Don Roberts

Candidate Details

• Residence
  Columbus
• Email
  Vote@DonRobertsForJudge.com
• Website
  donrobertsforjudge.com
• Social Media
  
• Age
  56
• Occupation
  Attorney
• Education
  

  The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law

  The University of Cincinnati, BS (Criminal Justice); AAB (Legal Assist/Paralegal)

• Work Experience
  

  I have experience in maybe the most unconventional path to the bench that I know. In high school, I literally dug ditches and worked as a janitor of an elementary school.  I enlisted in the US Air Force and learned discipline, responsibility, pride in a job well done and immense respect for veterans and the value of the service they offer us. 

  After the military, I actually managed a Waffle House restaurant while waiting for my position on the police force to open up.  There, I learned teamwork on a level never experienced before! As a police officer I came to understand domestic violence, its complexity and the inability of law enforcement to do more than offer a temporary band-aid to this problem. That led me to go back to school and pursue my law degree.  While chasing that dream, I worked construction, loaded freight planes in the night, and worked as a bouncer for a night club as I worked my way through my undergraduate education.  I also worked in the early morning hours as an investigator/paralegal, interviewing recently incarcerated inmates for their assignment to a public defender. I became a bailiff for a municipal court judge who heard cases of domestic violence which furthered my passion to practice family law. I moved to Franklin County to attend law school and worked part-time at night at the Clerk of Courts and paid internships. Upon graduation, I took a position with Lexis Nexis where I sharpened my skills as a research associate.  From there, I moved into a role of attorney at legal aid where I worked exclusively in providing holistic legal services for domestic violence victims.  I was promoted to management and was a team leader and supervisor for additional DV projects and prisoner re-entry programs.  I then stretched my wings into the world of private practice, continuing in the primary focus of family law issues for about 15 years leading me to seek this seat on the bench. 

• Family
  Married for 24 years; I have 4 children. My oldest, has provided a great son-in-law and three grandchildren, my son, Willie passed away two years ago this Christmas of a Fentanyl overdose; my youngest son, is excelling in his third year at the University of Notre Dame and my 18 yr old baby has taught me so much through her life with Down Syndrome
• Affiliations
  

  I have been involved for many years with Special Olympics, Miracle League Baseball, the Down Syndrome Association, Autism Speaks, the Knights of Columbus, and multiple veteran organizations including Honor Flight and Fath Mission volunteer attorney legal services.

  I am a converted Catholic since 1997 and am a parishioner of St. Margaret of Cortona Church.

• Endorsements
  

  Fraternal Order of Police

  Central Ohio Association for Justice (COAJ) - "Recommended"