About Us

Joe Halabi

Hello. My name is Joe Halabi. I grew up in Iowa City, Iowa and have been a resident of the greater Columbus area for the past 15 years. I earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and completed my Juris Doctorate at Capital University School of Law while working as an Intern for the Columbus City Prosecutor’s Office. I am licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio.

While at the Prosecutor’s Office, I had the opportunity to manage hundreds of traffic cases. That included responding to countless defense motions to suppress, and conducting Bureau of Motor Vehicle hearings, where Columbus area drivers challenged the suspension of their driver’s licenses. Because of this experience, I am intimately aware of how to retain driving privileges.

Prior to my legal career, I worked as a Deputy Commissioner with the California Department of Real Estate and as a Background Investigator for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations. For the past 4 years I have devoted my practice to Criminal Defense law. I primarily serve clients in and around Franklin County. As a litigator there is nothing I have found more rewarding than protecting my client’s rights.

I truly believe my prior experience at the Prosecutors Office, Investigator with the Departments of Real Estate and Corrections provide me with a unique set of skills to aggressively advocate for the best interests of my clients.

I would be pleased to assist you or a family member with any of the following:

• DUI
• Open Container
• Falsification/Fake Identification
• Drug Possession
• Speeding Cases
• Red Light Violations
• Criminal Record Expungements
• Leaving the Scene of an Accident
• Probation Violations
• Twelve (12) point Driver’s License Suspension
• Appeals for Driving Privileges
• Motions to Modify Driving Privileges
• Driving Under Suspension
• Aggravated Menacing
• Misdemeanor and Felony Drug Offenses
• Domestic Violence/Assault
• Assault/Battery
• Theft/Receiving Stolen Property
• Criminal Damaging/Trespass
• Juvenile Misdemeanor and Felony Offenses
• Collections

I am a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, Columbus Bar Association and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Central Ohio.
 

Mark Wieczorek

Columbus, Ohio attorney Mark Wieczorek returns to private practice after a successful career as a Hamilton County, Ohio, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney.

As an assistant prosecutor, Mark had full oversight of all criminal and OVI matters. Including: initial investigation, discovery, legal research, trial planning and courtroom appearances. He has served as a first chair attorney in over 1000 criminal cases and has tried over 100 cases with a 95% success rate.

Mark has secured adjudications in a multitude of cases. Among them are aggravated robbery with gun specifications, felony drug possession and trafficking, gross sexual imposition, arson and rape. He has extensive experience with the discovery phase of a case, which is responsible for the developing of a litigation theory.

Having this valuable experience gives Mark the insight and vision to understand how your case will make its way through the court system. Based on his experience and training, Mark will analyze and assess your case to determine where the weak points of the State’s case lie and what theory to use to exploit them. In addition, he will identify the strong points, from a defense standpoint, and develop a theory of litigation to convey them to the judge or a jury.

As a defense attorney, Mark has successfully argued numerous motions to suppress based on probable cause to stop, probable cause to arrest, and violations of the defendant’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. He has won numerous appeals pertaining to the Administration License Suspension and has had a number of field sobriety tests suppressed.

Mark has tried cases to both the judge and to a jury with success. He is well educated in the rules of evidence and seasoned in applicable OVI case law.

Mark is licensed by the Supreme Court of Ohio, as well as the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio. He received his Juris Doctorate from Ohio Northern University and his Bachelor’s degree from Wilmington College, summa cum laude.

Rob Healey

Rob Healey limits his practice in the Columbus area to DUI and OVI defense. I have represented clients at both the misdemeanor and felony level in just about every county in southwest Ohio.

I belong to the following legal organizations:

• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
• I have participated for several years in the NACDL continuing education annual DUI/OVI seminar in Las Vegas. I have studied under some of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country.
• The Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA)
• Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (OACDL)

I am certified to administer DUI field sobriety tests to the same level and sometimes better than the officers that arrested you. I have the student manual that was issued to me and use it to prepare my cross exam of the officers.

Our firm handles over 500 DUI cases a year. This is a benefit to you because all our DUI lawyers work as a team.

 

Rock C. Lee

Rock C. Lee has returned to Columbus, Ohio to pursue his career as a criminal defense attorney. Mr. Lee is a 1996 graduate of the Ohio State University where he received his bachelor of science degree in Economics. Mr. Lee went on to receive his Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Cincinnati. He then furthered his legal education at the University of Cincinnati College of Law where he received his Juris Doctorate.

After graduating from law school, Mr. Lee entered the business sector, applying his economic knowledge in the field of business valuation. Mr. Lee then returned to the practice of law, where he is currently licensed to practice in Ohio, Kentucky, and the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio.

Mr. Lee’s legal career has focused on DUI defense where he has defended clients throughout Ohio, including the Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland area as well as in Northern Kentucky and Lexington, KY. His education and legal training allows him to provide aggressive DUI defense for all his clients. With his extensive education and experience in various fields, including the business and legal arenas, Mr. Lee uses that education and experience to investigate every case presented to him so that all options are properly evaluated and all defenses are thoroughly considered. Mr. Lee combines his in-depth knowledge of the law, along with critical thinking skills, to investigate and evaluate each case in order to aggressively and properly prepare effective defenses from all criminal charges, including DUI/OVI.

Mr. Lee is a member of the following professional organizations:

• Ohio State Bar Association
• Columbus Bar Association
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Joe Patituce

Attorney Joe Patituce left the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office located in Cleveland, Ohio, in January 2010 to begin practice as a criminal defense attorney.

