ÃÛÌÒAPP

Brent D. Ballard serves as an attorney with Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP and Chair of the Playhouse Square Board of Trustees. Throughout his legal career, Brent has been a respected business and legal adviser to privately held business clients, operating as in-house counsel to the management teams and the multi-generational family owners of those businesses.

During the 20+ years that Brent led the firm, he and the Management Committee focused on strategic growth initiatives that, at their core, have aligned with the fundamental goal of serving clients by attracting the best legal talent from an increasingly diverse, entrepreneurial, and collaborative team of attorneys and staff. The firm added several offices during Brent’s tenure, serving clients in numerous major metropolitan areas across the U.S. and in Canada, Europe, and Asia. 

Brent joined Calfee in 1985 and was elected Partner in 1993. He joined the Executive Committee in 1999 and the Management Committee in 2002. He was elected Managing Partner in 2004 and served in this role through 2022. In 2023, Brent became the firm's Managing Partner Emeritus. He has served on a variety of boards in Northeast Ohio's business, education, and service community, including the Playhouse Square Foundation, Cleveland Clinic, University School, Pepper Pike Club, Bluecoats, Inc., Greater Cleveland Partnership, University Circle Inc., the 50 Club, and the Union Club of Cleveland.

At ÃÛÌÒAPP School of Law, Brent serves as a member of the Society of Benchers (2005-present) and the Visiting Committee (2005-present).  He also served as a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable and was a member of Leadership Cleveland, Class of 2003. 

Brent earned his J.D. from ÃÛÌÒAPP School of Law, his M.P.S. from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, and his B.A. in Economics from Bates College. He is an alumnus of University School.

Brent continues to focus on accelerating the firm's growth to best serve its clients’ legal and business needs, while championing initiatives that advance Cleveland’s vitality and support its thriving arts scene.

Kate Mozynski (they/them) is Legal Director of the Equality Ohio Legal Clinic. Born in Dallas, they have made Ohio a second home. Kate attended the College of Wooster, where they earned a degree in International Relations with departmental honors, and they are a 2016 graduate, cum laude, of ÃÛÌÒAPP's School of Law. 

Kate is an experienced litigation attorney and has dedicated their career to public interest work. In their current role, Kate works to provide free legal services and direct representation to lower income Ohioans across the state. Kate has frequently represented clients in discrimination cases, complex family law issues, and in numerous other areas of practice. Kate is a passionate advocate for members of the LGBTQ+ community and is dedicated to working to extend access to justice to LGBTQ+ Ohioans.

Kate was recently named as one of the National LBGTQ+ Bar Association's 40 Best Attorneys Under 40. They are a proud member of the LGBTQ+ Bar and National Center for LBGTQ+ Rights' Family Law Institute. Kate is a frequent presenter to legal professionals both in Ohio and nationally, including at the ABA, Lavender Law conference, and the NALP. They focus primarily on teaching attorneys professional skills for culturally humble, ethical, and trauma-informed representation of LGBTQ+ clients. Kate's most recent research and publications include a forthcoming book chapter on best practices for attorneys representing transgender clients experiencing intimate partner violence as well as "The Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Ohio," a comprehensive analysis of the current utilization of HIV-specific criminal penalty enhancements in Ohio.

When they are not at work, Kate coaches high school debate and is devoted to helping make Ohio debate a supportive educational environment for LGBTQ+ students. They are also avid organic gardener, environmentalist, and devoted cat parent.

Matt Salerno joined Case Western Reserve’s law faculty full time in 2018. Before he became a full-time professor, he spent 14 years as an adjunct faculty member. Salerno co-directs the law school’s legal writing program – LLEAP (Legal Writing, Leadership, Experiential Learning, Advocacy and Professionalism) and teaches LLEAP 3 Transactions, an advanced legal writing and experiential course that deals with transactional writing, business counseling, and negotiations. Salerno also teaches Bankruptcy Law and has coached the law school’s bankruptcy moot court team. He also served as director of the law school’s Compliance and Risk Management Program.

Prior to joining the law school faculty full-time, Salerno spent almost 20 years in private practice in Cleveland. His work focused primarily on business restructuring and corporate counseling. Salerno represented clients in a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing, health care, cosmetics, real estate, finance, sports and entertainment, and more. 

Salerno draws from his experience to design and teach his advanced legal writing course where the students in his class simulate the purchase and sale of a business from start to finish. Salerno focuses the class on contract writing, client counseling, and negotiations to give them an experience similar to what they will encounter as newer attorneys. His approach to teaching reflects his belief that legal education should be both demanding and supportive. 

Salerno is also passionate about mindfulness. He encourages students and faculty to understand mindfulness and its potential benefits. As part of a multi-disciplinary committee of university faculty devoted to mindfulness awareness, Salerno helped organize Mindfulness Matters Week for the University community. He has published and spoken at seminars and events on the topic of mindfulness in higher education. Salerno also speaks frequently on legal writing topics and, most recently, on artificial intelligence and its impact upon legal practice and legal education.

Salerno grew up in South Euclid and is a proud graduate of Hawken School, Ohio State University, and ÃÛÌÒAPP School of Law. He lives in Chesterland with his wife Crystal and their three children McKynzie, Nathan, and Emma.

Robert Downing graduated from CWRU Law School in 1979 and is a longtime supporter of the school, including the sponsorship of annual alumni gatherings in Washington DC.

For more than two decades, Mr. Downing was a co-owner of Oxford Realty and its affiliates, a major national real estate developer, manager, and property owner/investor based in Bethesda, Maryland. At the time of the company’s sale in the early 2000’s, Oxford was the largest private owner of apartments in the United States.

Since 2009, Mr. Downing has been and still is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Washington National Opera, Americas’ national opera company, and for most of this time an affiliate of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. He served as the Board’s President for two terms, and  has served on or chaired the Board’s Executive Committee for most of his tenure on the Board, and still does. During his tenure as President, the WNO staged the company’s acclaimed co-production of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle of operas at the Kennedy Center, still the largest project ever undertaken in the company’s 70-year history.

In 2010, Mr. Downing co-founded Washington’s Apollo Orchestra, a professional symphony orchestra that performs an annual series of free concerts throughout the DC area. Apollo features many nationally and world-renowned singers, soloists, and players, along with up-and-coming young winners of important classical music and opera competitions. Mr. Downing has remained as the Chairman and CEO of Apollo since the orchestra’s founding.

Mr. Downing has more recently joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Opera Advisory Council, a group of senior opera executives who advise the Music Director and CEO on matters relating to the BSO’s recent multi-year commitment to perform a series of major Verdi operas in Baltimore and in Bethesda Maryland.

Rob and Lynn Downing continue as active supporters of medical research at The John’s Hopkins University School of Medicine and affiliated hospitals, providing primary early-stage support for cancer research and clinical trials, as well as operational support for the departments of surgery and oncology.

Mr. Downing also is President of The Downing Family Foundation, guiding the family’s philanthropic initiatives in the arts, medical research, and education.