Robert DeRose II

Robert DeRose II serves as the Managing Partner at Barkan Meizlish DeRose Wentz McInerney Peifer, LLP in Columbus, Ohio, focusing on Complex Litigation. His practice areas encompass wage and hour/overtime issues, consumer protection, election/political matters, and union-side labor cases. A native of Western Pennsylvania, Mr. DeRose earned his Economics degree from Washington and Jefferson College in 1988 and graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law in 1991, where he was actively involved in workers' rights advocacy.

Mr. DeRose has held significant leadership roles, including former president of the Workers Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG) and the Ohio Association for Justice. He is a committed member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ), contributing to the National Finance Council and the AAJ Leaders Forum. His previous board memberships include the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation and the Diane Crawford Cervical Cancer Foundation. He is a frequent lecturer and author on topics related to the Fair Labor Standards Act and union-side labor.

In academia, Mr. DeRose has been an adjunct faculty member at Capital University Law School's Graduate Program and has lectured at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and the University of Dayton School of Law. He co-authored the 2005-2006 Ohio Workers’ Compensation Law practice guide and serves as an editing author for the ABA's treatise on The Fair Labor Standards Act.

Mr. DeRose has been recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in America since 2011 and a Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Ohio since 2007. He has also been consistently listed as an Ohio Super Lawyer by Columbus Monthly Magazine since 2005 and is among the Top 50 lawyers in Columbus, Ohio, according to Columbus CEO Magazine since 2012. Additionally, he is a member of the prestigious Melvin Belli Society.