The Supreme Court of Ohio
& The Ohio Judicial System

Justice
Judith Ann Lanzinger

Jan. 1, 2005 - present
Last day of current term: Dec. 31, 2016

When she was elected the 150^th Supreme Court Justice in 2004, Judith Ann Lanzinger made history by becoming the only person ever elected to all four levels of the Ohio judiciary. She was re-elected to a second six-year term in 2010. Over the last 27 years, she has served on the Supreme Court, the 6^th District Court of Appeals, the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas and the Toledo Municipal Court. This background gives her a wide-ranging perspective to understand how Supreme Court decisions affect the work of all judges in the state.

The granddaughter of coal-miners and daughter of a carpenter, Justice Lanzinger was the first one in her family to attend college. She received a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in education and English from the University of Toledo. She then taught elementary school and started a family before earning a law degree cum laude at the University of Toledo College of Law where she was valedictorian of her class.

Justice Lanzinger practiced civil law with a corporation and then with a Toledo law firm before joining the bench. As a judge, she won scholarships to become one of the first to earn a master's degree in Judicial Studies from the National Judicial College and University of Nevada, Reno. The college recently recognized her for 12 years of faculty service.

The Justice enjoys speaking about the court system to community groups, especially to school children in the Law and Leadership program. She was an adjunct professor for 18 years at her former law school and has taught judicial courses throughout the United States, as well as in the former Soviet Union.

In the spring of 2010, she started a blog, http://justicejudy.blogspot.com, to educate the public about the judiciary. She is Ohio's representative for former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's icivics.org, a national Web site that has a similar intent. She has a special interest in the use of technology and reads and writes Court opinions with the aid of her ever-present laptop.

Justice Lanzinger has performed extra-judicial service in her quarter of a century as a judge. She was first to chair the Supreme Court Commission on the Rules of Superintendence for Ohio Courts. Previously, she served as chairperson and a board member of the Ohio Judicial College. She is a charter member and past president of the Morrison R. Waite American Inn of Court, a group that mentors law students and new attorneys. She also served as co-chair of the Public Education and Awareness Task Force of the Ohio Courts Futures Commission and was a member of the Supreme Court of Ohio Board of Commissioners on Grievances & Discipline, as well as the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission.

Among her awards are the Toledo Junior Bar's Order of the Heel and the Arabella Babb Mansfield Award from the Toledo Women's Bar Association, both given for assistance to young lawyers. Her interests include music and art. She's been an organist and choir director and has performed in the Toledo Junior Bar Association's Gridiron shows in the 80s.

Married for more than 40 years, the Justice and her husband, Robert Lanzinger, live in Toledo and have a daughter, son, and son-in-law, who are all attorneys, and three grandchildren, who keep her well-balanced and enjoying life.

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