Jeffrey A. Hazlett

The hallmark of a good mediator is a lawyer who is truly neutral, who is respected by plaintiff’s and defense counsel alike, and above all, who gets cases settled out of court. That description fits our barrister of the month, Jeffrey A. Hazlett, perfectly. Those of us who have chosen civil litigation as our life’s work know Jeff well. Always our first choice when we just cannot seem to settle a case ourselves, we call upon Jeff to guide us toward a peaceful state of mutual dissatisfaction. When his work is done, neither party is popping champagne corks, but each party has the knowledge that a true compromise has been reached in lieu of the perilous uncertainties of a jury trial.

Much of Jeff’s success as a mediator is undoubtedly attributable to what the Good Lord gave him. He is innately fair and cheerfully sane with the ability to distill quickly from lawyer advocacy the applicable law and provable facts. His manner is direct, quick-witted, but respectful, informing all sides that he serves never to demean, but to aid in the triumph of peace over conflict. Few lawyers in any setting can turn a phrase with as much simultaneous humor and poignance as Jeff Hazlett.

What the Good Lord did not give Jeff, he acquired through hard work and years of experience as a trial lawyer. A 1981 graduate of the law school at Cleveland State University, Jeff began his legal career as a Dayton city prosecutor, a position for which he interviewed only after a law school classmate fell ill and could not accept the interview herself. Jeff’s interviewer was Paul Folfas, a career prosecutor and avid Pittsburgh

Pirates fan, who like this writer (along with a well-known federal jurist with a tall building named after him), suffers through each Major League Baseball season sustained only by the nostalgic refrain, “We Are Fam-a-lee.”

Like many young prosecutors, Jeff was thrust into the courtroom early and often to discipline misdemeanants in Dayton Municipal Court. After two years, Jeff moved onward joining Larry Denny, Steve Cox and Marty Malloy in the Talbott Tower. Denny had an insurance subrogation practice that interested him far less than his DUI clientele. Jeff happily took over that subrogation work as his baptism to insurance law.

In the late 1980s, Jeff joined Matt Arntz and Alan Biegel in the Oregon District continuing his subrogation work, but also defending with increasing frequency Erie Insurance Company policyholders in personal injury cases. Thereafter, Jeff opened a solo office on Loop Road where he continued to handle cases for Erie.

In 1993, Jeff did what few trial lawyers do, he took a two-year sabbatical from the practice of law. As a lad growing up in Marion, Ohio, Jeff’s favorite uncle was a retired F-4 Phantom II U.S. Navy pilot who flew missions in Vietnam from the flight deck of the U.S.S. Midway. As much as Jeff would have liked to have followed in his uncle’s Navy footsteps, he could not because he wore glasses. Nevertheless, in 1984, Jeff began taking flying lessons, first at Wright Brothers Airport, and later in Cincinnati at Lunken Field. Over time, Jeff obtained his multi-engine commercial instrument rating qualifying him to fly twin-engine turbo propeller aircraft, King

Air 200s among them. And so it was that from 1993 to 1995 Jeff earned his keep as a commercial pilot flying corporate executives from place to place primarily out of Indiana’s Richmond Municipal Airport.

In 1995, Jeff returned to the legal profession joining the firm we know today as Subashi, Wildermuth & Justice. In 1997, he joined Cincinnati Insurance Company leading CIC’s staff counsel office in Dayton, a position he held for the fourteen years preceding his current occupation as a full-time mediator.

Trial lawyers of a certain generation recall a time when personal injury litigants in Montgomery County were ordered to arbitrate. Jeff sat on numerous arbitration panels in those days, but when arbitrations proved to be a less than effective mode of alternative dispute resolution, mediation emerged as the Common Pleas Court’s preferred method of ADR. At first, the Court’s mediation office assigned its neutrals on a rotating basis, but lawyers disfavored that process for the simple reason that they prefer to choose their mediator rather than having one chosen for them. Ultimately, rotating assignments were discontinued in lieu of court-ordered scheduling whereby mediators are assigned by agreement of the parties and counsel.

Under that system, Jeff has thrived. He is by far the most requested mediator in Montgomery County and with good reason. Of the 258 cases he mediated in 2022, he settled nearly 78% of them. His reputation for success has now traveled well beyond the Dayton area. By wordof-mouth and as a member of the National

Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Jeff’s services are requested throughout Ohio and beyond, not merely in auto accident cases, but in disputes involving medical malpractice, dental malpractice, nursing home negligence, pharmacy errors and omissions, truck accidents, legal malpractice, airplane crashes, premises liability, breach of contract, construction, real estate, employment, government contracts and insurance coverage disputes. Put simply, if Jeff’s mediation services are those you desire, best you contact him early, preferably at the outset of your case, because the dates on his calendar are in high demand.

Jeff’s commitment to the legal profession has not been bounded by the mere pursuit of his own livelihood. He served for ten years on one of the Dayton Bar Association’s two certified grievance committees investigating and prosecuting lawyer misconduct. Further advancing the cause of lawyer ethics and professionalism, Jeff has lectured on such topics for the DBA and other professional associations.

When not working, Jeff enjoys hiking, golf, photography, and flying his 1977 Archer II airplane. He and his wife, Karen, have twice hiked the Grand Canyon, including one trek along the challenging and unmaintained New Hance Loop. Jeff has also hiked 700 miles of the Appalachian Trial solo. An amateur photographer, Jeff captured, as shown, a stunning burst of lightning with his camera. And, if all of that were not enough to keep him out of the pool halls and casinos, Jeff is a brown belt in three styles of marital arts, Shotokan, Taekwondo and Kenpo. He is now pursuing his fourth brown belt in Aikido.

But for the sudden illness of his law school classmate, one can only imagine whether fate would have brought Jeff Hazlett to Dayton. To be sure, there are few Cleveland State law graduates among us. Nevertheless, it was Jeff’s good fortune to land in Dayton where his opportunities for professional development, advancement, and achievement were plentiful. It is now our good fortune to have one of Ohio’s best mediators in our own backyard.

By Thomas J. Intili Esq. Intili Law Group, LLC tom@igattorneys.com

By Jeffrey S. Sharkey Esq., Co-Chair, Appellate Law | Partner, Faruki PLL | JSharkey@ficlaw.com