Ohio State Bar Association recognizes excellence in the profession at its virtual Annual Meeting
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Ohio State Bar Association-
On Friday, May 14, the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) recognized excellence in the legal profession at its 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting.
The event included the presentation of the Ohio Bar Medal – the OSBA’s highest honor – to Judge Mary Jane Trapp of the 11th District Court of Appeals.
In addition, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody Stewart received the OSBA Women in the Profession Section’s Nettie Cronise Lutes Award. The OSBA’s Eugene Weir Award for Ethics and Professionalism went to Cleveland attorney Karen E. Rubin, and the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation presented its Presidential Award to Janica Pierce Tucker of Columbus.
The Ohio Bar Medal is the OSBA’s highest honor, awarded to those who have given unselfishly of their time and talent by taking prominent leadership roles on the bench and in the organized bar and who have worked quietly to earn the deep admiration and respect of their colleagues and their community.
Judge Mary Jane Trapp serves as presiding judge of the 11th District Court of Appeals of Ohio where she returned to the bench in February 2019, having previously served six years as a judge on the court of appeals from 2007 to 2013.
Judge Trapp is a leader at the state and national level when it comes to issues of administration of justice and legal reform. She has served on nine Supreme Court of Ohio commissions, committees and task forces to develop policy for the bench and bar and served on Ohio Judicial Conference and College committees, including continuing service on the Ohio Jury Instructions Board of Editors and the Appellate Law and Procedure Committee.
Judge Trapp served as 2001-2002 OSBA President, becoming the second woman to serve in the role. She is well-known throughout the state for her commitment to service and her dedication to lifting up other women and minorities in the legal profession, having previously been honored with two of the awards mentioned here — the OSBA’s Nettie Cronise Lutes Award and the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation’s Presidential Award for Pro Bono Service. She has also been awarded the Southeast Ohio Food Bank Community Service Award, the Ohio Women’s Bar Association Founder’s Award, the Lake County Democratic Women’s Club Woman of the Year award, the Women's Leadership Council award from United Way Services of Geauga County and the McGregor Foundation Inspire Award.
Judge Trapp is a Columbus School for Girls’ Alumna of the Year and the first Ohio Court of Appeals judge to be awarded a Henry Toll Fellowship by the Council of State Governments. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and received her law degree from Case Western Reserve University.
The OSBA Women in the Profession Section created the Nettie Cronise Lutes Award to recognize women lawyers who demonstrate a high level of professionalism and open doors for other women and girls. The award commemorates the first woman to practice law in Ohio.
Justice Melody Stewart was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in November 2018 and is serving a full term as the 161st justice on the state’s high court. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Justice Stewart served on the 8th District Court of Appeals.
Justice Stewart has more than 30 years of combined administrative, legal and academic experience. She has worked as an administrator for a health care management company, a music teacher, a civil defense litigator, a law school administrator and a professor before being elected to the court of appeals. She is the first African American woman to be elected to the Ohio Supreme Court.
After practicing law as an assistant law director for the cities of Cleveland and East Cleveland, Justice Stewart worked as a lecturer, an adjunct instructor and an assistant dean at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law before joining the full-time faculty. She has also taught at the University of Toledo College of Law and Ursuline College.
Justice Stewart has served on the Ohio Criminal Justice Recodification Committee and the Ohio Supreme Court’s Judicial College board. She served as chair of the Ohio Capital Case Attorney Fee Council and as a commissioner and chair of the Board of Planning and Zoning for the city of Euclid.
Justice Stewart earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati; her law degree as a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, and her Ph.D. as a Mandel Leadership Fellow at Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. She was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Cleveland State University.
The OSBA?Board of Governors?established the Weir Award in 1998 to honor the memory of Eugene R. Weir, a former member of the board. Weir championed improvements in lawyer regulation and strongly advocated for professionalism and legal ethics. Each year this award is given to one lawyer who has worked to promote and uphold legal professionalism and ethics.
Karen E. Rubin serves as counsel for the firm of Thompson Hine in Cleveland. She is a member of the firm’s business litigation practice group, focusing her practice on a wide variety of litigation issues.
