Friedman, Gilbert + Gerhardstein

Friedman, Gilbert + Gerhardstein is a civil rights and criminal defense firm dedicated to the protection of human rights and fighting for justice for more than 45 years.

FG+G's dedicated trial attorneys provide aggressive representation and advocacy and achieve unparalleled results. We fight to protect our clients' rights in criminal cases and go after truth and justice in civil rights litigation. We relentlessly pursue civil rights violations and government misconduct in every case and are never afraid to challenge the system or to demand justice. We apply the lessons learned from unmasking abuse and racism to secure institutional reforms and prevent future injustice.

FG+G is a people's law firm.

With the knowledge that our legal system is fundamentally unfair and biased, our practice focuses on advocating for people on the margins. Our clients are often survivors and victims of police brutality and misconduct, racial profiling and discrimination, wrongful arrests, false charges, and fabricated evidence, or abuse at the hands of jailers.

For more than 45 years, we've been nationally recognized as aggressive trial lawyers who stand with and fight for our clients to the end of the road. Whether clients seek full compensation or want to prevent other people from having to suffer similar abuse, we demand justice. For clients navigating the criminal legal system, we defend their rights and fight back against prosecutorial overcharging, falsified evidence, and the abuses inherent in the system.

FG+G stands with and supports community organizers and activists who work on these same issues. We believe we have to work both inside and outside the legal system in the fight for civil rights and fundamental freedoms.
Firm History
Friedman, Gilbert + Gerhardstein is a powerful and growing practice with multiple offices and cases across the state and the country, born through the merger of two pioneering firms: Friedman & Gilbert and Gerhardstein & Branch.

Friedman & Gilbert was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1980 by founding partners Terry Gilbert and Gordon Friedman.

Gordon had been Terry's supervising law professor in a criminal defense clinic in the early 1970s. Soon thereafter, Terry and Gordon worked together to defend community activists after police raided a fundraiser event, brutalizing and arresting several people who had helped raise money for a community bond fund to help get people out of jail. In 1980, Terry and Gordon formed a law firm with other lawyers. By 1990, they became Friedman & Gilbert.

Friedman & Gilbert developed a reputation for zealous advocacy for clients in both criminal and civil rights cases. The firm became notorious for challenging the system and earned respect by providing superb representation.

Throughout those same years, Gerhardstein & Branch forged its roots in Cincinnati. Founded in 1974 by Robert Laufman, the firm initially focused on housing discrimination, including landmark litigation fighting the racist practice of redlining. Alphonse Gerhardstein joined Laufman in 1978, focusing the firm's practice on police misconduct, prisoner's rights, reproductive freedom, gay rights, and employment discrimination cases. Al quickly gained a reputation as a strategic and passionate advocate for his clients who pursued structural reform in prisons and police agencies through injunctions and creative settlements.

In 1997, Jennifer Branch joined the firm's fight for civil rights in Cincinnati. Together, Al and Jennifer became key players demanding police accountability, including the development of the nationally-recognized City of Cincinnati Collaborative Agreement. In 2006, the firm's name changed to Gerhardstein & Branch, marking a new period of landmark civil rights litigation, including Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the United States Supreme Court established same-sex marriage as a fundamental right across the country.

Meanwhile in Cleveland, after decades of aggressive and successful work for clients in both civil rights and criminal defense cases, Friedman & Gilbert added attorney Jacqueline Greene to the team in 2014. Jacqueline came into the firm with a history of activist and human rights work in Cleveland and around the world. She became active in the firm's civil rights litigation but remained involved in defense work in support of community organizers and activists.

In 2016, the Friedman & Gilbert team grew with the addition of partner Sarah Gelsomino, who joined the firm after nearly a decade of litigating civil rights cases with renowned civil rights pioneers in Chicago at the People's Law Office. Sarah also brought with her a dedicated history of activism, organizing, and community defense.

Together, Sarah and Jacqueline took on management of the firm's civil rights practice, focusing on police brutality and misconduct, wrongful convictions and wrongful imprisonment, abuse by jailers and prison guards, and other government misconduct.

In the meantime, Marcus Sidoti's widely-respected criminal defense practice also led him to begin taking on civil rights cases for his clients who were abused by police and jailers. Marcus is well-known for his exceptional courtroom skills and his fearlessness in winning trials for clients facing criminal charges.

In 2019, Jacqueline relocated and opened a second office for the firm in Cincinnati, expanding the firm's statewide practice. In 2020, Marcus joined Jacqueline, Sarah, and Terry as a partner at Friedman & Gilbert. The firm also began co-counseling cases with Gerhardstein & Branch, with both firms building their longstanding friendship into a strategic partnership in the fight for clients' rights.

In November 2020, Jennifer Branch was elected to serve as a judge in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. With Jennifer's departure for the bench, Friedman & Gilbert and Gerhardstein & Branch chose to merge their renowned skills, passion, and powerful advocacy into one firm: FG+G.

As a merged firm, FG+G is a dynamic and formidable force, fighting for clients' fundamental rights both in and outside of court, across Ohio, and around the country. FG+G continues to aggressively represent clients in challenging, serious criminal cases, and pushes the envelope in civil rights cases, relentlessly pursuing government misconduct and achieving exceptional for our clients.