The Supreme Court of Ohio
& The Ohio Judicial System

Off-Site Court Program

Off-Site Court video

In 1987, Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, Supreme Court of Ohio, wanted to honor the year of the bicentennial of the U. S. Constitution and initiated the educational program, Off-Site Court, which has brought the judiciary live and in person to local communities across Ohio for 24 years.

The Off-Site Court program is designed to educate high school students and other Ohioans throughout the state about Ohio's judicial system.

Twice each year, once in the spring and once in the fall, the Supreme Court of Ohio relocates from the capital city and holds sessions in another community, selecting a different county each time.

When the Supreme Court holds court off-site, public, private and home-schooled high school students from throughout the host county are invited to participate. The students and their teachers are provided with curriculum material to study before the session, including summaries of the specific cases to be argued. Local attorneys team with educators at each participating school to explain Ohio's judicial system and review case materials.

On the morning of the court session, selected students attend a question and answer session with the justices of the Court. Then, students from each participating school attend one of the four oral arguments. After their assigned case has been argued, each group of students meets with the case attorneys for a debriefing.

To date, the Off-Site Court program has enabled 34,955 Ohioans, 28,590 of them students, to personally observe the proceedings of the Supreme Court and interact with justices, attorneys and court staff.

For more information, please contact Julie Manning, Civic Education Section, Supreme Court of Ohio, at 614.387.9223.

A History of Off-Site Court Date City County 4/25/11 Marion Marion 10/19/11 Hillsboro Highland 04/20/11 Cambridge Guernsey 09/29/10 Claude W. Pettit College of Law 125th Anniversary Celebration Hardin 04/21/10 Norwalk Huron 10/21/09 Paulding Paulding 04/22/09 Lisbon Columbiana 10/15/08 Sidney Shelby 05/07/08 Marysville Union 10/10/07 Greenville Darke 04/18/07 Mt. Vernon Knox 10/18/06 Delaware Delaware 04/26/06 Springfield Clark 10/26/05 Lebanon Warren 04/27/05 Cadiz Harrison 09/29/04 Mt. Gilead Morrow 04/28/04 Batavia Clermont 10/22/03 Wilmington Clinton 04/30/03 Chillicothe Ross 10/16/02 Newark Licking 04/24/02 New Lexington Perry 10/17/01 Xenia Greene 04/04/01 Ironton Lawrence 10/18/00 Lancaster Fairfield 04/12/00 Chardon Geauga 10/06/99 Circleville Pickaway 04/21/99 Claude W. Pettit College of Law Hardin 10/14/98 Celina Mercer 04/22/98 Tiffin Seneca 11/05/97 Cleveland-Marshall Law School Cuyahoga 10/22/97 Zanesville Muskingum 04/02/97 Athens Athens 11/13/96 Urbana Champaign 04/17/96 New Philadelphia Tuscarawas 10/25/95 Van Wert Van Wert 04/26/95 Wooster Wayne 10/26/94 Portsmouth Scioto 04/27/94 Findlay Hancock 10/20/93 Troy Miami 04/28/93 Medina Medina 10/14/92 Hamilton Butler 09/16/92 Napoleon Henry 04/29/92 Painesville Lake 03/18/92 Elyria Lorain 10/23/91 Bowling Green Wood 09/25/91 Eaton Preble 05/08/91 St. Clairsville Belmont 04/10/91 Sandusky Erie 10/24/90 Millersburg Holmes 09/19/90 Port Clinton Ottawa 05/09/90 Akron Summit 04/18/90 Gallipolis Gallia 10/18/89 Dayton Montgomery 09/20/89 Ashland Ashland 05/17/89 Wauseon Fulton 04/12/89 Canton Stark 10/26/88 Youngstown Mahoning 09/28/88 Lima Allen 05/11/88 Warren Trumbull 04/20/88 Cleveland Cuyahoga 03/02/88 Cincinnati Hamilton 11/19/87 Toledo Lucas 10/21/87 Marietta Washington

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