Headline: Double Bearcat, and Former Rugby Player, Teaching at UC Law

The profession of being a lawyer is an important one. It always has been and always should
be, because that way of solving problems is how we make society better, said Professor Kevin
Flynn, 87. Professor Flynn, a Double Bearcat, attended the University of Cincinnati for both
his undergraduate and his Juris Doctor degrees, and remains involved in the UC community.
Professor Flynn has been an adjunct professor at Cincinnati Law for 24 years, teaching a
course in Real Estate Transactions. In addition, he is Of Counsel with Griffin Fletcher & Herndon
LLP, focusing on real estate financing, residential and commercial transactions, and
development. On top of all that, he is also a member of the Cincinnati City Council, chairing the
Rules and Audit Committee.
Even though its the same class and same textbook I had at UC -- I had the 2nd edition, and
were on the 7th now -- the class is always different, because it depends on what the students
take is on the cases, he explained. Thats what I love about teaching; its not so much teaching
the specifics of a real estate transaction -- thats the vehicle we use -- but its really about
learning to be a lawyer. He emphasized that law school is not about memorization. It is about
learning a new way to solve problems, an invaluable skill regardless of profession.
Real Estate Law is not the nitty-gritty focus that many students enter law school wishing to
pursue, and Flynn was no exception. He began second guessing his dreams of being the next
Perry Mason during his second year of law school, worrying that as a criminal defense attorney
he would have to prove his clients innocence, regardless of the truth. He was considering a
career in politics when Professor John Murphy gave him the sage advice to first learn his trade;
politics would always be there. Flynn landed a summer job with the firm that is now Thompson
Hine LLP and gained exposure to all their areas of practice.
His second rotation was real estate law, and he was hooked.
I really liked that if you do a real estate transaction correctly, both sides end up winning, and
thats rather rare in law, he said.
Flynn remembered one of the first cases at his second law firm, Barron, Peck, Bennie, and
Schlemmer LPA, where the partner who was handling the transaction left two weeks into it,
leaving him to run a multimillion dollar transaction as a young kid. Although he was still young,
he was meeting with national lawyers at 11:00 p.m. meetings. They ended up completing the
deal and everyone was happy. The CFO for the client brought a Montblanc pen for Professor
Flynn at the closing, something he has never forgotten.
One of his favorite memories from his days as a student was the law schools rugby team, the X
Checkers, which he described as the total opposite of law school. The team opened
opportunities for first-year students to get to know second- and third-year students, as well as a
stress reliever.

Some of the those guys are my closest friends today, and we joke about how we sort of took
over the law school as the rugby club. We had most of the Student Bar positions filled with
rugby players or sympathizers by my third year. Even on the Student Legal Education
Committee (SLEC), we had two rugby players as the two student representatives. It was more
than just the team; the whole school came out to the parties and the matches, and it was just a
real gathering for everyone, he remembered. Two club members, in addition to himself, hold (or
have held) public office now: Former State Senator Eric Kearney (who is now president of the
African American Chamber of Commerce) and Judge Tom Heekin, who has recently been
appointed to a vacant seat on the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court by Ohio Governor
John Kasich.
As a Cincinnati City Councilperson, Flynn is still able to work in politics, an interest that had
stayed on the back burner for a long time. Fourteen and a half years ago, he was involved in a
car accident that left him a quadriplegic; while regaining his independence, he realized he
wanted to make a difference for the city.
I wanted to make a difference in the way that people think about the issues, Flynn said. I
thought I could apply my life experiences as a lawyer, a teacher, and someone who has gone
through a life-changing experience with quadriplegia, to Council. And thats been a true joy
because I think I have made a difference in our city. He knows that everyone may not agree
with his opinions on various issues, but what matters is that citizens know he sincerely cares
about issues and will fight to defend them.
His quadriplegia has resulted in many life changes, from being cognizant of what restaurants
have steps to learning how to stress a point without using his hands. In fact, not everyone
remembers that he is a quadriplegic because he moves his upper body so much, something
Flynn is delighted about.
I think, in the bigger sense, everybody has some trouble, some trial that theyre going through.
So I think that going through this has made me more sympathetic to others, Flynn said. People
dont think of me as necessarily having a handicap, and thats a good thing, because were all
just people.
Author: Michelle Flanagan, 18, Communication Intern