In his career as both a prosecutor and a defense attorney he has worked as a first chair (or lead) attorney in thousands of criminal cases. As the lead attorney he has been responsible for every aspect of litigation from discovery and gathering evidence to trial by judge or jury. In his career he has taken over 150 cases to trial by jury and has over a 95% success rate for his clients.

His cases have spanned the spectrum from murder, rape, gross sexual imposition, to domestic violence and DUI/OVI. As a prosecutor he gained valuable experience into how police conduct their investigations into alleged drunk driving incidents. He has been trained each, of the three recognized, breathalyzer machines that Ohio recognizes as being legitimate – and he has had success demonstrating how unreliable they are.

He always prepares as if he is going to trial, he does not believe his clients are served by simply working towards a plea. By preparing for trial and challenging the evidence his clients obtain better results from the pressure placed on the prosecutor and police.

Joe Patituce is admitted to practice in all state courts in Ohio, and is admitted to practice in the United States Federal District Court- Northern District of Ohio.

Joe Patituce belongs to the Ohio State Bar Association and the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

 

Megan Patituce

Attorney Megan Patituce left the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office after almost five years of service.

Megan graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in Physics in just three years, rather than four. She earned her law degree (J.D.) from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law located in Cleveland, Ohio.

In her career as a prosecutor she was responsible for taking cases of various complexity to trial, to obtain successful verdicts. She has tried cases such as Capital Murder, DUI/OVI, Domestic Violence, Drug Crimes, and many others.

Megan has been very successful throughout her career for her analytical approach to handling criminal cases. She has a reputation for focusing on the details that matter and putting them to proper use for her clients.

Megan is licensed to practice in the State of Ohio, and is licensed to practice before the United States Trademark and Patent Office.

Matt Jewson

My name is Matt Jewson. I received my law degree from Ohio State University in 1994 where I graduated in the top 30% of my law school class. I have defended criminal cases in the Dayton area throughout my career.

For three years I served Montgomery County as an Assistant Prosecutor where I gained extensive criminal trial experience.

As a criminal defense lawyer I have represented hundreds and hundreds of clients in criminal matters throughout the Ohio court system.

I have jury trial experience in criminal felony cases including successful trial results in high-level felony matters.

I am a member of the following professional organizations:

• Dayton Bar Association
• State of Ohio Bar Association

Joe Suhre

Joe Suhre is the owner and principal of Suhre & Associates, LLC. Joe has dedicated his practice to the defense of OVI cases. Virtually his entire caseload consists of OVI related cases.

Joe has over 11 years of OVI defense experience and 5 years experience as a police officer. He has handled hundreds of OVI cases before dozens of judges. Because of this, Joe is uniquely qualified to defend his client’s against OVI charges.

Joe began his legal career on the “other side of the fence” as a police officer. Using his experience and training as a police officer gives Joe a perspective not held by many other attorneys. When presented with an OVI charge, the first place Joe looks is to the actions of the police officer. He uses his knowledge of police practices and training standards to uncover missteps made by the arresting officer.

In 2006, Cincy Business magazine named Joe a Leading Lawyer in the field of DUI/OVI defense. Cincy Business magazine honored him with the award again in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Joe has also been named as a Rising Star Super Lawyer in the Columbus Monthly magazine for 2011 in the field of DUI/OVI defense.

Joe’s method for handling cases is simple and straightforward: treat the client the same way the attorney would want to be treated if the attorney were on the other side of the table. And, do the very best job that you can. This methodology is used not only by Joe, but also by all of the Suhre & Associates attorneys. It is the way the firm practices law and is a main driving force behind the firm’s success.

The other main driving force is the people. Whether it is a legal secretary, paralegal, administrative assistant, or an attorney – everyone at the firm is dedicated to performing at 100% of their ability and to treating each client with dignity, courtesy, and respect. The law firm is made of people, its clients are people, and those people are vital to its success.

Joe and the attorneys built Suhre & Associates, LLC as an aggressive law firm. Part of the firm culture requires that the attorneys leave no stone and no defense option unturned. Suhre & Associates’ success in handling Columbus OVI cases comes from uncompromising principles directed at providing thorough investigation of the facts, an analysis of all legal options, formulating a defense plan, and aggressively and effectively executing that plan.

Joe is licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. He is a graduate of Xavier University and the Cincinnati College of Law. He is married and has two sons.

Erica Beigel

Erica Beigel is currently the office manager with Suhre & Associates, she was hired on as a legal assistant in 2010. She maintains and oversees the day to day function of the office and works closely with the owner and partner, Joe Suhre.

Erica received her Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Xavier University in 2007. She began working in the legal field following several years of experience in a banking position. Prior to joining Suhre & Associates she worked under the Hamilton County Assignment Commissioner for two years. She has since maintained a cohesive relationship between the courts, attorneys and clients. Her organizational and communication skills have prepared her for working with clients facing legal challenges.

 

Coralie Richardson

A paralegal with Suhre and Associates since 2011, Mrs. Richardson previously worked for Jordan and Greer, LLC in Huntsville, Alabama and Quality Litigation Support in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her experience encompasses areas of criminal defense, personal injury, and workman’s compensation. She is also fluent in Spanish, assisting attorneys and clients alike.

While preparing to enter the legal field, Mrs. Richardson returned to school for a paralegal studies certificate and obtained her paralegal certificate from Louisiana State University in 2009, and has been a practicing paralegal since then. Mrs. Richardson has also earned a B.A. in International Studies from LSU.