Choose a judge with the right experience for common pleas court

By Heather S. Russell

Voters deserve a judge who know what she is doing on DAY ONE on the common pleas bench

There are many areas in which to practice law, but I can state that I have been practicing and presiding over the types of cases that are heard in the common please general division for over 28 years. A judge inherits the docket from his/her predecessor, and there is no on- the- job- training: one judge leaves and another takes over his/her inherited cases the next day.

Whether a candidate's experience comes from prosecution or defense, criminal or civil, there simply is no substitution for experience. There is no better way to gain courtroom experience than as a prosecutor. In 17 years as a Hamilton county assistant prosecutor, I spent 14 of those years in common pleas court every day, prosecuting the very felonies that I now aspire to preside over. For the last 11 years I have been presiding over domestic violence and DUI cases, which are very similar to those charges in common pleas court, and I have been sitting bonds on all felonies, while also presiding over, reviewing and signing off on over 140.00 civil decisions.