Sarena M. Holder
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Sarena Holder has a national practice that focuses on defending clients in products liability and premises liability matters.
Specializing in repeat litigation, Sarena routinely defends manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, premises owners, and employers in both state and federal courts nationwide. She has years of experience defending and directing the national strategy in cases involving claimed exposure to asbestos, coal mine dust, talc, and silica, as well as chemical exposures such as diacetyl. Her work includes advising and counseling clients on tender and indemnification, liability, and Medicare lien resolution and tracking.
Drawing from her more than eight years of practice, Sarena has experience in all stages of civil litigation from fact investigation to trial preparation, including discovery, depositions, motion practice, oral argument, and settlement negotiation. She also dedicates time to representing indigent clients in pro bono matters, taking a particular interest in minor and refugee guardianship issues.
A proud native and resident of Shaker Heights, Sarena enjoys reading, Sundays at the library with her husband and two children, and exploring the many cultural institutions in and around Cleveland.
- Education
- Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2012); Cleveland State Law Review, Managing Editor; Urban League Achievement Award; CALI Award for Excellence in Torts, Property I, Property II, Art Law, and Women & Law; Dean’s Advisory Committee for Bar Exam Passage, Student Member
- Howard University (B.A., 2008); National Achievement Scholar; National Merit Commended Student; Who’s Who Among America’s College Students
- State Admissions
- Ohio, 2013
- Federal Admissions
- United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio
- Service Areas
- Mass Tort & Product Liability
Speaking Engagements
- “411 on Legal Careers,” Panelist, 6th Annual Law Student Summit for Success, Norman S. Minor Bar Association, Cleveland, Ohio (September 2021)
- “Sister 2 Sister, Brother 2 Brother,” Black Law Students Association, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, Ohio (November 2016)
Publications
- “The CROWN Act Seeks to Remedy Racially-Based Natural Hair Discrimination,” Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal (March 2020)
- Fifty-State Survey: Toxic Exposure Claims, American Bar Association, Co-author (2016)
- “Daimler and Challenges to Personal Jurisdiction in Asbestos Cases,” DRI’s The Whisper (October 2015)
- “Resolving the Post-Begay Maelstrom: Statutory Rape as a Violent Felony Under the Armed Career Criminal Act,” Cleveland State Law Review, 60 Cleve. St. L. Rev. 507 (October 2012)
- Forty-Forty Club, Kaleidoscope Magazine (2014)
- Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars® (2021)
- Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
- Young Lawyers Section
- Women in Law Section
- 3Rs Program, Team Captain
- Norman S. Minor Bar Association
- National Cannabis Bar Association
- The Judge John M. Manos American Inn of Court, Associate Member
- Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Dean’s Diversity Council
- Village of Healing, Board Member