Cleveland Law Library Weblog

Ohio Supreme Court Candidates Sign "Clean Campaign Agreement"

All of the candidates running for positions on the Ohio Supreme Court have signed a "Clean Campaign Agreement." The Ohio State Bar Association's Judicial Election Campaign Advertising Monitoring Committee recently announced that Justice Maureen O'Connor, Judge Joseph D. Russo, Judge Peter M. Sikora, and Justice Evelyn L. Stratton have all signed the agreement to take personal responsibility for the contents of their election advertisements and statements. In also requiring these candidates to steer clear of negative campaigning that impunes the judicial system or fellow candidates, the OSBA and its President, Robert Ware, are hoping to instead focus the election on "credentials, judicial temperament and experience...that demonstrate the dignity and respect the office deserves."

Local Judicial Profiles and Info at Judge4Yourself.com

A good place to find biographical information and ratings on local judicial candidates is judge4yourself.com. This site is a service of the Judicial Candidates Rating Coalition (JCRC), which is comprised of The Cleveland Bar Association, The Cuyahoga County Bar Association, The Cuyahoga Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, The Norman S. Minor Bar Association, and The Ohio Women's Bar Association. In anticipation of contested March races, the site has posted information for candidates running for positions in the Court of Common Pleas General Division, the Domestic Relations Court, the Probate Court and the Court of Appeals.

5 Local Muni Court Judges Are Up For Re-Election

The Ohio Judicial Conference has published a list of all Municipal Court judges that are up for re-election on November 6th, by county. There are 2 seats up in Cleveland Municipal Court, 1 in Cleveland's Housing Court, 1 in Parma, and 1 in Rocky River. Click here to go to Judge4yourself.com to review ratings on both the incumbents and the candidates for these offices in Cuyahoga County, as prepared by the Judicial Candidates Rating Coalition.  This site is a joint project of the Cleveland Bar Association, the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, the Cuyahoga Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Norman S. Minor Bar Association, and the Ohio Women's Bar Association.

Columbus to Host Next Ohio Federal Bench/Bar Conference

Columbus will host this year's 4th biennial Ohio Federal Bench/Bar Conference from October 4-5, 2007. Conference planners for the Northern and Southern Ohio federal district courts have an ambitious agenda that will cover criminal law and sentencing, electronic discovery, class actions, employment law, multidistrict litigation, issues relating to jurisdiction, ethics in litigation under the brand new Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct that were effective in February, and court case management.

Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct To Be Reviewed

The Ohio Supreme Court has created a new Task Force on the Code of Judicial Conduct. According to the Court's web site, Justice Moyer created this Task Force to "review the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct in light of recent amendments adopted by the American Bar Association to the Model Code of Judicial Conduct."  More specifically, the Task Force is charged with reviewing, revising and improving the current Code. The Court's news release can be found at the following link. Appointments have already been made, and local members include Judge Colleen Conway Cooney from the 8th District Court of Appeals and Jean M. McQuillan-an attorney from Rocky River, Ohio. Like every other Task Force the Ohio Supreme Court has created in the past few years, information on the activities of this new Task Force  will be periodically posted to the Supreme Court's website at the following link.