Achieving Justice Series - Judge John O'Donnell, Judge Terri Jamison, & Michael C. Mentel

This "Achieving Justice" interview is conducted by Judge Jennifer Brunner, currently a judge of Ohio's Tenth District Court of Appeals and candidate for Ohio Supreme Court. Judge Brunner is a candidate for the Ohio Supreme Court in 2020. In her eleventh interview of this series, she, along with fellow Ohio Supreme Court candidate, John O'Donnell, interview two Ohioans who are committed to public service, including Judge Terri Jamison of Franklin County's Domestic Relations Division of the Common Pleas Court, who is running to serve on the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals, and former Columbus City Council President, Michael C. Mentel, an experienced attorney in both the public and private sectors, currently with Taft, Stettinius, and Hollister law firm in Columbus, Ohio.

Judge John P. O’Donnell currently serves on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. He was first elected to that role in 2002, and subsequently re-elected by the citizens of Cuyahoga County in 2006 and 2012. The Cuyahoga County court is one of Ohio’s busiest, and during that time Judge O’Donnell presided over scores of jury trials in felony criminal cases and civil lawsuits. In 2008, Judge O’Donnell was selected by the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court to be one of only eight trial court judges in the state to preside over a commercial docket devoted strictly to business litigation. He has been responsible for over 2,000 commercial cases while still handling all other varieties of civil lawsuits and a felony criminal docket. He is the author of over one hundred judicial opinions.

Judge O’Donnell attended St. Joseph High School in Cleveland, Miami University in Oxford, and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Judge O’Donnell has served on the boards of several Northeast Ohio non-profit organizations, including the St. Malachi Center, the Cleveland Law Library Association, the Cuyahoga County Law Library Resource Board and Lakewood City Academy. He and his wife are raising five children in Lakewood.

Judge Terri Jamison was born and raised in Welch, WV. After coming to Columbus, she trained through the CETA program to enter the workforce. She worked hard and, being a natural entrepreneur, eventually started her own insurance agency with Allstate Insurance, owning and operating it for more than 16 years. After returning to college and completing her degree at Franklin University, she sold her insurance agency and entered Capital University Law School, earning a Juris Doctor degree. While in law school, she interned with ODJFS at the Bureau of State Hearings, was an extern in the Ohio Attorney General's Office, Civil Rights Section, and her last internship was in the Franklin County Public Defender's Common Pleas, General Division. She was employed as an Assistant Franklin County Public Defender before starting her own firm, Jamison Law Offices, Co. LPA.

In 2012, she ran for the first time successfully to win a seat on the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division. Committed to developing new strategies to empower the families of Franklin County, Judge Jamison was successfully re-elected in 2018 by a 60% to 40% margin to her second term. Judge Jamison has always had a policy of allowing litigants into the courtroom to be heard.

Michael C. Mentel is an attorney in private practice with Taft, Stettinius, and Hollister in Columbus. Having been licensed as an attorney for decades, Mike focuses his practice in the areas of renewable energy, environmental law, regulatory compliance, government relations and contract law. He also holds significant public service experience as the former Columbus City Council President and has represented a wide variety of clients in both private and public sectors for nearly 30 years.

He has helped corporate and government clients navigate energy and environmental compliance issues while providing advice on how to avoid such issues in the future. He has negotiated with private and public organizations to form partnerships, advance the implementation of renewable energy projects, and assisted clients with navigating the state and federal regulations to further those projects.

In addition to serving in the private sector as corporate general counsel to large environmental consulting firms and as chief legal officer to the largest solid waste authority in Ohio, Mike served as a supervising attorney to the Ohio EPA, overseeing the enforcement of Ohio’s remediation and superfund sites. He negotiated Administrative Consent Orders on behalf of the agency to resolve remedial liability for hazardous substance disposal violations at sites in Ohio, among other notable professional accomplishments.

Judge Jennifer Brunner's website: http://www.jenniferbrunner.com

Judge John P. O’Donnell’s website: https://odonnellforjustice.com/

Judge Terri Jamison’s website: https://www.votejudgejamison.com/

Michael C. Mentel’s website: https://www.taftlaw.com/people/michae...