Attorneys

Ira Mirkin

Of Counsel

Ira Mirkin

Named Super Lawyer for 2025.

Attorney Ira J. Mirkin is certified by the Ohio State Bar Association as a Specialist in Labor and Employment Law. Attorney Mirkin’s practice has included, among other things, the preparation and trial of many civil rights and employment related cases, and representing employees and employers. He has been invited to speak on constitutional issues, procedural issues relating to employment litigation, Family & Medical Leave Act, education law, sexual harassment, employment-at-will and employment discrimination at conferences sponsored by the Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio Education Association, the Industrial Relations Research Association, the National Business Institute, the Mahoning County Bar Association, the Trumbull County Bar Association and the Mahoning/Trumbull Counties Trial Lawyers Association. Attorney Mirkin carries the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory’s highest rating, AV Preeminent, and has been selected by Super Lawyers Magazine as an Ohio Super Lawyer.

Shawn Scharf

Named Super Lawyer for 2025.

Attorney Shawn D. Scharf is a managing partner with the law firm of Green Haines Sgambati Co., LPA. Prior to starting his employment with the firm in 2000, Attorney Scharf was a staff attorney for two years for the Honorable Joseph J. Vukovich of the Seventh District Court of Appeals of Ohio. Attorney Scharf presently focuses on managing the firm’s Ohio Workers’ Compensation practice and representing hundreds of injured workers throughout northeast Ohio.

Areas of Practice

Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law
Labor and Employment Law
ERISA and COBRA Litigation

Bar Admissions

State of Ohio, 1998
U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio, 2000
U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 2000

Education

The University of Akron School of Law, Akron, Ohio, 1998 J.D.

Associations

Ohio State Bar Association, Member
Mahoning County Bar Association, Member
Columbiana County Bar Association, Member

Past Employment

Seventh District Court of Appeals of Ohio, Honorable Joseph J. Vukovich, Staff Attorney

Blogs

Unclaimed Awards in Existing Ohio Workers’ Compensation Claims

Richard Bush

Of Counsel

Richard Bush

Attorney Richard T. Bush’s practice spans a broad array of civil litigation including personal injury, medical malpractice, insurance litigation, business disputes and employment law. He has extensive experience in wage and hour litigation, having successfully handled hundreds of wage cases ranging from individual claims to collective actions on behalf of hundreds of similarly situated workers. He has also published and presented several seminars on wage and hour issues including minimum wage and overtime claims.

Areas of Practice

Wage & Hour Law
Personal Injury Litigation
Product Liability
Insurance Litigation
Business Disputes
Employment Law

Bar Admissions

State of Ohio, 1983
U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio, 1983
U.S. District Court Western District of Pennsylvania, 2003
U.S. District Court District of Colorado, 2009
U. S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1988

Education

The Ohio State University College of Law, Columbus, Ohio, 1983 J.D.
Honors: With Honors
Honors: Order of the Coif
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, 1980 B.A.

Associations

Ohio State Bar Association, Member
Mahoning County Bar Association, Grievance Committee
Ohio Association for Justice, Member

Charles Oldfield

Attorney Charles Oldfield’s practice is focused on prosecuting and defending appeals and motion practice in trial courts. He has argued cases before state appellate courts, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has represented clients in matters related to employment law, labor law, education law, personal injury, and medical malpractice. Before joining Green Haines Sgambati Co., L.P.A., he served as a law clerk in the Ohio Eleventh District Courts of Appeals. He has also worked for judges in Ohio’s Fourth and Seventh District Courts of Appeals. Attorney Oldfield has presented seminars and lectures on legal writing and appellate advocacy. In addition to contributing to The Appellate Advocacy Blog, he has published articles in Ohio Trial and The Kentucky Law Journal.