Rubin practices, teaches and writes in the area of professional responsibility, including malpractice and legal ethics. She is the chair of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association's Ethics Committee and a past chair of the association's Certified Grievance Committee, which investigates allegations of attorney misconduct. In 2020, she was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to its Commission on Professionalism and she is a member and past chair of the OSBA’s Ethics Committee.
Rubin has authored several ethics opinions interpreting the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys, and she serves as an adjunct professor of law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, teaching legal ethics. Rubin is co-editor of her firm’s award-winning legal ethics blog, “The Law for Lawyers Today,” which has twice been named as a top law blog by the American Bar Association Journal.
Rubin earned her undergraduate degree from Cleveland State University and her law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation (formerly the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation) established the Presidential Award in 1996 to recognize individuals, law firms or organizations that have made outstanding efforts in improving access to justice in Ohio.
Janica Pierce Tucker is partner-in-charge of the Taft Columbus office where she focuses her practice on representing clients in all aspects of employment and labor law and serves on the firm’s executive committee and as co-chair of Taft’s firm-wide diversity and inclusion committee. She is a prolific speaker and authority on labor and employment law, having advised employers and educational institutions, and is Title IX certified, providing training and investigations in discrimination cases.
In 2013, Pierce Tucker joined the Legal Aid Society of Columbus board of directors and stepped into the role of board chair in 2019, eventually leading the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a 2018 fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a past president of Women Lawyers of Franklin County and has served on the OSBA Council of Delegates and as a member of the association’s Labor and Employment Law Section Council.
She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee and her law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
The OSBA awards are part of the OSBA Annual Meeting, which includes the association’s annual General Assembly for conducting OSBA business, as well as the meeting of the OSBA Council of Delegates, which sets public policy priorities for the association based upon the proposals of the association’s committees and sections, who specialize in specific practice areas.
The Ohio State Bar Association, founded in 1880, is a voluntary association representing approximately 28,000 members of the bench and bar of Ohio. Through its activities and the activities of its related organizations, the OSBA serves both its members and the public by promoting the highest standards in the practice of law and the administration of justice.
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The event included the presentation of the Ohio Bar Medal – the OSBA’s highest honor – to Judge Mary Jane Trapp of the 11th District Court of Appeals.
In addition, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody Stewart received the OSBA Women in the Profession Section’s Nettie Cronise Lutes Award. The OSBA’s Eugene Weir Award for Ethics and Professionalism went to Cleveland attorney Karen E. Rubin, and the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation presented its Presidential Award to Janica Pierce Tucker of Columbus.
The Ohio Bar Medal is the OSBA’s highest honor, awarded to those who have given unselfishly of their time and talent by taking prominent leadership roles on the bench and in the organized bar and who have worked quietly to earn the deep admiration and respect of their colleagues and their community.
Judge Mary Jane Trapp serves as presiding judge of the 11th District Court of Appeals of Ohio where she returned to the bench in February 2019, having previously served six years as a judge on the court of appeals from 2007 to 2013.
Judge Trapp is a leader at the state and national level when it comes to issues of administration of justice and legal reform. She has served on nine Supreme Court of Ohio commissions, committees and task forces to develop policy for the bench and bar and served on Ohio Judicial Conference and College committees, including continuing service on the Ohio Jury Instructions Board of Editors and the Appellate Law and Procedure Committee.
Judge Trapp served as 2001-2002 OSBA President, becoming the second woman to serve in the role. She is well-known throughout the state for her commitment to service and her dedication to lifting up other women and minorities in the legal profession, having previously been honored with two of the awards mentioned here — the OSBA’s Nettie Cronise Lutes Award and the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation’s Presidential Award for Pro Bono Service. She has also been awarded the Southeast Ohio Food Bank Community Service Award, the Ohio Women’s Bar Association Founder’s Award, the Lake County Democratic Women’s Club Woman of the Year award, the Women's Leadership Council award from United Way Services of Geauga County and the McGregor Foundation Inspire Award.
