Ohio law firm Kisling, Nestico & Redick (KNR) has long been regarded for its commitment to providing exceptional legal representation to clients and giving back to Ohio communities. A large part of the firm’s success in both of these areas can be attributed to the work of founding partner Robert Redick, who recently announced his retirement.
Redick co-founded the firm in 2005, along with Gary Kisling and Rob Nestico. For the past 13 years, Redick has led the way in helping Kisling, Nestico & Redick deliver on its vision of helping accident victims get fair compensation for their losses. He has also been a key part of the firm’s commitment to improving communities across Ohio. Of Redick’s retirement, John Reagan, senior partner at Kisling, Nestico & Redick, said: “He will be missed by everyone, staff and leadership alike. Fortunately, he was always willing to mentor those around him, so we’re confident we will be able to move forward in a seamless fashion.”
Although Redick has retired, he leaves behind a rich legacy that will continue to live on. Below, we’ll detail the history of Redick’s remarkable career, his influence on the firm, and his impact on the Ohio communities that Kisling, Nestico & Redick serves.
A History of Service and Leadership
For more than 13 years, Redick served as a true leader at KNR. His long history of hard work in the insurance and legal industries paved the way for the firm’s success. After earning his B.A. with a double major in history and political science from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1985, Redick embarked on his career in the insurance industry. In his first position, he worked as a claims adjuster at Motorists Insurance Company. It was here that he gained valuable experience that would become critical to KNR’s success.
During his time at Motorists Insurance Company, Redick not only discovered the inner workings of insurance companies when handling accident claims, but in working closely with many attorneys, he also gained substantial knowledge of personal injury law. In 1986, Redick embarked on a new position in the claims department of Agency Rent-A-Car. His strong work ethic helped him rise in the ranks, and he was eventually appointed National Claims Director. Here, he gained an even deeper understanding of the personal injury claims process.
Working in the insurance industry is what eventually inspired Redick to enter the legal field. He saw how insurance companies used insider strategies to avoid fairly compensating accident victims, and he began his legal career with the goal of helping those in need after an accident. This commitment to serving his community fueled his work in the legal industry throughout the mid- to late-1990s as he worked as a case manager for a law firm by day and attended law school at night.
Redick’s work as a case manager was incredibly formative to his future career. He worked closely with attorneys, clients, insurance companies, and medical professionals to help accident victims recover the compensation they needed to rebuild their lives. This experience was among the most valuable parts of his early years in the legal world. In 1999, Redick was awarded his much anticipated J.D. from The University of Akron School of Law. Soon after, he embarked on his career as an attorney. For the next several years, he continued to dedicate himself to the fulfilling work of working with personal injury plaintiffs, ensuring that his clients received the compensation and justice to which they were entitled.
Kisling, Nestico & Redick: Building an Exceptional Firm
With six years of legal experience under his belt, Redick was ready to launch a new chapter in his career. He had a vision of creating a law firm dedicated to leveraging insider knowledge of the insurance industry to help people get fair settlements after an accident.
“My fondest memory of working at KNR throughout its 13-year history is seeing how our vision came together and how we created such an outstanding law firm,” Redick said in a press release.
In 2005, along with Kisling and Nestico, Redick officially founded Kisling, Nestico & Redick. The trio of attorneys were united by their shared goal of creating Ohio’s best personal injury firm. They started small, as a team of three lawyers and three paralegals. But the team’s commitment to providing legal help to as many Ohio accident victims as possible helped them quickly grow KNR. Soon, Kisling, Nestico & Redick’s offices were accessible to people across the state. In almost 15 short years, it became one of Ohio’s largest personal injury firms, employing 37 lawyers and 146 support staff and serving 11 locations statewide. This expansion gave KNR the ability to fight for the rights of even more accident victims in need.
“Going from six people in one office in Fairlawn to now 183 attorneys and staff at 11 locations across Ohio is quite an accomplishment,” Redick said when asked about building the firm. “I’ve also had the privilege to help families who are coping with the loss of loved ones. Seeing how appreciative they are of our work really makes you realize the impact you’re making every day.”
