Heidi Rosales

(1) List your judicial experience (courts and years)
I have been licensed in the State of Ohio since 1996 and the State of Pennsylvania since 2003. I am also licensed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1997, I moved to Cincinnati to be closer to family and started a solo law practice. My solo practiced consisted mainly of taking appointments in juvenile court, the public defender’s office and the court of appeals. In 1998 I worked as a Guardian Ad Litem in the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office. In 1999 I was hired by the Hamilton County Prosecutor office, where I worked for the next 6 years. At the County Prosecutor’s Office I started in the dependency division and worked my way up to juvenile delinquency, municipal prosecution and finally to felony prosecution. In 2004 I joined a mid-sized law firm in Cincinnati where I worked mainly as a civil litigator but also did criminal defense in federal and local state courts. In 2007 I came back to the public sector where I have spent the bulk of my career. In 2007 I joined the City of Cincinnati Law Department starting out as an Assistant Solicitor, eventually rising to be the interim Chief of the City Prosecutor’s Office and a Senior Assistant Solicitor. I currently defend the City in federal and state court as a Senior Assistant Solicitor in the Labor and Employment Section.

(2) What about your non-judicial legal experience qualifies you to be a judge?
During my career I have served a variety of clients: poor, rich, business owners, those actively suffering addiction, victims of horrific crimes, juveniles and families in crisis, criminal defendants and governmental entities representing the public trust. Understanding how the court system affects each client has led me to have an unbiased, fair and caring approach to the law. For most of my career I have been a trial attorney and litigator. My trial experience along with my extensive and varied experience (both criminal and civil) and my fair and caring approach to the law makes me qualified to be a good judge.

(3) Why are you running for this particular court seat?
I am running for a seat in Hamilton County Common Pleas because I have the experience and because the Court needs judges who have a wide array of experiences. In addition to my varied legal experience outlined above, I bring the perspective of a mother and wife. My husband was born and raised in Mexico and came to Cincinnati to earn his PhD in material science. Our son attends a Cincinnati Public school. The Hamilton County Common Pleas Court has been controlled and dominated by one group for decades. Many of the judges have followed similar paths to the bench and have been on the bench, uncontested, for many years. The citizens of Hamilton County should have judicial candidates from differing backgrounds and legal paths to chose from when deciding who their judges will be.