Areas of Practice

Labor Law
Education Law
Appellate Advocacy
Consumer Law

Bar Admissions

State of Ohio, 1999
U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio
U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court

Education

The University of Akron School of Law, Akron, Ohio, 1999 J.D.
Honors: Magna Cum Laude; Corpus Juris Secundum Award – Contracts I
Bluefield State College, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1996

Associations

Ohio State Bar Association, Member
The University of Akron School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors, Member

Classes/Seminars Taught

Adjunct Instructor, Legal Writing Program, The University of Akron School of Law, 1999-2000
Ohio Association for Justice Appellate Advocacy Seminar
Ohio Education Association: Presentation on fiscal control, watch, emergency and academic emergency.
Trial Team Coach, The University of Akron School of Law, 1999-2001

Publications

Parent-Child Loss of Consortium Claims: It’s Time to Bury an Antiquated Analogy, 18 Ohio Trial 1,33
Seven Tips for the Brief Writer 19 Ohio Trial 1,35

Patrick Collins

Attorney Patrick S. Collins came to us with past state experience as Legal Counsel to the Ohio Lottery Commission, workers compensation insurance third party administrators and several defense and injured workers law firms. He has dedicated his legal career to protecting the rights of injured workers and citizens. He has practiced before all levels of the Industrial Commission in every Commission venue throughout Ohio.

Areas of Practice

Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law

Bar Admissions

State of Ohio, 1984
U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio, 1985
U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1985
U.S. Tax Court, 1985

Education

Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio, 1984 J.D.
Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, 1978 B.A.

Associations

Ohio State Bar Association, Member
Mahoning County Bar Association, Member
Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, Member

Lisa Connolly

Attorney Lisa A. Connolly has worked in the workers’ compensation field in several different capacities. She served as a Legal Intern for the Industrial Commission of Ohio while finishing law school. Upon graduating, she worked for a firm representing injured workers and then ultimately opened her own full service, private practice law firm in Akron, Ohio. While in private practice, she represented both injured workers and employers. Her next professional venture led her to the City of Cuyahoga Falls as Assistant Law Director for a number of years. She also served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Akron. She taught several courses in different departments at the university. Prior to joining our firm, she worked for a third party actuarial firm handling workers’ compensation hearings for employers, unemployment hearings and as presentation specialist in Drug Free Workplace Seminars. She has practiced before all levels of Industrial Commission throughout the state of Ohio. Additionally she brings extensive trial and litigation experience to the firm. She has tried cases at the Municipal, Common Pleas, and Appellate and Federal levels. She was past Secretary of the Summit County Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Areas of Practice

Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law

Bar Admissions

State of Ohio, 1989
U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio

Education

The University of Akron School of Law, Akron, Ohio, 1986 J.D.
Capital University, Bexley, Ohio, First year legal studies.
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, B.A.

Emily Bush

Born and raised in Boardman, Ohio, Emily S. Bush graduated from Boardman High School in 2007 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University in 2010. While still in college, Emily interned with the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia where she was introduced to the idea of advocating for others as a full-time profession. While in law school, Emily held an internship during every semester she was enrolled, including positions within four different District Attorney’s Offices across Massachusetts. In May 2014, Emily graduated and received a Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

After law school, Emily’s spent a year representing claimants appeal denials of disability benefits pursuant to Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act. Then, for the next four years, Emily was the only associate in a solo-practitioner's, where she worked primarily on personal injury, consumer protection, federal civil right actions, product liability, and medical malpractice cases. Because she worked on defending clients against U.S.C. Section 1983 actions in federal court, in December 2015, Emily was admitted to practice in the United States District Court, District of Massachusetts.

After being hired by the Law Firm of Green Haines Sgambati Co., LPA. in September 2020, Emily submitted her Application for Admission to Practice Law in Ohio in October 2020. Due to her prior admission and good standing in Massachusetts, Emily was officially admitted to the Ohio bar in July 2021.

In her free time, Emily is a proud volunteer mentor in the Ursuline Sisters Scholars program through the Beatitude House. Emily also enjoys going to see live music and spending time outdoors, hiking and camping.

Areas of practice:

Personal Injury
Civil Rights
Disability Law

Bar admissions:

State of Ohio, July 2021
United States District Court, District of Massachusetts, December 2015
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, November 2014

Education:

Suffolk University Law School; Boston, Massachusetts; May 2014; J.D.
Pennsylvania State University; University Park, Pennsylvania; December 2010; B.A.

