John H. Cousins IV

John H. Cousins IV is an OSBA Board Certified Specialist in Family Law and the founder of Cousins Family Law LLC in Columbus, Ohio. He represents clients throughout central Ohio in divorce, child custody, and high-conflict family-law matters, and handles family-law appeals statewide. Mr. Cousins is among a select group of Ohio attorneys who have earned board certification in family law from the Ohio State Bar Association — a credential that requires demonstrated competence, peer recognition, and substantial experience. He has also been recognized in Best Lawyers in America® and Ohio Super Lawyers® for family law.

Mr. Cousins brings a trial lawyer's pragmatism and an appellate lawyer's precision to every case, because he has been both. He began his career as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney at the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office, where he handled more than 60 felony appeals before the Tenth District Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Ohio. He then served as a judicial attorney at the Tenth District Court of Appeals, under Judge Lisa L. Sadler, and at the Supreme Court of Ohio, under Justice Judith L. French, where he helped research and draft more than 100 published judicial decisions.

For eleven years before founding his firm, Mr. Cousins practiced at an established central Ohio family law firm, building a full-time domestic relations and appellate practice. He handled contested divorces, custody disputes, and post-decree matters at the trial level while maintaining an active appellate docket statewide. In 2026, he founded Cousins Family Law LLC to offer clients a focused, client-centered alternative: a firm built around the combination of trial and appellate experience that divorce and custody cases increasingly demand.

As a practicing attorney, Mr. Cousins has served as lead appellate counsel in more than 100 appeals across Ohio — including before the Supreme Court of Ohio — in family law, criminal, civil, and administrative matters. He is also a published legal author, having written Chapter 27 (Jurisdiction and Venue) and Chapter 32 (Appeals) of Baldwin's Ohio Practice: Domestic Relations Law, the leading Ohio family law treatise.

Mr. Cousins received his Bachelor of Arts in political science from Ohio University in 2005 and his Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School in 2008. During law school, he was a two-time member of the National Moot Court Team, received the 2007 Award for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy, and was inducted into the Order of Barristers National Honors Society. He also earned the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for achieving the highest grade in Trial Advocacy. He has been admitted to practice in Ohio since 2008 and is a member of the Columbus Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.