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James R. Willis is a member of the Bar of the State of Ohio. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky and attended and graduated from its public schools. 

Willis served in the United States Marine Corps, as a Montford Point Marine, from 1944 – 1946. He credits that institution with contributing mightily to his abilities and to his success. Following his military tour, he attended West Virginia State College, graduating with honors in 1949, with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Willis received a law degree from �Ǹ���� in 1952, and almost exclusively thereafter practiced criminal law. Willis is nationally known as an expert in Constitutional Law. He has argued countless cases at the county, state, federal and appellate levels, as well as the Ohio Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. 

Willis personally argued four landmark cases before the United States Supreme Court, i.e., Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89 (1964); Doyle and Wood v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610 (1979); and Martin v. Ohio, 480 U.S. 229 (1987). The Beck, Doyle and Wood cases were argued to be a victory. The Martin case was decided against him by a majority of 5-4. Additionally, Willis was counsel of record in a fifth case, i.e., Bourjaily v. United States, 483 U.S. 171 (1987). Willis was trial and appellate counsel for Bourjaily and was successful in getting the Supreme Court to review the case. 

Willis has addressed a number of legal associations on various aspects of the trial and appeal of criminal cases. Among these associations are the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, the annual seminar of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and the Academy of Ohio Trial Lawyers. Additionally, he was the first and, until 1999 and again in 2011, the only African American to be elected President of the NACDL, the most prestigious association of criminal defense lawyers in the country. Willis also served as a trustee of the National Criminal Defense College, an entity operated by the NACDL. He is a life member of the Board of Directors of the NACDL. In 2008 Willis was given the NACDL’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.” 

Significantly, Willis has been listed in several publications that purport to identify the “Best Lawyers in America.” In 2003, he was listed by Black Enterprise magazine as one of “America’s Top Black Lawyers.” Over the years Willis has accumulated, to his credit, more than five hundred published opinions.

Samantha Sridaran graduated from George Washington University in 2015 after completing her bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and began her legal studies at the �Ǹ���� School of Law. While at Case, Sridaran was involved in several student organizations, including the Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine, the International Affairs Society, and student clinics. She graduated in 2018 with honors and was awarded the Case Western Global Service Award.

Sridaran then began her legal career in the DC metro area where she worked in medical malpractice defense. In 2020, she and her now-husband moved to Pittsburgh. Shortly after passing the Pennsylvania bar, Sridaran joined the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender (OPD) where she started in the Preliminary Hearings Division. Additionally, she practiced in the General Trial and Juvenile Divisions before taking her current role as the Managing Attorney of the Special Representation Unit (SRU).

As the manager of the SRU, she oversees OPD’s representation for clients facing involuntary civil commitments, involuntary electroconvulsive therapy, and competency hearings in criminal matters. Sridaran greatly expanded the office’s vertical representation for clients with developmental disabilities and other vulnerable populations using a holistic defense model. During her tenure as the Managing Attorney of the SRU, Sridaran has focused on expanding both her team’s and the office’s capacity to identify and address clients’ needs when they have a serious mental illness and/or other conditions that impact their ability to participate in their criminal defense. Sridaran also advocates for reform to Pennsylvania’s mental health laws and how the judiciary in Allegheny County handles the intersection of mental health law and criminal justice. Sridaran was a finalist for the Public Defenders’ Association of Pennsylvania (PDAP) David R. Crowley Award in 2023, was a finalist for PDAP’s Fred Goodman Award for new Public Defenders in 2022, and was nominated by her office for the Frank J. Lucchino Distinguished Service Award for Allegheny County Employees in 2022 for her work and dedication to client representation.

Sridaran and her husband live in Pittsburgh with their two kittens and are expecting their first child in July. In her spare time, Sridaran enjoys trying new recipes in the kitchen and reading.

Matthew Rossman joined Case Western Reserve’s law faculty in 2004. He manages and teaches the Community Development Clinic, through which third-year law students provide corporate counsel and transactional law services to community-based nonprofit organizations and sustainable business ventures in the Cleveland area.

In his legal career, Rossman has represented the full spectrum of public and private entity clients, ranging from mom-and-pop businesses and grass-roots community groups to municipalities and foundations to Fortune 500 companies and Wall Street investment banks. Through the Community Development Clinic, he aspires to teach law students the array of skills
necessary to succeed in representing “organizations,” no matter the size or setting.

Rossman also created and co-teaches the Urban Development Lab. Students and faculty in the Lab research, test, and develop law and policy solutions related to the redevelopment and revitalization of urban areas. Most recently, the Lab prepared reports on gentrification in neighborhoods near eds and meds institutions, the performance of economic development incentives in disinvested neighborhoods, and policies to facilitate sustainable and affordable downtown office to residential conversions.

Rossman is the author of several articles on housing, economic development, and tax subsidies and exemptions. He is a frequent speaker on legal issues that affect nonprofit organizations and small businesses. He also serves as a consultant to municipalities and nonprofit development organizations and as an expert witness in cases involving neighborhood change and development.

Rossman is an associate editor of the ABA’s Journal on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law. He co-founded the Cleveland Roundtable on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law.

Prior to arriving at Case Western Reserve, Rossman taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Baltimore. He began his career in private practice with the New York offices of Latham & Watkins and Christy & Viener. His practice areas included corporate, securities, real estate, tax and nonprofit law. He is admitted to practice in Ohio.

Rossman grew up in Cleveland and is a proud graduate of St. Ignatius High School, Miami University, and New York University School of Law.

Robert Rapp is Visiting Assistant Professor and the Louis C. Greenwood Lecturer Residence at the �Ǹ���� School of Law, where he teaches Business Associations, Securities Regulation, Advance Securities Regulation, Law, Theory and Practice in Financial Markets and the Advance Scholarly Writing Seminar in the SJD—Doctor of Juridical Science program.

He was formerly a partner in the Securities and Capital Markets and related litigation practice of Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP, Cleveland, Ohio. Rapp’s contributions to legal scholarship include numerous published articles addressing securities and financial market regulatory topics which have been cited in scholarly publications, and by state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. He is the author of Blue Sky Regulation (2d Ed. Matthew Bender), a definitive treatise on state securities laws in the United States, and he is a principal contributing author for other Matthew Bender securities law treatises.

A graduate of �Ǹ���� (B.A., 1969) and the �Ǹ���� School of Law (J.D., 1972), Rapp also holds a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A., 1988) from the Cleveland State University Ahuja College of Business.