Attorney Matthew A. Mishak
Described as a natural-born problem-solver by his clients, Attorney Matthew A. Mishak has over fifteen (15) years of experience.
After graduating summa cum laude, in the top ten percent of his class from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 2006, Attorney Mishak served as an assistant Lorain County Prosecutor for six years before becoming the Chief Prosecutor for the City of Elyria.
Attorney Mishak has extensive experience in the areas of Family Law (Divorce, Custody, Juvenile Delinquency, Civil Protection Orders), Criminal Defense, Domestic Violence, OVI/DUI, Business Law, and Drone (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Law.
Attorney Mishak was voted the Best Attorney in Lorain County in the Lorain Morning Journal’s Reader’s Choice Awards, and Top Ten DUI and Family Law Attorney in Cleveland by Expertise. He frequently presents on legal topics and is a regularly featured legal commentator for various media outlets including National Public Radio (NPR), The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Columbus Dispatch, The Dayton Business Journal, WKYC CH 3, WEWS CH 5, and Fox 8 in Cleveland.
Contact Matt today for help with your legal problems.
Attorney Tiffany Catherman
Tiffany Catherman is a practicing attorney in our Amherst office. She has worked almost exclusively in family law since 2015. As a child, she was the victim of abuse and empathizes with those going through similar experiences. She understands the pain and will help you through it.
Attorney Catherman graduated from Keystone High School and then pursued higher education at Cleveland State University receiving a bachelor’s degree in the arts, with majors in Digital Media and Film, Public Relations and Advertising, and General Communications. In her undergrad time, she was the president of the classical language club specializing in the ancient Latin language. She applied and began law school at Cleveland Marshall College of Law in 2014. She began her work in law officially in 2015 as a fellow at the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland in the Family Law department, focusing on domestic violence and sexual abuse cases.
During her time in law school, she was the Vice president of the Women’s Law Student Association and was a Senator-at-Large for the Student Bar Association. She would further work with the international community through an internship with the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the international ad hoc tribunal set up in Cambodia to try former members of the Khmer Rouge regimes for international crimes committed when the regime was in power from 1975-79.
After her graduation from Cleveland Marshal College of Law and passing the bar in 2018 she immediately received training and became a Guardian ad Litem “GAL”. Through her duties as a GAL, she helps facilitate decisions that are in the best interest of children. Attorney Catherman was recognized by the Lorain County Bar for her contributions to the low-income population of the county. She continues to volunteer with Legal Aid as she can.
In her spare time, she is with her rescue animals, traveling, or playing video games.
Attorney Catherman practices mainly in family law, including but not limited to, Civil Protection Orders, DV Advocacy, Custody, Divorce, Dissolution, and QDROs.
Attorney Jacob Homolya
Hello all, my name is Jacob Homolya (Huh-moe-lee-uh), and I am a new attorney out of the University of Akron, who primarily focuses on general civil matters, criminal, a touch of probate, and lots of legal research. I was hired as an associate attorney by Mishak Law in November 2021, but almost every one of our clients has known me as Matt’s understudy since May 2019.
I was born and raised here in Lorain County and developed strong ties to this community. I spent most of my childhood in Amherst and graduated from Amherst Steele High School in 2014. Afterward, where many of my friends immediately left for University, I stuck around and attended Lorain County Community College for two years, where I was blessed to have some of the most underrated and underappreciated educators anyone could ask for. Eventually, I left home to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Akron in Political Science and Criminal Justice. This was always in pursuit of a larger goal. Since I was a young kid, I always knew I wanted to be an attorney, and I was too stubborn to consider anything else. I graduated from Akron in 2018 with a 4.0, and this was good enough to get me into their law school on a full-ride!
I admit, begrudgingly, that I did enjoy law school. It was undoubtedly challenging, but it was a great experience. This included connecting with Matt and others at Mishak Law, and establishing myself at our firm as I watched it grow exponentially over the years. Business aside, not enough can be said about the growth we see daily from our coworkers. They work to get better each and every day. This motivated me to push harder through law school, even as everything was changing due to the pandemic because I wanted to meet the standard I witnessed every day at work.
Come 2021, I graduated from law school magna cum laude, and passed that dreadful Bar Exam with high marks. There was never any doubt in my mind about where I wanted to be. It was right here at Mishak Law where I had made a home.
Being a new attorney comes with trials and tribulations, but I really love my job. For better or worse, this is my life. The long days and stressful nights may sound scary at first, but nothing beats knowing you did a good job for the client, and I strive to do better each and every day.
