Great lawyer-leaders make their mark by leading with integrity, advocating for justice and effecting positive change for others. Those qualities, and many more, are exemplified by Brandon D. Cox, recipient of Cleveland Marshall College of Law’s 2019 Leader on the Rise Award.

C|M|LAW Dean Lee Fisher established the award to be given to a recent graduate who has demonstrated extraordinary community leadership and who has given back to C|M|LAW with their time, talent or treasure.

“Brandon Cox is already making a significant positive impact in the community at large and on future lawyers--in our law school, and through advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession,” says Fisher. “Throughout his association with C|M|LAW from student to alumnus, he has been a star, an inspiration and a leader.”

Cox is a trial attorney at Tucker Ellis LLP and specializes in defending manufacturers of medical devices and pharmaceutical drugs in product liability lawsuits throughout the country. He has been with Tucker Ellis since he graduated from C|M|LAW in 2012, and was promoted to counsel in 2017. Cox is also involved with the firm’s pro bono program, representing economically disadvantaged clients with housing and probate disputes and is a member of its Equity & Inclusion Committee and Early College High School Pipeline Partnership program.

Outside of work, Cox mentors summer legal interns through the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s Louis Stokes Scholars Program, volunteers for the 3Rs initiative at Cleveland Early College High School, serves as a mock trial team coach at Cleveland Early College High School and as a moot court team coach at C|M|LAW.

“It gives me great satisfaction to see students succeed and a sense of pride knowing that I’m able to give back, because I know there were many people who were instrumental in my own success,” Cox adds.

Cox was named to the “40 Under 40 - Nation's Best Advocates" list by the National Bar Association in 2017 and received the Ohio State Bar Foundation’s “District 12 Community Service Award for Attorneys 40 & Under” in 2018. He also received the Outstanding Alumni Spotlight Award by the Black Law Students Association in 2017—the first C|M|LAW alum to ever receive this award.

Cox received his Leader on the Rise Award October 25 at C|M|LAW’s third annual Hall of Fame Ceremony. It was presented by Alana Jochum, executive director of Equality Ohio and the 2018 recipient of the Leader on the Rise award.

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