Ben E. Espy received a B.A. in Political Science from The Ohio State University and his J.D. from Howard University School of Law. Mr. Espy has more than forty years of practice experience in both the public and private sector. Mr. Espy’s legal practice has centered on the areas of governmental affairs, litigation, probate and estate planning, and school law.

The last two years, Mr. Espy served as the Executive Assistant Attorney General in Ohio, where he had direct supervision over Health Care Fraud, Criminal Justice Initiatives, External Government Relations with Local Government, Revenue Recovery, Special Prosecutions, Collections Enforcement, and Crime Victims Services. He was a member of the Columbus City Counsel for ten years and also served ten years as Ohio State Senator, with the last four years as the Minority Leader. He was the first African-American Ohioan to be the top leader of one of the General Assembly’s four legislative caucuses. In his capacity as Senator, he served as the ranking minority member on the Finance Committee, Judiciary, and the State Controlling Board. He has received Legislator of the Year awards from the Ohio Association of Local School Superintendents, the Ohio Hunger Task Force, and the Franklin County Trial Lawyers Association.

For twenty-five years, Mr. Espy was engaged in the private practice of law with his own firm of Ben Espy Co. LLC in Columbus, Ohio. His firm served as General Counsel to the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators for seventeen years, and he was the author of The Legal Handbook for Ohio School Administrators, published in 1997. His firm also represented Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA) and the Fraternal Order of Police in labor law, civil service matters, and federal court litigation. Mr. Espy began his career at Allegheny Airlines, where he served as the assistant director of corporate law. He then served in the United States Air Force as a Staff Judge Advocate, where he was voted the Outstanding Lawyer in the Air Defense Command.

Mr. Espy is admitted to practice in the State of Ohio; the United States District Court, Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio; the United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit; the Supreme Court of Ohio; the Military Court of Appeals; and the Supreme Court of the United States. GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, LITIGATION, and ESTATE & ASSSET PLANNING