Office: For Judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division
Term Beginning 1/3/2021
Age: 37
Residence: Dublin
Email: hannaforjudge@gmail.com
Website: www.hannaforjudge.com
Social Media:
facebook.com/hannaforjudge
Occupation: Attorney
Education: J.D. – University of Toledo, College of Law; B.A. – Michigan State University
Work Experience: I have been an attorney for the past 12 years, serving as a prosecutor, staff attorney, magistrate, and small business owner.
Family: Married; mom to 2 toddlers; step-mom to 2 teenagers
Affiliations:
Endorsements:
Bar Association Ratings:
(1) List your judicial experience (courts and years)
I have served as an Appointed Magistrate in the Domestic Relations/Juvenile Court (2012-2013).
(2) What about your non-judicial legal experience qualifies you to be a judge?
I have significant experience in domestic relations/juvenile court as well as other positions that directly impact this role. I have served as a staff attorney to a domestic relations/juvenile judge where I have drafted hundreds of decisions and managed a busy docket. I have experience as a prosecutor, solo practitioner, and business owner. I am also a step-parent and know firsthand the complexities of parenting arrangements and how this court has a major impact on family decisions. All these experiences allow me to uniquely understand the needs of the parties that come before the Court.
(3) Why are you running for this particular court seat?
I believe in the families and children of Franklin County and I know I can make a difference.
Compassion. I have a high level of compassion and desire to do more with this position other than process cases. I intend to use this position to truly impact our community outside of the courtroom walls — we need to see our judges in the community and we need to see the community in the courtroom learning about what goes on there. I also intend to use this position to mentor, encourage, and motivate the people that come before me to leave stronger than they came. Understanding that many juveniles will come before me and their interaction with the court can truly make or break their future, I will bring a high level of compassion to this role. Further, I will make sure that I and my staff are continuously trained on our implicit biases so we can identify them and learn ways to make sure they do not creep into our decision-making.
Work Ethic. I will bring a very strong work ethic to this position that will allow parties to get timely decisions so they can move forward with their lives. This Court is the busiest in the state and I am running for a seat that was created to help alleviate the high caseloads. My staff and I will answer our phones every time we hear them ring, respond to emails and voice mails, and do our very best to be timely and work full days. Families depend on the decisions that come out of this court.
Innovation. I will bring a fresh perspective and new ideas for how we can move cases along and give people the decisions they are looking for. Especially with the pandemic, courts are backlogged. I have several ideas for ways we can move things along — Saturday Court, continuing to have remote hearings in some cases, implement processes to make sure dissolution and uncontested divorce paperwork is completed ahead of time to ensure resolution at the time of the hearing; allowing attorneys and clients to be present virtually when possible.