allocation of cleanup responsibilitiesin sites nationwide for various companies in the paint and aerospace industries. He also counsels a specialty chemical company. In addition, Hardy spends approximately a third of his time on partner-in-charge duties.
"In the past year, we expanded our footprint in the Key Building and took on an added floor," Hardy says of Thompson Hine's 160,000-square-foot office. But his favorite part of being a lawyer harks back to his reason for entering the profession: "I like the challenge of learning the intimate details of my clients' businesses so I can help them," he says. "It keeps the job fresh and appealing."
Though Hardy "works harder at 60 than I ever dreamed would be necessary," he says, he still finds time to give back to the community. He sits on the Board of Regents at John Carroll University and the board of trustees of the Ohio and Erie Canalway Association. He also participated in Leadership Cleveland in 2005, gaining "a stronger appreciation for the assets and opportunities, the strengths and weaknesses of this region," he says.
Hardy has no plans to abandon his law career, but the Civil War buff says, "When I walk out of Thompson Hine, it will be to do something different. Maybe teach history." For now, he remains a hard-nosed litigator, a shrewd counselor and head of one of Cleveland's largest law firms.