Mary Lynn Birck

(1) List your judicial experience (courts and years)
Some of our best appellate court judges in the Twelfth District — Robin Piper and Rachel Hutzel come immediately to mind — did not have judicial experience prior to being elected to the bench. Like Judges Piper and Hutzel, my experience is that of an attorney in the county prosecutor’s office handling a wide variety of maters in lower courts, the Twelfth District, and Supreme Court of Ohio. I also have significant experience in the federal courts, state and federal administrative agencies, and negotiations/mediations.

(2) What about your non-judicial legal experience qualifies you to be a judge?
A love of reading, writing and editing is essential to success as an appellate judge. Unlike judges of other courts, an appellate judge reads briefs and hears arguments on a panel of other judges before crafting a written opinion. Overwhelmingly the most important work of an appellate judge is the writing of clear, well-reasoned, consistent opinions. Attorneys must be able to understand the Court’s interpretations of statutes to be able to render good counsel to their clients, predicting how the Court is likely to rule on matters of interest to the client. My academic and professional love is writing. I am unabashed in my love of being an attorney. I think that few attorneys have the satisfaction in the profession that I have.

I am a life-long resident of the Twelfth District and have been active in the religious, social, political, civic life of the community. My work as an attorney, as a mother, as a wife, as a community member demonstrates a sustained commitment to the place where I was raised and, as an adult, where I have chosen to build a home. I am pleased to enjoy the support of many clients, fellow attorneys (even opposing counsel!), and judges who know the importance of collegiality, professionalism, integrity, impartiality, work ethic. Judicial independence and impartiality, actual and the appearance of, is enormously important to me. I have chosen not to seek any endorsement other than that of the Republican party. I respect the place of special interest groups in our political system, however, I will not accept any contribution from political action committees.

(3) Why are you running for this particular court seat?
As an attorney in Civil Division of the Clermont County Prosecutor’s Office for twenty (25) years, I have had the advantage of being mentored by tremendously talented civil and criminal division colleagues. This is an unusual background; most attorneys specialize in a particular area of the law. The mentoring of my senior colleagues undoubtedly smoothed my path, permitting me to begin with less complicated matters as a new attorney to becoming entrusted with increasingly complicated and important cases. I have far more experience and demonstrated competence trying cases as an attorney in the Twelfth District Court of Appeals than my opponents (19 cases). My most recent case before the Court was a few months ago, an elections matter in which my client was victorious. The most recent case in the Twelfth District Court of Appeals of any of my opponents was 2009. One opponent has only appeared in the Twelfth District Court of Appeals only once. The diversity of my practice differs from my opponents. The cases in which I have appeared in the Twelfth District include construction cases, personal injury, property, mental illness, neglect/abuse of children, elections. I also have significantly more experience in the lower courts (juvenile, domestic relations, probate, common pleas) having hundreds if not thousand cases in my 25 year career.

THIS Court is the Court in which I want to preside as a judge. This position is neither a consolation prize for a gubernatorial appointment that I didn’t get nor a stepping stone to the federal court. The United States is an exceptional country and our exceptionalism would not have been accomplished without our legal system. I will be honored to maintain and advance the exceptional American legal system as a Judge on the Twelfth District Court of Appeals.