When he's not practicing patent law, Ahrens enjoys outdoor adventures - Cincinnati Business Courier - Cincinnati Business Courier
This story is a supplement to the Courier's 2022 list of largest law firms.
The recession of the early 1980s left Greg Ahrens in the lurch. He was finishing a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, but there weren’t many engineering jobs available. In a pinch, he looked to patent law.
“I was a tinkerer, but not in the traditional mechanical sense. I loved having a chemistry set as a kid, so I guess my ‘tinkering’ was more on the chemical side,” he said. “I learned that patent attorneys keep their hands on the technical side of things, but have a lot more opportunities in dealing with businesses and possibly the court system. It was the perfect blend of technology and more.”
Ahrens began his career at the law firm of Wood, Herron & Evans after graduating law school in 1987, and today he is the senior member of the executive committee of three partners that steer the firm into the future.
How does patent law still scratch that itch that led you to chemical engineering? Each invention that I deal with for a client is new or different or maybe it’s an improvement. Everything is designed to be the next best thing, so there are challenges with something that didn’t exist before, and it’s refreshing virtually every day.
What do you like to do to unwind? I like to read nontechnical, nonlegal materials. I like to do outdoor yardwork and other projects around the house. We have a couple of dogs and I like to take them for walks. On a bigger scale, I like the mountains and hiking and backpacking. Every now and then I manage a getaway. I just had one in Montana in August and September, and that was very life-changing.
Tell me about that. There were
seven of us and we did four day hikes in Glacier Park. For the first three days of our trip it was a self-designed, ‘hey we’re picking this trail to go off and come back two or three days later.’ It was in a place called the Crazy Mountains in Southeast Montana, and it lived up to its name — a little bit of getting lost, a little bit of running out
of water, a little bit of everybody getting on their nerves because nobody had
any water.
What appeals to you about that sort of thing? It’s seeing how far I can safely push myself – I only put that caveat in because my wife might read this. I like to do things on the adventurous side, sometimes on the extreme side. I’ve never climbed Mount Everest, but I would love to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. I’m not quite ready to go 28,000 feet up into the sky, but I could certainly do a three-day hike to one of the other tallest peaks in the world.
If someone was interested in doing something like that in our own backyard, what would you recommend around here? I love being able to go to Red River Gorge, and then I’ve done a reasonable amount of hiking up in Hocking Hills. You can’t manufacture 10,000 feet of vertical ascent in the Midwest, but those are the places I love around here.
What kind of books do you like to read? It crosses a few lines, and this might sound a bit predictable, but John Grisham novels about lawyers and legal things. I just find them fascinating — the recounting and explanations of the courtroom scenes. I also like international intrigue and spies like the “Bourne Identity.” The reason I like that type of reading is because I have to do a fair amount of reading for my job, so when I’m reading for pleasure I like it to be something I don’t have to do a lot of thinking and analysis about.
What’s the last great book you read? I’m in the middle of a book right now that I really like. It’s by C.S. Lewis and called “Mere Christianity.” It’s a pretty challenging read actually. I also just recently finished a book called “I am Pilgrim,” by Terry Hayes.
Greg Ahrens
Title: Senior member of the executive committee, Wood, Herron & Evans
Education: Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, University of Tennessee at Austin; Law degree, University of Wisconsin
Experience: Wood, Herron & Evans, associate 1987-94, partner 1995-present
Age: 60
Resides: Madeira
Family: Wife, Monica; four children
source: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2022/01/27/when-he-s-not-practicing-patent-law-ahrens-enjoys.html
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