Great lawyer-leaders make their mark by leading with integrity, advocating for justice, and effecting positive change for others. Those qualities, and many more of a great leader, are exemplified by Brandon D. Cox, recipient of the law school’s 2019 Leader on the Rise Award.
C|M|LAW Dean Lee Fisher established the Leader on the Rise Award to be given to a C|M|LAW graduate from the past 10 years who has demonstrated extraordinary community leadership and who has given back to C|M|LAW with their time, talent or treasure.
“Brandon Cox is already making a significant positive impact in the community at large and on future lawyers--in our law school, and through advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession,” said Dean Fisher. “Throughout his association with C|M|LAW from student to alumnus, he has been a star, an inspiration and a leader.”
Brandon is a trial attorney at Tucker Ellis LLP and specializes in defending manufacturers of medical devices and pharmaceutical drugs in products liability lawsuits throughout the country. Brandon has been with Tucker Ellis since he graduated from C|M|LAW in 2012. He was promoted to Counsel in 2017. At Tucker Ellis, Brandon is involved with the firm’s pro bono program, representing economically disadvantaged clients with housing and probate disputes. He is active in the Tucker Ellis Equity & Inclusion Committee and the Tucker Ellis/Cleveland Early College High School Pipeline Partnership. Brandon mentors the firm’s summer legal interns through the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s Louis Stokes Scholars Program, created by 2019 HOF honoree and Tucker Ellis colleague Carter Strang. He also volunteers with the CMBA’s 3Rs initiative at Cleveland Early College High School.
A former moot court champion, national best oralist, and now a successful trial attorney, he has coached the mock trial team at Cleveland Early College High School to five championship victories and, at C|M|LAW, has coached the Thurgood Marshall Moot Court team to national victory in 2017 and to regional victories in 2017 and 2019. He also coaches the moot court team at Gilmour Academy, his high school alma mater, which has won three state championships and two second place victories in the six years that Brandon has coached the team.
Among his professional distinctions, he was named to “40 Under 40 - Nation's Best Advocates" by the National Bar Association in 2017 and received the Ohio State Bar Foundation’s “District 12 Community Service Award for Attorneys 40 & Under” in 2018. He also received the Outstanding Alumni Spotlight Award by the Black Law Students Association in 2017—the first alum to ever receive this award. He serves on the Board of the Cleveland-Marshall Law Alumni Association and the Cleveland-Marshall Board of Visitors. He also serves as first vice president of the Norman S. Minor Bar Association, and is an adjunct faculty member at the law school where he teaches Medical Device Law and the Thurgood Marshall Moot Court team. Before law school, he earned a business administration degree from Georgetown University and worked as a paralegal at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City.
“It gives me great satisfaction to see students succeed and a sense of pride knowing that I’m able to give back, because I know there were many people who were instrumental in my own success,” said Brandon.
Brandon will receive his award October 25, 2019 at C|M|LAW’s third annual Hall of Fame Ceremony. The award will be presented by Alana Jochum ’10, Executive Director of Equality Ohio and the 2018 recipient of the Leader on the Rise award.