BARRISTER OF THE MONTH: WRAY BLATTNER ESQ

Wray Blattner Thompson Hine LLP

It has been the practice of the Dayton Bar Association to grace each issue of this publication with a recognition of the talent of an outstanding Dayton lawyer. This month we offer a three-in-one bonus.

Consider a man who since 1980 has been a master of the maze of bewildering regulations which constitute the environmental laws of the United States and the State of Ohio. Learned Hand, years ago, described his perception of the regulations issued under the Internal Revenue Code. “Every time I open that book and peruse its pages, I have the sensation that I have just lifted a rock and am watching the army of bugs in the form of print scurrying off in every direction.” Few are the lawyers who have the patience and command of detail to become leading practitioners in the arcane subject of environmental law. Wray Blattner is such a lawyer.

Consider a man who is the partner in charge of a forty-one lawyer Dayton law firm which is also part of a four hundred lawyer law firm with offices in eight cities. The qualities required to fill such a role include infinite patience, a skull impervious to headaches, and the interpersonal and diplomatic skills which rival those of a firstclass ambassador. Keeping in balance the egos, contending and contrasting attitudes, and widely variant behavioral patterns of a large aggregation of lawyers is a large burden to place on any individual. Few are qualified. Wray Blattner is one of those few.

Consider a man who in his prime was an outstanding performer in the sport of rugby, a game of blood and bruises played without the benefit of pads or other protective coverings. Imagine the Super Bowl played by teams dressed in shorts and tee shirts. The

By David C. Greer DBA Editorial Board, Bieser Greer & Landis, LLP

ambulance would never stop ferrying players from field to emergency room. Speed, aggressiveness, strength and endurance are not merely desirable qualities, they are mandatory, and few possess them. Wray Blattner is one of those few.

Our three-in-one barrister grew up in New Jersey and came to Ohio to spend his college years at Denison. Three major events occurred there. First, while playing college baseball he noticed that the rugby team played on an adjacent field, that all the sports fans were gathered around the rugby field instead of the baseball diamond, and that there were barrels of beer at the rugby games but not at the baseball games. Second, and more important, he decided that Ohio is a wonderful place to live, which eventually led to the third and most important event: he met Liz, the charming attorney from Washington, D.C. who became his wife and the mother of their two sons and partner at Thompson Hine. One of those sons, Jack, is studying at the University of Dayton and enjoying working at Russell Total Wealth and Wellness. The other, Henry, is in his third year at Washington University Law School with a clerkship lined up with a federal judge in Charleston, West Virginia to be followed by an associate position in the Chicago firm of Winston & Strawn.

One of Wray’s chums at Georgetown Law was John Tate. Each decided to pursue employment with the Dayton-based firm of Smith & Schnacke. They interviewed (apparently successfully) with Mike Herr and Sharon Neuhardt who remain close friends and colleagues today. John later went in-house at Crown Equipment Corporation, where he currently serves as Senior Vice President of that outstanding Ohio manufacturer. The Georgetown lads have done well.

In 1980 Smith & Schnacke was as vibrant a collection of talented lawyers as could be found anywhere. If this article tried to describe such leaders as Stan Freedman, Jim Mulligan, Jim Gilvary, Lloyd O’Hara and Ford Ekey, it would expand into a book. Wray initially found his calling in the relatively new subject of environmental law. His mentors were Bob Maynard and Russ Frye. Pete Donahue, another Smith & Schnacke stalwart, had the office next to Wray and became another mentor and the model for civility and professionalism.

By 1987 Smith & Schnacke had grown to one hundred eighty-three lawyers. In 1989 it fragmented to give birth to a variety of new law firms that still grace the Dayton legal scene. Wray was part of the core group that remained with the firm which was then acquired by the Cleveland law firm of Thompson, Hine & Flory. As often happens after traumatic change, that core group bonded as a team marked by mutual admiration and respect as well as by a high dedication to its craft.

Wray had picked the perfect specialty. Almost all of the laws, regulations and case reports that now fill to bursting the field of environmental law have been created since he entered the field in 1980. We all learn as we go, but few of us have the opportunity to learn from A to Z over a span of forty years. Wray has reached the top in the world of environmental law, and he is sought after as an attorney and as a speaker in his field. I refer you to his firm’s website to read his long list of accolades, achievements, articles and presentations.

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Success, happily, has not turned his head. He points out that his specialty does not take him to glittering spas, beautiful or historical sites, or tropical islands. He is more at home in dumps, landfills, wetlands and in the bowels of heavy manufacturing facilities. An essential part of his wardrobe are steel-toed boots and safety glasses. Not all of his clients are genteel friends of mankind dedicated to clean air and fresh water. He even recalls one rather rough-around-the-edges waste disposal operator he had to fire as a client after the client began to threaten some bodily harm to government officials. On the lighter side, he remembers the environmental crew at a paper mill gathering downwind of the plant’s boiler the day the DEA burned confiscated marijuana.

In his daily practice Wray is constantly involved in counseling clients on regulatory compliance, in defending clients in both governmental and citizen enforcement cases, and in crafting transactions which involve environmental issues. Surprisingly, he somehow finds enough time to serve his community by his personal involvement in the Access to Justice Program, the Dayton Diversity and Inclusion Legal Roundtable, the March of Dimes, Culture Works, and the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. He is living proof of the adage that, while lawyers may die, they never die from boredom. He is especially proud of the commitment of his law firm and his fellow partners and associates to the Dayton community.

While Wray’s closet may contain steeltoed boots, it no longer contains rugby shoes. After seeing at Denison all the fun the players were having on the field adjacent to the baseball diamond, he became a member of the Dayton Argyl Rugby Team in 1981. The passage of time and the toll it takes on the

human body caused him to retire from that sport in 1995. In the intervening fourteen years, however, he was a key member of the team in matches that took place primarily in an area bounded on the east by Pittsburgh, on the north by Chicago, on the west by Indianapolis, and on the south by Louisville. The team broke those boundaries once for a tournament in Arizona and on several other occasions for tournaments in North Carolina. The Argyls’ summer “sevens” team was the Midwest champion in 1987, and seventh in the country in 1986.

Not bad for a guy who spends most of his time at a desk surrounded by legal files and computer screens. According to my son who still indulges in that sport and its strange balance between ballet and mayhem, Wray had the reputation as the fastest guy on the team and of being as fearless as he was fast. He wasn’t always fast enough, however, to avoid the bodily contact which is part of the sport. He once gave a major speech to an assemblage of professionals in Washington at a time when he had just received thirty-one stitches in his right cheek and an impressive black eye. He recently discovered his book of rugby songs, none of which I will quote for the polite readers of this professional journal. Here I am, running out of space without having addressed the third major achievement of Mr. Blattner’s career. He is now in his sixth year as the partner in charge of one of the two firms – both studded with veterans from Smith & Schnacke – which are currently the largest law firms in Dayton. If I have let a few accolades slip into this little article, they are nothing compared to the accolade represented by that position. The greatest achievement of anyone is the earned admiration and respect of those who know him best. The lawyers who emerged from the ashes of Smith & Schnacke in 1989 have given their blessing to their bonded brother. What Barrister could ask for more?

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