Office: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court
Age: 49
Residence: Cleveland Heights, OH
Email: CPMPD@cuyahogacounty.us
Website: https://www.facebook.com/The-Committee-To-Re-Elect-Judge-Michael-P-Donnelly-1639031653023488/timeline
Occupation: Judge
Education: JD Cleveland Marshall College of Law 1992; BA John Carrol University 1988, St. Ignatius High School 1984
Work Experience: Cuyahoga County Prosecutor 1992 -1997, Civil Litigator 1997-2004
Family: Married with two children
Affiliations: Board Member Cleveland Baseball Federation; Board Member Western Reserve Fire Museuml recipient of the William K. Thomas Professionalism Award for Enhancing Professionalism and Ethics in the Greater Cleveland Legal Association from the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, June 5, 2015
Endorsements: N/A
Bar Association Ratings: Excellent
(1) List your judicial experience (courts and years)
I have served as a judge on the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Bench in the General Division since January, 2005. During this time, I have been active on numerous committees in an effort to improve Ohio’s judicial system. I served as Chairman to the Ohio Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism. I am a current Vice President in the Ohio Common Pleas Judge’s Association. I serve on the Ohio Jury Instruction Committee. I am a member of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Bar Examiners.
(2) What about your non-judicial legal experience qualifies you to be a judge?
During my nearly 12 years as a practicing attorney prior to taking the bench, I served as a criminal prosecutor in the General Felony Division of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Officer under the Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones. From 1997 until 2004, I served as a civil litigator primarily in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court during which time I was exposed to nearly every form of litigation which is heard in the Cuyahoga County General Division.
(3) Why are you running for this particular court seat?
I regard the position of being a judge for exactly what it is – a true privilege to serve the citizens of Cuyahoga County and this State. From my days at St. Ignatius High School, I was taught that we were placed on this earth to serve others. As a Cuyahoga County Judge, I have the opportunity to do this on a daily basis with the parties that appear before me. As a judge I believe there is always opportunity to improve the justice system. I firmly believe that when every party in our adversarial system is doing their job correctly, the system will produce just results. The only way to ensure parties are doing their job correctly is to provide the highest degree of transparency possible. For this reason, I try to engage with the parties as much as I can on the record. In civil cases, I am advocating for new procedures which will ensure timely rulings on motions, access to the court for legal argument on the record, and the highest degree of trial date certainty. I also believe that there are procedural improvements we should impose in criminal cases, to ensure that claims of actual innocence for the wrongfully convicted are treated with the highest level of expediency possible. The fact that the system is fallible is not a matter in dispute. Every stakeholder in the process must work extremely hard to avoid the greatest injustice which can occur which is the conviction of the innocent.