Associations:

Mahoning County Bar Association, Member
Ohio State Bar Association, Member

Rebecca M. Gerson

Attorney Rebecca M. Gerson is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law and completed her under graduate studies at Youngstown State University. Prior to joining Green Haines Sgambati, she was in private practice and has served as Deputy Law Director, Labor Contracts, for the City of Youngstown, an Assistant Prosecutor for Mahoning County and a part-time Acting Judge in Girard Municipal Court. She holds licenses to practice from the Supreme Court of Ohio, The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, United States Tax Court and the Supreme Court of the United States. Attorney Gerson is also a former instructor at YSU’s Ohio Peace Officer Basic Training Program. In 2006 she was recognized as one of the top 5 Young Professionals in the Mahoning Valley at the Community Foundation 40 Under 40 Awards, in 2015 she was a Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber ATHENA awards nominee and in 2017 she was honored as an Original Streetscape Trailblazer by Youngstown CityScape.

Areas of Practice

Labor and Employment Law

Bar Admissions

State of Ohio, 1994
U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio, 1995
U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2007
United States Tax Court, 1995
Supreme Court of the United States, 1998

Education

Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 1992 J.D.
Youngstown State University, 1989, A.B.

Associations

Ohio State Bar Association, Member
Mahoning County Bar Association, Member

Andrew Lock

Attorney Andrew Lock graduated from the Ohio State University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Attorney Lock graduated law school in 2020 from the University of Akron School of Law.

Attorney Lock has been licensed to practice law in the state of Ohio since 2021. Attorney Lock's legal career began as a Judicial Attorney for the Honorable Judge John J. Eklund at the Eleventh District Court of Appeals in Warren, Ohio. At the court of appeals, Attorney Lock worked on all types of cases including civil appeals, criminal appeals, termination of parental rights, and original actions such as public records requests. In 2024, Attorney Lock began working at Green Haines Sgambati Co., LPA.

AREAS OF PRACTICE

Labor and Employment law; Personal Injury

BAR ADMISSIONS

State of Ohio, 2021

EDUCATION

The University of Akron School of Law, 2020 J.D.
The Ohio State University, 2015 B.A.

ASSOCIATIONS

Ohio State Bar Association, member
Mahoning County Bar Association, member

Dan Dascenzo

Attorney Dan Dascenzo has been licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio for 26 years. His professional career has been a combination of private practice and public sector work. Dan was previously employed by Green Haines Sgambati at the start of his career from 1999 to 2003, primarily working on labor matters and civil litigation cases. While in private practice, Dan served as lead trial counsel in several complex civil litigation matters successfully taken to verdict.

In 2008, Attorney Dascenzo was appointed as a Magistrate in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court where he served from 2008 to 2021. In 2021 Attorney Dascenzo began serving as the Deputy Law Director for the City of Youngstown. In 2023, Dan received the appointment to serve as the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts through 2024. Beyond his professional service, Attorney Dascenzo is a veteran of the US Armed Forces and belongs to several community organizations including the Boardman Lions Club and the Catholic War Veterans, Post 1222.

Dan has been a lifelong resident of Mahoning County and currently resides in Boardman with his wife Natalie and their two sons, Jack and Alex.

Dennis Haines

Inactive

Dennis Haines

Attorney Dennis Haines’ practice has included, among other things, the preparation for and the trial of a broad range of labor and employment-related cases including actions under the Employee Income Security Act [ERISA-401(k)]. 25% of his practice is devoted to litigation and he has represented both employees and employers on constitutional issues, employment-at-will issues, matters related to employment discrimination and matters involving the National Labor Relations Act and The State Employment Relations Act. Attorney Haines has been specially appointed counsel over the years for the Ohio Attorney General and was an Assistant Mahoning County Prosecutor.

Attorney Haines has lectured before numerous teachers’ associations about teachers’ constitutional and collective bargaining rights and has been a lecturer regarding employment matters at seminars sponsored by the State Employment Relations Board and Cleveland Marshall Law School. He has been recognized by the Ohio Education Association for “exemplary actions and untiring efforts to win recognition of the constitutional and legal rights of teachers in Ohio.” Attorney Haines carries the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory’s highest rating AV. Attorney Haines was the recipient of the 2005 Professionalism Award from the Mahoning County Bar Association.

Areas of Practice

Labor Law
Pension and Retirement Law
Civil Rights
Employment Law

Bar Admissions

State of Ohio, 1962
U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio, 1963
U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1969
U.S. Federal Courts
U.S Supreme Court, 1970

Education

George Washington University National Law Center, Washington, District of Columbia, 1962 J.D.
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, 1959 B.S.C.

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