John WerrenOf Counsel
John Russell Werren is of counsel to the trusts & estates law firm Kirkland Hochstetler PLLC, where he concentrates his practice in the field of estate planning through the firm’s office in Canton, Ohio.
John received his A.B. law degree, cum laude, in 1958 from Grove City College and went on to earn an LL.B. degree in 1961 from the Law School at Case-Western Reserve University. A member of the Stark County, Ohio State and American Bar Associations, John has been admitted to practice law in Ohio since 1961, including admission to all Ohio state courts and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. His commitment to the legal profession is further evident in the Bar Fellowships he maintains with the American Bar Foundation and Ohio State Bar Foundation.
As an undergraduate, John belonged to the premier national leadership honor society Omicron Delta Kappa. During his law school tenure, John served as a member of the Law Review staff, the professional law fraternity Delta Theta Pi, and was distinguished as a Spieth Scholar. As an attorney, he holds the AV® PreeminentTM 5.0 out of 5 peer review rating from Martindale Hubbell and was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2011-2018.
John served his country in the rank of Captain in the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1966.
A long-time, active member of the Canton, Ohio, legal community, John has held multiple committee assignments in the Stark County Bar Association, Probate Practice and more, as well as the Trust and Estate Planning Committee of the Stark Community Foundation. He is a former member of the Greater Canton Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees and previously sat on the National City Bank Board of Directors. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Community Services Inc. and the Cultural Center for the Arts Board, and he is a member of the Walsh College Advisory Board and Stark Development Board.
John is also well-known in the greater Canton area as an amateur historian versed in the history of Stark County. Drawing anecdotes of the county’s early days from The Stark County Story by E.T. Heald, volumes 1-6, John has spoken to literally hundreds of civic, educational and community groups regarding the history of the Stark County community.