Page 8 - December 2019 Bar Journal

COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT ON: JUDICIAL RATINGS COMMITTEE

BE A PARTNER FOR

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT!

John R. Mitchell

T he CMBA’s Judicial Ratings of the judicial ratings process. Simply put, it was with more lawyers who regularly go to court, met
PWFCO_logo1.pdf 1 9/8/2016 4:41:05 PM
time to take a long, hard look at our processes to
Committee, along with the
with the Plain Dealer’s Editorial Board to reaffirm
Norman S. Minor Bar Association,
our community mission, and more.
ensure Judge4Yourself.com is as fair as possible.
the
These changes took time, and all the efforts
As a result of that review, significant changes
Bar
Women’s
Ohio
Association, the Asian-American
Bar Association of Ohio, and the Cuyahoga to the ratings process were made. We revised of the participating bar associations cannot be
our bylaws to require mandatory implicit bias
overstated. Still, these efforts were necessary to
County Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association, training for all members, instituted an electronic ensure the public can rely on Judge4Yourself’s
which make up the Judge4Yourself coalition, rating system to rate candidates that is based upon ratings process. We haven’t done this in a vacuum,
has been hard at work! This non-partisan group objective, clearly-defined criteria, appointed new but have met with numerous local organizations,
has been busy over the last year, as it has been coalition chairs (Judge C. Ellen Connelly and community leaders, stakeholders, and members
engaged in a top-to-bottom analysis and review Darrell Clay), increased our membership roster of the bench in order to explain how these
changes have improved our processes.
Our support is not limited to sweat equity. The
coalition relies on the Partners for Community
Engagement for financial support to publicize
and promote its ratings. This support is critical
to the mission of Judge4Yourself.com — “to
help Cuyahoga County voters elect good
judges.” Please consider becoming a Partner for
Community Engagement. All contributions are
used to maintain the Judge4Yourself website and
to promote the ratings on social and print media.
Your financial support will allow us to further
our mission as the primary election approaches.
Please donate today!

John R. Mitchell is an attorney at
APPELLATE ADVOCACY Thompson Hine, LLP. He is chair of
the Judicial Ratings Committee. He
Chances are your opponent‘s legal team includes a has been a CMBA member since 1996.
He can be reached at (216) 566-5847
certified appellate specialist, yours should too.
or John.Mitchell@ThompsonHine.com.
For over twenty years our firm has been assisting attorneys
with civil, criminal, and administrative appeals and trial court GET ENGAGED!
motion practice across Ohio as well as in the federal system.
Estimates available upon request. For information on how to join the
Judicial Ratings Committee, contact
50 Public Square, Suite 1910, Cleveland, OH 44113 Heather Zirke at (216) 539-5971 or
OFFICE: (216) 344-9393 E-MAIL: pwf@pwfco.com hzirke@clemetrobar.org.

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