Marcus Mishak
Law Clerk – Office Manager
Marc has worked for the Mishak Law Firm since 2019. Marc is a graduate of Marion L. Steele High School Class of 1995, and Lorain County Community College with an Associate Degree in Communications.
He has worked for many companies including AT&T, Verizon, and Applebees, as well as a small business owner.
Marc uses his multitasking skills, sales, and customer service background to understand the client’s needs to meet their needs and effectively communicate to the Attorneys what the firm needs to do to provide outstanding service. Marc assists clients by providing updates, gathering documents, filings with the court and maintaining hearing dates, and effectively communicating the Courts Schedule.
Marc enjoys audiobooks, Cleveland sports, and Sci-Fi Movies and thrillers. A lifetime resident of Lorain County, Marc enjoys going out to local restaurants and pubs.
Shannon Marcucci
Discovery Specialist
Shannon has worked for Mishak Law, LLC since July of 2021. Shannon graduated from Vermilion High School in 1987 and attended Lorain County Community College for Business Administration. Shannon has worked in the legal field including but not limited to corporate, civil, personal injury, domestic, criminal, and disability areas over the past twenty-two years.
Shannon enjoys being able to help clients and further, to help them succeed in their cases and let clients know she is there for them from beginning to end as well as being supportive to all Attorneys at Mishak Law, LLC. Shannon is the “Discovery” specialist for the firm.
Shannon also brings Panda the Law Dog to work with her. Panda enjoys greeting clients and putting their minds at ease. Panda is a rescue from Texas. Her sister was activated as an Army Covid Nurse/Captain one year ago at Brooke Army Medical Center/Ft. Sam Houston, and was lonely and rescued Panda from a shelter. It was Panda’s last day with the shelter and she decided to save him. He is very happy to be here and help people have a great day.
Shannon is a huge animal lover. Shannon has rescued many animals that are native to the great State of Ohio, including turtles, birds of prey, and many species of mammals. She is a big advocate for Back to the Wild, an Ohio rescue in Castalia, that helps any animals native to Ohio by first assessing, then treating the animal, and in the long run, releasing animals back to the wild.
Deb Bodnar
Deb is one of our paralegals that works in our Amherst location. A graduate of Avon Lake High School and the Cleveland Institute of Paralegal Studies, she has over 40 years of experience in the legal field.
After paralegal school, she secured a job at Jones Day in Cleveland, Ohio working in the Business/Corporate/Transactional group and from there she moved on to several large firms in downtown Cleveland, specializing in insurance defense, asbestos, and business litigation before finding out that her true passion in the legal arena was domestic relations and criminal law, which she started specializing in around 1995. After that, she never looked back.
Now with over 27 years of domestic relations and criminal law background, she is truly at home. She was semi-retired when Matt coaxed her back out of “retirement” to have another go around in the domestic relations and criminal areas of his law practice and she just couldn’t say no. Being a divorced single mom herself, she understands exactly what our clients are going through and takes every case she works on personally in one way or another, and always has the client’s best interests at heart because she can relate to their experiences.
When she isn’t working, her passions include reading, being outside, campfires, following her traveling nurse daughter’s adventures vicariously, and of course, spending as much time as possible with her sixth German Shepherd dog, Alti.
Karen A. Kopis
Karen A. Kopis has been employed with Mishak Law LLC since August of 2020. Karen began her legal
career in 1984 when she began working for the Judge of the Lorain County Domestic Relations Court,
Henry T. Webber. Commencing in 1989 Karen began working for private Attorneys. During the past 38
years, Karen has had experience in Domestic Relations Law, Civil Litigation, Worker’s Compensation,
Criminal Law, Personal Injury cases, Bankruptcy, Estate Planning, and Probating of Estates.
Karen strives to serve clients in the best way possible to accomplish the best outcome with compassion
and empathy. Karen has gained a wealth of knowledge of the proper procedure on how to accomplish
the work required in a professional manner. She is known to remain calm under pressure, maintaining
deadlines, drafting pleadings, making sure documents are filed with the Court in a timely manner, or any
other task that is required to meet the custom needs of every individual client. When questioned about
the status of any case, her favorite response is “Everything is Kopisetic.”
Karen has lived in Elyria, Ohio her entire life. She is an avid sports fan of NFL Football, College Football,
Major League Baseball, and College Basketball. Karen is passionate relevant to her faith and religion. Her
favorite activity when she is not serving clients is to live a quiet, peaceful presence at her home with her
German Shepherd Dog, Kylo, and her two cats, Tibbs and Oreo.