Solicitor General of Ohio
Encyclopedia
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...
or lawyer for the U.S. State of Ohio. It is an appointed position in the Office of the Ohio Attorney General
Ohio Attorney General
The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio Attorney General is Mike DeWine.-History:...
that focuses on the office's major appellate cases. The majority of the cases handled by the Solicitor are argued in the United States Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Ohio
Supreme Court of Ohio
The Supreme Court of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, each serving six-year terms...
. However some cases within the Solicitor's responsibilities are under the jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
of the United States Court of Appeals
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
for the 6th Circuit and the state appellate courts. The Solicitor represents the Attorney General of Ohio before the Supreme Court of Ohio
Supreme Court of Ohio
The Supreme Court of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, each serving six-year terms...
and other appellate courts, as needed. She (and her assistants) write most of the amicus briefs filed by the Ohio attorney general’s office.
History
The position was created in 1993 by Ohio Attorney General Lee FisherLee Fisher
Lee Fisher was the 64th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, who served with Governor Ted Strickland from 2007 until 2011.He is a member of the Democratic Party.In addition to serving as Lt...
and was first filled by Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray is an American politician of the Democratic Party who last served as the Attorney General of Ohio. He has been chosen to run the enforcement division of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which officially began operating in July 2011...
. It is a similar position to Solicitors in many states and is modeled after the United States Solicitor General
United States Solicitor General
The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
. By 2003, twenty-nine states had Solicitors General, although only eight had them fifteen years earlier. Initially, the Solicitor had no support staff except a secretary. In 1999, two "associate solicitors" began to work with the state solicitor in the attorney general’s office with an exclusive focus on appellate litigation. In addition to the solicitor and his assistants, The Simon Karas Fellowship program which was instituted in 2000, supports one lawyer each year to focus on appellate litigation soon after completion of law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
or a judicial clerkship. It is not a statutory position in Ohio, but since April 2002 the Supreme Court of Ohio
Supreme Court of Ohio
The Supreme Court of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a chief justice and six associate justices, each serving six-year terms...
has recognized it in its rules. In the first ten years of the position, three former United States Supreme Court Clerks held the appointment.
The Solicitor does not always argue constitutional law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
. Cordray, who served under then-Attorney General Lee Fisher until Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery is an American politician from the state of Ohio. A Republican, she formerly served as Ohio State Auditor.-Prosecutor:...
won the position in 1994, argued a technical criminal case on Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
day in 1993 when the post was created.
Most states' attorneys general offices have had separate divisions with chiefs specializing in state and federal appellate works. Organizing the department with a separate solicitor general is a model that states are using in attempt to promote the professionalism and quality of the work. This strategy generally gives the attorney general more of specialist who may be somewhat of a legal scholar on staff. Also, the solicitor is typically someone who was not involved in the attorney general's campaign and is thus someone who is more likely to offer a different perspective than other lawyers who are entrenched in the department.
List of Solicitors
The Solicitor was Alexandra T. Schimmer.The following is a table of Ohio State Solicitors.
{| class="wikitable"
! Years
! Ohio State Solicitor
! Ohio Attorney General
|-
| 1993–1994||Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray is an American politician of the Democratic Party who last served as the Attorney General of Ohio. He has been chosen to run the enforcement division of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which officially began operating in July 2011...
||Lee Fisher
Lee Fisher
Lee Fisher was the 64th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, who served with Governor Ted Strickland from 2007 until 2011.He is a member of the Democratic Party.In addition to serving as Lt...
|-
| 1995–1998||Jeffrey Sutton
Jeffrey Sutton
Jeffrey S. Sutton is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.- Early life :Sutton received his B.A. from Williams College in 1983...
||Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery is an American politician from the state of Ohio. A Republican, she formerly served as Ohio State Auditor.-Prosecutor:...
|-
| ||Edward Foley||Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery is an American politician from the state of Ohio. A Republican, she formerly served as Ohio State Auditor.-Prosecutor:...
|-
| ||David Gormley
David Gormley
David Gormley is a Scottish footballer .He moved into the senior game with Ayr United after his move from junior football from Ayrshire side Glenafton Athletic.Gormley also had a loan spell with Albion Rovers....
||Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery
Betty Montgomery is an American politician from the state of Ohio. A Republican, she formerly served as Ohio State Auditor.-Prosecutor:...
|-
| ||Douglas Cole||Jim Petro
Jim Petro
James M. “Jim” Petro is an American politician from the Republican Party, and a former Ohio Attorney General. Previously, Petro also served as Ohio State Auditor. Petro was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Ohio during the 2006 Ohio Primaries, but lost to Ken Blackwell...
|-
| ||Bill Marshall||Marc Dann
Marc Dann
Marc Dann Marc Dann Marc Dann (born March 12, 1962, in Evanston, Illinois, is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1984 from the University of Michigan and a law degree in 1987 from Case Western Reserve University, and practiced law in Youngstown,...
|-
| ||Benjamin C. Mizer||Nancy H. Rogers
Nancy H. Rogers
Nancy Hardin Rogers is a former Attorney General of Ohio, a former Dean of the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and the current holder of the Michael E. Moritz Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution at the Moritz College of Law....
Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray
Richard Cordray is an American politician of the Democratic Party who last served as the Attorney General of Ohio. He has been chosen to run the enforcement division of the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which officially began operating in July 2011...
|-
| ||Alexandra Schimmer||Mike DeWine
|-
|-