Dinsmore & Shohl LLP is pleased to announce that Dawson & Associates LLC, a leading workers’ compensation boutique firm in Columbus, has joined Dinsmore here in the capital city.

With the move, Dinsmore’s local office is doubling its workers’ compensation group up to eight attorneys, making it the largest in Columbus for employment defense among the firms listed in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Law Firms rankings. Statewide, Dinsmore’s workers’ compensation roster is now at 18, and it has grown to 28 total across the country.

Managing Partner Shane Dawson and his three associates (Jared Buker, Melissa Black and Niki Talik) will join Dinsmore partners Brett Miller and Michael Squillace along with associates Caroline Diwik and Christen Hignett. One secretary and two paralegals will also join Dinsmore from Dawson.

Dawson formed Dawson & Associates in 2007 after 10-plus years with three different firms and over four years as a criminal investigator and fraud analyst with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Before that, he attended Ohio State and Capital University Law School. With Dawson & Associates, he specialized in workers’ compensation for employers of all sizes throughout the state.

“I have known Shane for many years, and we are getting an extremely talented lawyer who is highly regarded in the workers’ compensation community,” said Dinsmore Workers’ Compensation Chair Chris Benintendi. “We are thrilled to add Shane and his team of excellent lawyers and staff to our team. This addition will give our statewide practice even more depth and experience.”

Of Dawson’s associates joining Dinsmore, Talik has the longest workers’ compensation background, at 18 years. Black, meanwhile, has been practicing for 15 years, following five seasons playing professional basketball in Europe. Buker joined Dawson as a clerk in 2015 and became an associate the following year.

Dinsmore now has 79 total attorneys in Columbus. The firm is already the seventh-largest in the city, but its rapid growth has Dinsmore on a trajectory toward the top.

“We are really expanding both in number of people and the services we can offer across the state,”

Columbus Office Managing Partner Stacey Borowicz said. “This is a statewide practice, and the addition of Shane’s group strengthens what our Columbus team can offer.”

Dawson has always “tried to provide the best service at the most affordable rate,” and now he’s excited to do so with the resources of a national firm at his disposal.

“The idea of having multiple offices to assist with what we do, and to take care of our clients from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, is what brought me to Dinsmore,” he said. “Everything fits together in terms of our approach and what the whole Dinsmore group does in Ohio.”

Outside the office, Dawson is a husband and the father of three kids—a high school senior, junior and seventh-grader.

“I like to run, kayak, hike, ski and go to national parks,” he said. “I also sing in my church choir and serve on the board of the local chamber of commerce. But the most important thing I do is being a dad.”