Mr. Wesp is the principal of Wesp / Barwell, LLC. He has been engaged in the practice of law in Columbus, Ohio since 1970. After graduation from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana in 1967 Mr. Wesp attended Case Western Reserve University Law School graduating with honors as a member of the Order of the Coif in 1970.
After serving as Law Clerk to Hon. Thomas A. Herbert of the Ohio Supreme Court Mr. Wesp was appointed an Assistant Attorney General by Attorney General William J. Brown. From 1963 to 1971, Mr. Wesp was in the Administrative Agency Section of the Attorney General’s office and provided representation to the Ohio Department of Commerce. Mr. Wesp was instrumental in applying the Ohio Securities Act anti-fraud provisions to protect Ohioans from the proliferation of “get-rich-quick” pyramid schemes that were in vogue in the early 1970’s long before the Ohio Legislature enacted consumer protection laws directly targeting such scams.
From 1973 to 1983 Mr. Wesp practiced with a well known Columbus law firm. Initially, he worked on major real estate development projects until the oil embargo hit in 1973-74 (which saw oil prices rise from $3 to 11.65 a barrel!). The inflationary spiral was murderous to those real estate projects whose construction mortgages were tied to the prime rate. What ensued was a relentless firestorm of foreclosures and business litigation which turned the legal landscape from the rather genteel world of finance and real estate transactions into a no holds barred battleground. It here that Mr. Wesp developed what was to become the second part of his legal persona, an experienced business disputes litigator.
In 1984 Mr. Wesp formed a law firm which continued for ten years to provide litigation representation to a national environmental remediation company in federal and state courts throughout the United States as well as business counsel to closely held companies. An unforeseen event brought about a change in direction in 1994 when the firm’s major client was acquired by another environmental company. A multi-state law firm invited Mr. Wesp and his then partners to merge their practice, and for five years thereafter Mr. Wesp practiced in a wide variety of business litigation matters with this firm.
His practice areas are a mix of business transactional counseling and business litigation and alternative dispute resolution representation. Mr. Wesp counsels clients on the formation and governance of closely held corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, including medical and legal professional associations. Mr. Wesp represents emerging bio-tech companies with respect to internal governance, capital acquisition, financing and licensing matters. He advises closely held businesses on succession planning, including buy-sell agreements, key employee incentive plans, and business valuation methods. He counsels business clients on employment and severance contracts, and advises clients on a variety of business-protection issues such as non-compete, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements. He also counsels clients on intellectual property and trade secret management techniques. Mr. Wesp represents both buyers and sellers in business acquisitions and divestitures of closely held businesses. Mr. Wesp has served as compliance counsel to a State legislative campaign finance committee. Mr. Wesp has experience in representing commercial real estate developers on financing matters. On the litigation side, Mr. Wesp has over 30 years experience in an array of litigation matters, including corporate shareholder and partnership dispute litigation, commercial lease litigation, uniform commercial code and construction contract matters, representing a commercial lender on consumer and commercial finance disputes, trade secret and covenant-not-to-compete cases. Mr. Wesp handles employment litigation, including wrongful termination, the prosecution and defense of employment discrimination claims, including sex and age discrimination, and sexual harassment claims.
Mr. Wesp is a Fellow in the Columbus Bar Foundation, serving nine years as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Columbus Bar Foundation. Mr. Wesp was appointed by the Chief Justice as Chair of the Ohio Supreme Court Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information. Mr. Wesp has served as a member and Chair of the Columbus Bar Association Ethics and Professional Grievance Committee.
