Login | November 14, 2024
Solo attorney gets new office and steady business in civil rights, criminal defense and government work
ASHLEY C. HEENEY
Legal News Reporter
Published: February 24, 2012
Flying solo for Sean Buchanan has been at a steady height since he opened his own law practice in 2010 after falling short in a state political race.
After a year of working at the Kent, Ohio home of he and his young family, Buchanan recently moved from Cuyahoga Falls at 527 Portage Tr. at 6th Street, into the same building as Hoover Six and Associates, LLC which includes Attorney Corrine Hoover Six, the daughter of Stow Municipal Court Judge Kim Hoover.
Previously, before and during law school at The University of Akron, Buchanan worked as constituent liaison for Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, who represents Ohio’s 17th District. After graduating and passing the state bar exam, Buchanan was named district counsel for Ryan, but left the job to run for Ohio State Representative, 68th District, only to lose in the primary to fellow Democrats Rick Hawksley and Attorney Kathleen Clyde, who won that seat.
Earlier this month, Buchanan was a pick for seat on Kent City Council, but the appointment went to Richard Sidoti, past superintendent of Kent Roosevelt Schools.
Practicing law in the Northern District of Ohio keeps Buchanan busy enough, but he says covering a large territory in the areas of civil rights, criminal defense and government regulatory law, is nothing compared to the challenges of a new family, a responsibility he shares with his wife, Heidi Swindell.
“Being a lawyer is much less difficult than being a dad,” Buchanan said of his 14-month-old son Elliott, who gets up at 7 a.m. and demands to listen to vinyl records – The Red House Painters, Cold Cave and The Mountain Goats – are among the toddler’s recent favorite selections.
For the dad, moving to a the law office outside of the home provides fewer distractions and a more central location to get to the courts and jails – in Medina, Summit, Portage, Mahoning and Cuyahoga counties – and better serve clients by giving them an office easy to access.
Clients may be a drug dealer who is all-business or the average person victimized by the misuse of the Constitution Buchanan says. He said he just won his biggest case so far – a civil rights case in federal court in Akron, against a school district.
Clients, no matter their problem, are no problem, Buchanan said. “But with the volume of cases that judges handle, breaking through so that they see your clients as individuals is one of the most challenging things.
“If they’ve heard their third felony 5 case in the last half hour,” the judge will think, “what can you tell me that’s different?”
The best part of his job he said, is his civil rights practice, because it provides a real valuable check on governments operating without the Constitution.
“Unfortunately, governments really do discriminate people on the basis of race and violate Fourth and Eighth amendment rights,” he said.”
Expanding his practice or adding a partner isn’t in his foreseeable future, and keeping the clients coming happens almost naturally, he said.
“As long as governments don’t start following the Constitution or legalize drugs,” he said. “I’ll be employed.”