Terri Jamison

(1) List your judicial experience (courts and years)
Franklin County Domestic Relations – Juvenile Court (7 years and 2 months)

(2) What about your non-judicial legal experience qualifies you to be a judge?
I owned/managed a multi-line insurance company for 16 years. I hired, trained and retained qualified staff. I negotiated contracts for space, telephones, computers, advertisement for my agency.

As a Franklin County Public Defender and in my own practice, Jamison Law Offices, I represented accused persons during criminal and juvenile delinquency investigative proceedings, such as, attended police line-ups and monitored physical examinations, DNA collection, (finger-nail scraping and blood, urine), and DNA testing; interviewed witnesses and gathered facts to prepare the client’s defense; drafted motions to set bail hearings and arranged posting of bond to allow the client to be conditionally released pending trial; represented accused persons in all court appearances leading to trial in felony, misdemeanor and traffic cases and domestic cases; drafted motions for pretrial discovery and suppression; appeared at pretrial conferences with judges and prosecutors to find common ground and negotiated deals; conducted voir dire in jury selection, made opening statements, examined witnesses, presented evidence to judges and juries, and made closing arguments at the conclusion of trial; conducted legal research to prepare for court appearances; and filed notice of appeal and drafted appellate briefs and presented oral argument before the appellate court.

I was a hearing officer for the State of Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission. i conducted administrative law hearings for both Lower Authority & Higher Authority, including hearings in complex areas of law to determine why an individual was separated from employment; determined whether an individual is entitled to unemployment benefits; explained hearing procedure & advises parties of their rights, administers oath & oversees taking of testimony, secures stipulations, answers questions, interprets policy and procedure, rules on motions and objections, and determines admissibility of evidence; conducted legal research in preparation for hearings (e.g., reviews all materials from the Lower Authority proceedings & Director’s files & all additional documents & exhibits, ensures that parties & issues are correctly identified & notified), confers with parties regarding scheduling & continuances, authorizes issuance of subpoenas; and wrote decisions (e.g., reviews evidence, researches legal issues, types or dictates decisions).

I oversee a special program called Compass which I developed in 2014 in Collaborative Partnership with Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency. Compass connects Unemployed Child Support Obligors with Community Partners for Education, Resume Building, Job Training and Job Placement which has saved the community hundreds of thousands of dollars when litigants are not incarcerated.

(3) Why are you running for this particular court seat?
The Court of Appeals is a court of last resort for most litigants. Fairness, access to justice, protection of the Constitutional Rights of litigants is paramount. Issuing non-biased opinions is critical when your decisions affect every court in the County. Franklin County has a diverse population and the court should reflect the population that it serves not only in race or ethnicity. The Court needs to have judges that bring diverse work and legal experiences to be more able to understand the legal arguments before the Court.

The Court of Appeals also handles actions that require governmental agencies to act or to refrain from acting, particularly in elections. Access to fair elections is before this Court regularly. Access to fair elections not only comprises the right to vote but the right of candidates to be on the ballot. Access to the ballot gives the voters the right to select their office holders. Franklin County is the seat of government and the opinions issued can be persuasive to other appellate divisions across the State of Ohio.

Franklin County has unique population makeup and as such will have unique questions of law. The Court has the obligation to be a check and balance on the power of the Legislative Branch. The judicial interpretation of the law must be consistent and non-discriminatory. I bring knowledge of the law, and particularly of trial law, as I have had numerous jury trials in various counties. I have used my strong interpersonal skills to effectively oversee complex cases involving adversarial lawyers and powerful emotions among all concerned parties in Domestic and Juvenile Court. I am impartial and use the skill of being able to recognize my own prejudices so that I am not unduly swayed by them. Any person that says they have no implicit bias has bias that is unchecked.

My years of experience as a small business owner have assisted me in understanding the division of assets/liabilities and the tax ramifications. I have worked within a corporate structure and understand how dissolution of companies impacts the parties taxes and personal lives. All decisions in Domestic Juvenile Court are written. I bring strong research and writing skills to the Court of Appeals where decisions should be easily understood even by a lay person. I am the person to give an opportunity to be heard to every litigant that appears before me.