Carter Strang
Bachelor of Arts in Education with a specialization on Social Studies, '73
Master of Education in Secondary Education, '79
Kent, Ohio
Carter Strang has handled a broad range of matters in both state and federal court with a primary focus on environmental, mass tort, and product liability litigation.
Before attending law school, Strang earned both the Jennings Scholar and Taft Fellow teaching awards in his career as a high school teacher and coach. He has found his teaching and coaching provided excellent leadership training, which he has put to use both at the firm as a trial attorney and in the community.
During his tenure (2012-2013) as president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (CMBA), Strang created the Stokes Scholars Program, a pipeline diversity program that provides paid summer legal internships for college students. Fulfilling its motto, "Changing Lives One Student At A Time," it won the 2013 Expys Best New Internship Award and the 2013 NABE LexisNexis Community & Educational Outreach Award.
Strang also co-authored the curriculum for the CMBA award-winning 3Rs program (law-based classroom instruction and counseling in Cleveland public schools), and he initiated the Citizens Legal Academy, providing adults information about "hot button" legal topics.
He founded the CMBA Green Initiative, which certifies local law firms for environmentally responsible practices, such as recycling and responsible energy and paper use. Over 50 firms are now "CMBA Green Certified," including Tucker Ellis. The firm won the CMBA's inaugural Green Innovation Award. Carter was instrumental in the creation of the firm's Green Initiative Committee and has been a member since its inception.
Strang initiated and administers the Tucker Ellis Pipeline Diversity Program, which includes partnerships with urban public schools in all of the firm's offices. As a result of this program and the firm's overall diversity and inclusion efforts, Tucker Ellis earned the inaugural CMBA Trailblazer Award in 2012, and the Los Angeles office program received the 2010 Pillar Partnership Spotlight Award.
Well known in the Northeast Ohio community, Strang has been the subject of many feature articles, including "Diversity and Pride," Shaker Life Magazine (February-March 2013); "Bar President Carter Strang Says Percentage of Minorities in Law 'Unacceptable,"' The Plain Dealer (2012); and "The Interview: Carter E. Strang, President, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association " Crain's Cleveland Business (2012). Other features include "Who to Watch: Law," Crain's Cleveland Business (2012); "What One Law Firm and One Lawyer Have Done for Our City's Youngsters," Law Notes, a publication of Cleveland-Marshall Law Alumni Association (2009); and "Teacher Turned Lawyer," Kent State Magazine (2009). He has been frequently quoted in The National Law Journal and other publications on a variety of topics.
Strang, a two-sport college athlete, has participated in Cleveland's Bike to Work Day and the MS 150 "Pedal to the Point" Multiple Sclerosis fund raiser. As a member of Cleveland's Team Benjamin Triathlon Team, he helped raise money to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cleveland. Carter and his wife Deedra (Siegel) Strang, a speech pathologist with the Shaker Heights Public Schools, are the parents of five sons.