REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION

November 22, 2021

For 30 years, Crain’s has been spotlighting bright young leaders who will play a substantial role in our region for the next several decades. They are people of substance who already have achieved great things in their careers and in the community.

 

If there’s one thing we know for certain from doing Forty Under 40 since 1991, it's that many of the 2021 honorees will go on to bigger and better things. (In fact, Cleveland Mayor-elect Justin Bibb was in the Crain’s Forty Under 40 class just last year.)

 

This year’s honorees have a huge tradition to uphold, and we know they are more than up to the task.

Photography by Jason Miller/Pixelate

Thomas Haren

35 | Partner, Frantz Ward

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ thomas-haren

 

Destined to become a successful lawyer, Tom Haren gave his first oral argument when he was a teenager at Lowellville High School. 

 

A self-described “First Amendment geek,” Haren was an editor of his school’s newspaper, The Rocketeer, who took exception to the principal constantly censoring stories. 

 

Some of the articles in question were innocuous satires — one was about weapons of mass destruction being hidden in the cafeteria. Another was an op-ed decrying the censorship that very piece was subjected to.

The Student Press Law Center helped him draft a legal memo and offered to represent him pro bono as he basically threatened to sue the school. 

 

This months-long ordeal culminated with a presentation in front of the board of education about how the censorship violated protections of free speech.

Haren graduated not long after all this. So, to what extent the school walked back censorship moving forward is unclear.

 

“But that was when I said, law is the career for me,” Haren said. “I just knew you could make a huge difference as a lawyer, and the work that lawyers do matters.”

 

Haren briefly hung his own shingle out of law school before joining a firm where he was encouraged to pursue his interests in the burgeoning world of cannabis law. It was around the mid-2010s, a time when many attorneys were steering clear of work in an industry that remains federally illegal. 

“I’M ALMOST NEVER THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE ROOM, BUT I’LL BE DAMNED IF I LET SOMEONE OUTWORK ME. THAT HAS BEEN PIVOTAL TO ANY SUCCESS I HAVE HAD IN MY PRACTICE.” 

The fact this area of law is so novel intrigued him.

 

“Everything we were doing was, and still is, so new,” he said. “There are many aspects of it that have never been done before.” 

 

Haren remains early in his career but is already an authority in the field he sees as a marriage of policy, politics and law. He helped develop his firm’s blossoming cannabis law practice and is the first executive vice president of the Ohio Hemp Industry Association.

 

“The accomplishments he has racked up to date put him among the best of the best in our legal community,” said Rebecca Ruppert McMahon, CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. “And his future is unlimited. Whether that means expanding his practice, considering a run for public office or maybe even entering the business world, Tom can really accomplish anything.” 

 

— Jeremy Nobile

Click here to read more about Crain’s 2021 40 under 40 class.

Reprinted with permission from Crain's Cleveland Business. © 2021 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.
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