While not all law firms experience such dramatic growth or success, KNR was not just any personal injury firm. The team’s vision remained focused on harnessing their extensive expertise in the insurance industry to get superior results for clients. Redick’s deep experience in the insurance industry was a guiding force in the firm’s success, and he worked hard to create a team with a comprehensive understanding of the best ways to maximize clients’ claims. They are widely known for getting exceptional results for clients, including several multi-million-dollar settlements.
As of 2019, KNR is one of Ohio’s largest and leading personal injury law firms, an achievement that would not have been possible without Redick’s vision. The firm’s extensive resources and over 500 years of combined experience allow them to handle even the most complex personal injury cases with good results. Since its founding, the firm has served over 10,000 clients and prides itself on being on the cutting edge of the field.
All along, Redick has been a true team player. When asked what he would miss most about his position at KNR, he said: “The case work, teamwork, and how we helped the community. But mostly I’ll miss the people. The people at KNR are the finest anywhere, and their dedication and hard work has made us what we are today.”
For more than a decade, KNR’s record of success has helped the firm improve not only the lives of individuals but also, on a larger scale, create safer roadways and positive changes in industries that are often responsible for accidents. After winning a recent settlement agreement for the estate of an Ohio couple killed in a collision with a truck, an Ohio trucking company increased its funding for driver training, thus creating safer highways. The firm has also led the fight for changes within the insurance industry that ensure fair treatment of accident victims.
Redick’s Award-Winning Leadership
The fact that KNR is one of the state’s largest law firms sets it apart from the crowd, but the quality of its legal services is truly at the heart of its success, and Redick was a huge inspiration to his team. Redick was known by everyone at KNR for his outstanding work as he fought for fair compensation for clients. In addition to his busy caseload, he took on the additional work of overseeing the firm’s daily financial and management operations. “Robert has been an invaluable resource for lawyers and staff at KNR given his industry knowledge, experience, and successful advocacy for our firm’s clients,” said John Reagan, senior partner at KNR.
Even as he dedicated his energy to supporting every facet of the firm, Redick became a rising star in his field, receiving some of the most distinguished awards given to trial lawyers both in Ohio and nationally. In 2011, he was named to Super Lawyers, which uses a highly selective evaluation process to recognize lawyers who have garnered substantial praise and recognition among their peers.
Redick also enjoyed the incredible and rare honor of being named to the Million- and Multi-Million-Dollar Advocates Forum, which is among the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the U.S. Membership to this elite group is only granted to lawyers who have won million- or multi-million-dollar cases. Redick was among the less than one percent of U.S. lawyers who are admitted.
In addition to earning many prestigious awards, Redick dedicated his time and energy to ensuring that the justice system itself was doing everything it could to fairly support victims. Service was always at the core of Redick’s work as a lawyer, and he dedicated himself not only to serving his clients but also to working tirelessly for the various legal organizations of which he was a part. He was a member of the Akron Bar Association and the Stark County Bar Association. He also served as a member of the American Association for Justice (ATLA), a professional network of trial attorneys who work to ensure that the justice system is fair and equitable, in particular for injured parties. In addition, Redick was a member and, later, a board member of the Ohio Association of Justice (OAJ), a statewide attorney’s association dedicated to ensuring that all Ohioans have access to a fair civil justice system.
In addition to his contributions within these roles, Redick’s leadership abilities led to several prestigious nominations by the Akron Bar Association. He was named vice chairman of the Bar Application Committee and also served as a member of the Akron Bar Association’s Certified Grievance Committee.
Redick was an incredibly accomplished lawyer over the years, and his dedication to creating a culture of learning, service, and commitment to clients made him an outstanding role model for his colleagues. Today, his influence can be felt in the countless awards that KNR lawyers have received. Many members of the firm have followed Redick’s lead, being named to the Top 100 Trial Lawyers, the Top 100 Lawyers in Ohio list, the Top 50 Lawyers in Cleveland, Ohio’s Outstanding Young Lawyers, American Trial Lawyers Association, Top Trial Lawyers, and the Ohio State Bar Foundation, among others.