Judge Trapp is a Columbus School for Girls’ Alumna of the Year and the first Ohio Court of Appeals judge to be awarded a Henry Toll Fellowship by the Council of State Governments. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and received her law degree from Case Western Reserve University.
The OSBA Women in the Profession Section created the Nettie Cronise Lutes Award to recognize women lawyers who demonstrate a high level of professionalism and open doors for other women and girls. The award commemorates the first woman to practice law in Ohio.
Justice Melody Stewart was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in November 2018 and is serving a full term as the 161st justice on the state’s high court. Prior to joining the Supreme Court, Justice Stewart served on the 8th District Court of Appeals.
Justice Stewart has more than 30 years of combined administrative, legal and academic experience. She has worked as an administrator for a health care management company, a music teacher, a civil defense litigator, a law school administrator and a professor before being elected to the court of appeals. She is the first African American woman to be elected to the Ohio Supreme Court.
After practicing law as an assistant law director for the cities of Cleveland and East Cleveland, Justice Stewart worked as a lecturer, an adjunct instructor and an assistant dean at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law before joining the full-time faculty. She has also taught at the University of Toledo College of Law and Ursuline College.
Justice Stewart has served on the Ohio Criminal Justice Recodification Committee and the Ohio Supreme Court’s Judicial College board. She served as chair of the Ohio Capital Case Attorney Fee Council and as a commissioner and chair of the Board of Planning and Zoning for the city of Euclid.
Justice Stewart earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati; her law degree as a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, and her Ph.D. as a Mandel Leadership Fellow at Case Western Reserve University’s Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. She was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Cleveland State University.
The OSBA?Board of Governors?established the Weir Award in 1998 to honor the memory of Eugene R. Weir, a former member of the board. Weir championed improvements in lawyer regulation and strongly advocated for professionalism and legal ethics. Each year this award is given to one lawyer who has worked to promote and uphold legal professionalism and ethics.
Karen E. Rubin serves as counsel for the firm of Thompson Hine in Cleveland. She is a member of the firm’s business litigation practice group, focusing her practice on a wide variety of litigation issues.
Rubin practices, teaches and writes in the area of professional responsibility, including malpractice and legal ethics. She is the chair of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association's Ethics Committee and a past chair of the association's Certified Grievance Committee, which investigates allegations of attorney misconduct. In 2020, she was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to its Commission on Professionalism and she is a member and past chair of the OSBA’s Ethics Committee.
Rubin has authored several ethics opinions interpreting the Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys, and she serves as an adjunct professor of law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, teaching legal ethics. Rubin is co-editor of her firm’s award-winning legal ethics blog, “The Law for Lawyers Today,” which has twice been named as a top law blog by the American Bar Association Journal.
Rubin earned her undergraduate degree from Cleveland State University and her law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation (formerly the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation) established the Presidential Award in 1996 to recognize individuals, law firms or organizations that have made outstanding efforts in improving access to justice in Ohio.
Janica Pierce Tucker is partner-in-charge of the Taft Columbus office where she focuses her practice on representing clients in all aspects of employment and labor law and serves on the firm’s executive committee and as co-chair of Taft’s firm-wide diversity and inclusion committee. She is a prolific speaker and authority on labor and employment law, having advised employers and educational institutions, and is Title IX certified, providing training and investigations in discrimination cases.
In 2013, Pierce Tucker joined the Legal Aid Society of Columbus board of directors and stepped into the role of board chair in 2019, eventually leading the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a 2018 fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a past president of Women Lawyers of Franklin County and has served on the OSBA Council of Delegates and as a member of the association’s Labor and Employment Law Section Council.
She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee and her law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
The OSBA awards are part of the OSBA Annual Meeting, which includes the association’s annual General Assembly for conducting OSBA business, as well as the meeting of the OSBA Council of Delegates, which sets public policy priorities for the association based upon the proposals of the association’s committees and sections, who specialize in specific practice areas.
The Ohio State Bar Association, founded in 1880, is a voluntary association representing approximately 28,000 members of the bench and bar of Ohio. Through its activities and the activities of its related organizations, the OSBA serves both its members and the public by promoting the highest standards in the practice of law and the administration of justice.
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