Press Releases

Benesch Adds Litigator in Cleveland

July 27, 2021

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Benesch welcomes Johanes Maliza as Of Counsel to the firm’s Litigation Practice Group in Cleveland.

Johanes has more than 10 years of experience practicing law, serving most recently as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Central District of Illinois where he represented defendants at all stages of prosecution in U.S. District Court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, including certiorari petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that role, Johanes was an Associate at Jones Day where he worked on complex commercial litigation representing a wide range of national and international corporations in litigation and internal investigations.

Johanes has extensive courtroom experience, particularly in federal courts. Johanes has written, argued, and won, several high profile appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals, as well as filing several petitions for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also been lead counsel in hundreds of cases in United States district courts. These representations included jury trials, evidentiary hearings and dispositive motion hearings, in addition to extensive motions practice.

Johanes also created and taught CLEs based on federal criminal practice and professionalism and served multiple years as a mentor for new attorneys in Illinois’ and Ohio’s Supreme Court lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring programs. Johanes’ pro bono work includes immigration, housing, and post-conviction representations in Illinois and Ohio, as well as in United States Immigration Courts. In 2015 the American Immigration Lawyers Association recognized Johanes and colleagues for outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the immigration field for his work representing unaccompanied children and refugees facing religious or other persecution. 

He received his B.A. from Stanford University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Johanes is one of over 40 new attorneys to join Benesch so far this year. Since making its debut on the AmLaw 200 list in 2016, Benesch has advanced 34 places and is currently ranked at number 164.