The Value of a Great Brief
Preparation and Reviewing the Record
Self-study, moots, and research
Goals, themes and philosophy of oral argument
Simplifying the Issue(s) and Argument
Listening and Responding to the Judge
Types of questions: hypotheticals, doctrine, record, and more
The ideal form of an answer
Applicable Rules and Courtroom Conduct
Views from the Bench
Presenters:
Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio in November 2022. She is the eleventh Chief Justice and the second woman to serve in the role. Chief Justice Kennedy first joined the court as a justice in 2012, having been elected to fill an unexpired term. She was elected to her first full term in November 2014 and re-elected in November 2020.
Prior to her term on the Ohio Supreme Court, Chief Justice Kennedy served at the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division beginning in 1999. From 2005 until December of 2012, Chief Justice Kennedy served as the administrative judge of that division. During her time as administrative judge, she improved the case management system to ensure the timely resolution of cases for families and children. Working with state legislators she championed a "common sense" family law initiative to reduce multiple-forum litigation for Butler County families.
Throughout her career Chief Justice Kennedy has served on numerous boards, developed and facilitated programs to address the needs of young people, and worked with judges across the state. As a dedicated jurist she has received multiple awards of recognition including: The AMVETS Department of Ohio 2018 Past Department Commanders' Civil Servant of the Year Award; The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution Silver Good Citizenship Medal, May 5, 2018; Leadership Ohio Community Leadership Award, 2016; The University of Cincinnati College of Law Nicholas Longworth, III Alumni Achievement Award, May 17, 2014; Northwest High School Distinguished Alumnus Award, April 25, 2014; named one of 13 professional women to watch by The Cincinnati Enquirer, March 17, 2013; Excellence in Public Service, June 2009; Judge of the Year, 2006; Above the Fold Award, 2002; and the Furtherance of Justice Award, 2001. Justice Kennedy was also featured in Trends in the Judiciary: Interviews with Judges Across the Globe, Volume II, published by CRC Press in February 2015.
Justice Jennifer Brunner serves as one of seven justices of the Ohio Supreme Court. She was elected in 2020, and began her term Jan. 2, 2021.
From 2014 through 2020, Justice Brunner served as an elected state appeals court judge of the Tenth District Court of Appeals located in Franklin County, Ohio. She previously served as a Franklin County Common Pleas judge from 2000 through 2005, founding its adult felony drug court, the TIES Program (Treatment is Essential to Success), still in operation today.
Justice Brunner served as Ohio’s first female Secretary of State from 2007 – 2011, overseeing the first election of President Barack Obama in 2008. In 2008, then-Secretary Brunner received the bipartisan John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her public service. The award recognizes “a public official (or officials) at the federal, state, or local level whose actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership.” She is the first of two Ohioans to have received the award. In 2010, Justice Brunner was a candidate for the United States Senate in the Democratic primary election. In 2022 she was the Democratic nominee for Chief Justice.
Justice Brunner holds 17 years’ private law practice experience, having founded her own law firm in 1988 after gaining experience as an associate in a Cleveland law firm and clerking for several law firms as a law student. Justice Brunner’s solo and law firm private practice was centered in election and government law, including campaign finance and election litigation. She also has assisted clients with legislative and rule drafting, multi-state and federal FCC telecom compliance for providing low-income cellular service, computer law and government contracting, criminal appellate work, and general litigation. She served as the administrative partner of her law firm for six years.
Justice Brunner spent her formative and adult years in Columbus. She graduated from Columbus public schools, from college at Miami University, with a degree in sociology-gerontology, cum laude, and from law school at Capital University Law School, in Columbus, with honors.
Justice Patrick F. Fischer began his first six-year term on the Supreme Court of Ohio on Jan. 1, 2017, following his election in November 2016. Then in November 2022, Justice Patrick F. Fischer was reelected to a second term. Previously, he had been twice elected to serve as a judge on the First District Court of Appeals.
Justice Fischer has dedicated himself to the rule of law for 40 years. An honors graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College, he tried cases throughout the country, and was named to Best Lawyers in America, Top 50 Lawyers in Cincinnati, and Top 100 Lawyers in Ohio. He was routinely named to Ohio Super Lawyers.
A respected member of the legal community, then-Judge Fischer served as president of the Ohio State Bar Association from 2012 to 2013, and previously served on its Board of Governors, chaired its budget and headquarters committee, and served on numerous other of the Association’s committees and task forces, and in its House of Delegates. Justice Fischer also has served two terms on the board of the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program. He was elected by his peers as president of the Cincinnati Bar Association for 2006 through 2007 and served on numerous CBA committees.
Michael Hendershot currently serves as Chief Deputy Solicitor in the Appeals Section of Ohio Attorney General’s Office. His practice there focuses on Ohio Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, and Sixth Circuit matters. Before joining the Attorney General, he was in private practice with the Vorys law firm, where he practiced appellate and general litigation. Before Vorys, he clerked for Justice Terrence O’Donnell at the Ohio Supreme Court, worked at a law firm in Phoenix, and clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Mike is a past chair of the OSBA Appellate Practice Committee and currently serves on the board that certifies lawyers as appellate specialists. Mike also teaches appellate law as an adjunct professor at the Moritz College of law and has argued more than 25 cases before the Ohio Supreme Court.
1.50 CLE Credit Hours