Fostering a Culture of Giving
KNR is renowned across the nation for its commitment to its clients and the communities it serves. During his time at KNR, Redick was a driving force in creating a culture of giving back to the citizens of Ohio. Since 2014, KNR has raised / contributed over $375,000 for local organizations, and Redick has been crucial to its successful giving initiatives. Of its many community initiatives, Redick had a favorite:
“My favorite activity is the turkey giveaway each Thanksgiving, where we give away 1,000 turkeys,” he said in a press release. “To see the smiles on a family’s faces and know you have helped them have a more enjoyable holiday is the greatest gift.”
Under Redick’s leadership, KNR has become an outstanding example of how businesses can better connect with the communities they are a part of and make a difference in people’s lives. Redick was a key player in KNR’s most recent initiative, KNR Cares About Kids, during which the firm dedicated 12 months to providing support to organizations that support children in need. KNR’s commitment to helping reduce the impact of serious issues like hunger and poverty, especially on children, has become a large part of the firm’s charity mission.
Over the years, the firm’s attorneys and employees have not simply donated money or food; they have also taken the initiative to reach out to local organizations and ensure that the firm can connect with kids that need the most help. The Kisling, Nestico & Redick team also takes it upon themselves to interact with children in need in their communities in meaningful ways, personally providing kids with bags of food, raising money for food pantries, and even taking a group of children on a shopping spree at Meijer.
Knowing the shame that disadvantaged kids can suffer when they lack new clothes, Kisling, Nestico & Redick attorneys and employees took 12 local children from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to Meijer and footed the bill for over $3,000 worth of shoes, shirts, shorts, and dresses. By being directly involved in charity efforts and making personal connections to people in the communities in which they work, the KNR team creates truly special relationships between the firm and the people that it serves.
Another life-changing initiative of the KNR Cares About Kids program that Redick was part of was inspired by the firm’s commitment to reducing serious injuries from bicycle accidents. Armed with the knowledge that accidents in which riders are without a helmet are the top cause of traumatic brain injury in the U.S. and knowing that if all U.S. children wore bike helmets they could cut the number of head injuries by 45,000, the KNR team set to work. To help solve this problem in the most tangible way possible, the firm donated 500 bicycle helmets to kids participating in local YMCA summer camps.
Under Redick’s leadership, 2019 also saw the inauguration of the KNR’s annual scholarship fund, which it put in place to help reduce distracted driving incidents. Texting while driving causes over 1.6 million accidents per year and 400,000 injuries. KNR wanted to create an inventive way to prevent accidents like these, which are especially common among young drivers. To do so, it founded the Stop Distracted Driving Scholarship, which awards $5,000 annually to a local high school student who provides the top proposal for decreasing distracted driving. The 2019 winner, Elianna Norin, created an inventive PSA, which will be produced as a TV ad, comparing texting and driving to being blindfolded. The scholarship will support her tuition payments at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
On a more adventurous note, Kisling, Nestico & Redick employees also participated for the sixth time in this year’s Portage Lakes Polar Bear Jump to help raise money for local charities. 40 people from the team participated, raising over $30,000 for a local food bank. In total, KNR has raised more than $138,000 over the years.
The constant commitment to serving local Ohioans through philanthropic efforts was a part of Redick’s founding vision for the firm and continues to be essential to what KNR does. Without his leadership and dedication, KNR could not have provided so much to these communities.
Upon Redick’s retirement, the Kisling, Nestico & Redick team wishes him the best as he moves to Florida to enjoy the sunshine with his wife Lela of nearly 30 years. Redick will also enjoy being able to spend more time with his daughter Alex, son Andy, and their granddaughter Avery.
They also want to extend their deepest gratitude to Redick for his 13 years of dedicated service. During this time, he has created a successful firm and been an inspirational force for the lawyers and employees at Kisling, Nestico & Redick.
