Firm Foundation: Brian Gannon
By Ken Callahan
Here is something you already know:
among all ethnic groups that emigrated to America, Irish Americans are unrivaled in their tenacious attachment to their identity and culture, even among descendants of famine immigrants more than a century and a half ago. Some have suggested that among the reasons for this is that there remains an as yet unattained political imperative, that of a united island nation, but, regardless the source of the impulse, its reality is palpable.
Brian T. Gannon is a partner at the Reminger law firm in Cleveland. He is the son of Patrick and Barbara Gannon, the great-grandson of James F. Gannon, who emigrated to the Cleveland area from Achill Island, Co. Mayo. He and his brother Matt grew up in Rocky River and attended St. Christopher’s grade school. Matt attended St. Edward High School while Brian elected to study at St. Ignatius. Of his time at Ignatius, Brian relates that not only did he meet some of his best, lifelong friends at the school, but that the Theology Department instilled in its curriculum “a solid base of morality that has guided me throughout my adult life.”
After graduating, Brian attended Miami University and was degreed in Political Science. He thereafter studied law and obtained a J.D. degree from Cleveland Marshall Law in 2003.
To support himself in his years of study, Brian worked cleaning golf clubs at Westwood Country Club, where he formed relationships that later lead him to seek an internship at Reminger, and he has never looked back. He chairs the firm’s Healthcare Law Practice Group. He is an accomplished trial lawyer, guiding medical professionals through medical malpractice lawsuits that, as a category, rank among the most stressful and medically technical in the litigation world.
Among other honors, Brian has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America. “For over seventeen years, the leadership at Reminger has given me independence to establish my own practice, while at the same time providing guidance and support to grow my practice.”
Notwithstanding his commitment to his profession, Brian honors his Mayo heritage in helping establish the Irish American Law Society of Cleveland, and in contributing to the very successful International Symposium that the group sponsored in Cleveland this past September; he attended the symposium the group sponsored in Dublin and Galway in 2016 and plans to attend the next, now scheduled in 2020.
The event will be hosted by The National University of Ireland Galway and will coincide with the Notre Dame-Navy game in Dublin on Saturday, August 29, 2020. The game will be played at Aviva Stadium and will be preceded on Friday by dozens of American High School Football games being played throughout the Greater Dublin area. The IALSC is working with the University of Notre Dame to secure a block of rooms in what will surely be a sold-out capital that weekend.
Brian notes that, “The Irish American Law Society of Cleveland has provided a great outlet for celebrating my Irish heritage and for networking with Cleveland’s many lawyers and judges of Irish descent.”
Brian and his wife Jaclyn are members of St. Raphael’s Parish, where their three children, Paige (11), Patrick (9) and Jack (7) attend school. Like so many others, Brian Gannon was formed in a family that instilled in him a central morality and fostered a commitment to family and education—and to promote and enjoy his Irish-American heritage.
*Callahan is a retired Common Pleas Court judge and a partner at Collins and Scanlon LLP
