[email protected]
4900 Key Tower
127 Public Square
Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: (216) 479-8331

Richard D. Manoloff is experienced as bond counsel in general obligation and special obligation bond financings and as general counsel for Ohio political subdivisions, particularly school districts.

His representation includes counseling public sector clients regarding financings, public records, open meetings, real estate, construction, elections and tax levies. He is frequently invited to make public presentations on these topics. As a co-author, Mr. Manoloff has contributed to Thomson/West’s Ohio School Law.

Mr. Manoloff is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Manoloff is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Children’s Museum of Cleveland, past president of the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Foundation, former member of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio State Legal Services Association (which provides direct legal services to the poor of Southeastern Ohio and supports legal aid societies statewide), former chair of the city of Lakewood Community Governance Task Force (which rewrote the city’s charter approved by the voters in 2000), former member of the Rocky River Charter Review Commission, past president of the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Association of Phi Beta Kappa, 2003 recipient of the Crain’s Cleveland Business 40 Under 40 distinction, member of the Cleveland Bridge Builders class of 2002, and member of Leadership Cleveland’s class of 2006. 

[email protected]
4900 Key Tower
127 Public Square
Cleveland, OH 44114
Phone: (216) 479-8389

With more than 20 years’ experience, Mike’s practice emphasizes acting as bond and disclosure counsel in public finance transactions for counties, cities, villages, school districts, townships, libraries and other political subdivisions. He also regularly serves as counsel to underwriters and direct purchasers in such transactions. Mike’s practice also includes providing advice and counsel to political subdivisions in a variety of areas such as school law, contracting, election, ethics, sunshine law, special assessment, income tax, intergovernmental cooperation and agreement, municipal charter and other matters. He has significant experience in drafting State legislation on behalf of clients. Mike is a frequent presenter, both in person and by webinar, on these and other topics and is a co-author of Thomson Reuters’ Ohio School Law.

Prior to finding his true calling as a bond lawyer, Mike worked as an accountant and, in 1989, passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination.

[email protected]
60 East Broad Street
Suite 350
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 461-4177

Dr. Howard B. Fleeter received his Ph.D in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990.  He was a faculty member in the School of Public Policy and Management at Ohio State University from 1989-1999, where he taught courses in Public Sector Economics, Public Finance, and State and Local Government Finance.  He was a four-time recipient of the School’s “Faculty of the Year” award for excellence in teaching.  Dr. Fleeter was also a faculty member in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1999-2001, where he taught courses in the Economics of Education and School Finance.  In 2002 he joined with Richard Levin and Bill Driscoll to form the state and local government finance and tax policy consulting firm Levin, Driscoll & Fleeter.  After the retirements of Mr. Levin and Mr. Driscoll, the firm is now known as Howard Fleeter & Associates. 

Dr. Fleeter's research has focused on issues of education finance, education policy, and state and local tax policy and he is the author of numerous policy studies and academic journal articles on these topics.  Since his 1992 report, "Equity, Adequacy and Reliability in Ohio Education Finance" for Governor Voinovich's Education Management Council he has been one of the state’s leading experts on Education Finance.  He has worked extensively with Ohio education policy-makers to improve the state's school funding system for more than 25 years.  He currently serves as a research consultant on education finance and policy issues for the Ohio Education Policy Institute. 

[email protected]
25 South Front Street
Columbus, OH 43215-4183
Phone: 614-728-3018

James Lansden was born and raised in rural southeastern Wyoming.  He moved to Ohio for graduate school in 2002 and graduated from the University of Akron in 2004.  After working for a policy research group at the University of Akron, James moved to Columbus and began working at the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) in 2007. Since then, James has supported the Office of Federal Programs at ODE in many facets for over 10 years.  His duties range from mandatory data reporting (on behalf of the state) to the allocation of several federal entitlement grants. James has been a federal programs consultant since 2015.

[email protected]
130 N. Granger St.
Granville, OH 43023
Phone: 740-587-8116

Mike Sobul has been the Treasurer of the Granville schools since November 2011.  Prior to joining the district, he was the Section Chief for Forecasting and Special Projects at the Tax Analysis Division of the Ohio Department of Taxation.  He had served at the Department of Taxation from December 1986 until his retirement in July 2011. Prior to joining the Department of Taxation, Mike served for two and one-half years as research associate at the Urban Center at Cleveland State University and two years as a budget analyst for the city of Cleveland.  

Mike received his B.A. from Wittenberg University in 1980 and his Masters of Public Policy from the University of Michigan in 1982.