Law Firm Overview

Ben Calkins helps clients start, acquire and build successful businesses.

Ben Calkins is an attorney in private practice in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ben Calkins has more than 25 years of experience as a business and transactional attorney. His practice has involved the representation of a diverse range of businesses from technology start-ups to Fortune 50 manufacturers, in domestic and international acquisitions, dispositions, financings, joint ventures and strategic alliances, venture capital investments and public and private offerings.

Ben Calkins' mergers and acquisitions practice is among the most active in the world. He has led the representation of buyers, sellers, investors and lenders in connection with hundreds of transactions involving a wide range of industries in Ohio and around the globe.

Ben Calkins graduated from Harvard College, with honors, in 1978. He majored in Economics at Harvard.

Ben Calkins graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, with high honors, in 1981. Ben Calkins was an Editor of the Editor, Michigan Law Review, was admitted to the Order of the Coif and was Senior Judge of the Carpenter Case Club.

Ben Calkins clerked for United States District Court Judge Julian Abele Cook, Jr., of the Eastern District of Michigan, from 1981 - 1983.

Ben Calkins commenced the private practice of business law in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1983, with the law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey.

Mr. Calkins has practiced with, and been admitted as full equity partner in, some of the largest and most established law firms in the United States.

Ben Calkins has been admitted to practice in the District of Columbia (1982), the State of Ohio (1983) and the State of New York (1990).

Ben Calkins has received recognition in connection with his law practice. For example, Ben Calkins is listed in both "Who's Who in American Law" and "Who's Who in America," and has been named repeatedly as an "Ohio Super Lawyer."

Ben Calkins is married to Lindsay Noble Calkins, Professor of Economics at John Carroll University, and has four children, Sarah Noble Calkins, Bradley Phillips Calkins, Patricia Noble Calkins and Haley McCormick Calkins. He lives with his family on a farm in Newbury, Ohio.

Ben Calkins is the son of Drs. Evan and Virginia Calkins of Hamburg, New York and has four brothers (Stephen, Hugh, Geoffrey and Tim) and four sisters (Sarah C. Oxnard, Lucy M. Calkins, Joan W. Calkins and Ellen R. Calkins).

Ben Calkins graduated from Hamburg High School in Hamburg, New York in 1974.

Areas of Practice

• Agriculture Law
• Antitrust & Trade Regulation
• Banking & Finance Law
• Business & Commercial Law
• Contracts
• Franchising
• Business Organizations
• Eminent Domain
• Government Contracts
• Health & Health Care Law
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Real Estate Law
• Land Use & Zoning
• Landlord/Tenant
• Taxation Law

Honors and Awards

• Named "Ohio Super Lawyer"
• Listed, "Who's Who in American Law" and "Who's Who in America"

West Practice Categories

Agriculture Law, Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Banking & Finance Law, Business & Commercial Law, Contracts, Franchising, Business Organizations, Eminent Domain, Government Contracts, Health & Health Care Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Real Estate Law, Land Use & Zoning, Landlord/Tenant, Taxation Law