Kevin M.  Hinkel Photo

Kevin M. Hinkel

Partner | Chair, Business Law Practice Group

Overview

For his near four decade career as an attorney, Kevin's practice has been concentrated within the areas of business and tax law for closely held businesses and real estate and tax for companies and governmental agencies involved within the real estate industry. His expertise in federal and state tax law has allowed him to counsel his clients within the business community and real estate industry to structure the transactions on a tax-advantaged basis.

His business law practice involves mergers and acquisitions as well as sales of businesses structured as mergers, equity sales or asset sales, start-up companies’ formation and capital raises through private placements, financing arrangements, stockholder and employment matters, strategic oversight of litigation handled by the firm’s litigation group, vendor and vendee business documentation and other legal matters faced by closely held businesses.

His real estate practice is centered upon representation of developers and real estate ownership entities in the development, acquisition or sale of industrial, retail or other commercial property and apartment complexes, lease negotiations on behalf of landlords and tenants, handling real estate valuation disputes for local boards of education and for property owners at county boards or revision, Ohio Board of Tax Appeals, Common Pleas Court, Ohio Courts of Appeal and the Ohio Supreme Court, formation of condominium association and homeowners’ associations, drafting and negotiation AIA construction contracts, eminent domain cases for property owners, zoning and land use, equity raises through private placement offerings, and financing of real estate from banks, insurance companies and commercial mortgage-backed securities. For the past 35 years he has maintained a very active Section 1031 like-kind exchange practice representing property owners and title companies in deferred exchanges, construction exchanges, and reverse exchanges both within and outside of the noted safe harbors.





 

Practices

  • Education

    • Cleveland State University College of Law/CSU College of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, 1980
    • John Carroll University, B.S., 1977

    Admissions

    • Supreme Court of Ohio
    • State of Ohio
    • Ohio Board of Tax Appeals
    • U.S. Tax Court
  • Professional Affiliations

    • Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association—Member (1980-Present); Real Estate Institute—Executive Committee; Planning Committee (1999-Present); frequent speaker on real estate and Section 1031 seminars
    • Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Professionalism Lawyer to Lawyer Mentoring Program (2013-Present)

    Community Involvement

    • Saint Ignatius High School, Seeds of Literacy—Board Member (2019-Present); Jesuit Retreat Center, Annual Fundraiser—Co-Chair (2019); Board of Regents—Chairman (2010-2011); Member (2005-2011; President Search Committee—President (2010); Alumni Association—President (2002-2003); Executive Committee (1999-2003)
    • Westwood Country Club - Board Member (2021-Present)
    • John Carroll University, Blue-Gold Club—President (1987-1993)
    • Westlake Soccer Association—Coach (1991-2002)
    • St. Raphael Parish—Member (1989-Present)

    Firm Involvement

    • Chair, Business Law Practice Group—Frantz Ward LLP
    • Named Best Lawyers' "Lawyer of the Year" in Tax Law in Cleveland (2022)
    • Recipient of The Honorable Leo M. Spellacy '52 Bellarmine Award from Saint Ignatius High School (2021)
    • Named Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” in Closely Held Companies and Family Business Law in Cleveland (2020)
    • Named to The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law; Real Estate Law; and Tax Law (2008-2022); Corporate Law (2024); Mergers and Acquisitions Law (2024)
    • AV Preeminent Peer-Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
    • Named to the Ohio Super Lawyers list (2006-2008; 2010; 2015-2024)
    • Recipient of the Founders Award from Saint Ignatius High School (2015)
    • Recognized by Inside Business Magazine as a Leading Lawyer in Northeast Ohio (2008-2012*) *final year of designation
    • Inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at John Carroll University (1995)
    • “Securities Laws Issues in Structuring Real Estate Investment Programs,” 44th Annual Estate Institute of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Cleveland, OH (November 2022)
    • "Contract Implications in the Age of COVID-19," Association of Corporate Counsel Webinar (October 2020) 
    • "Navigating a Business Divorce," Frantz Ward Litigation Seminar, Cleveland, OH (September 2019)