Darrel Bilancini
For Judge of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas General Division
Full Term Beginning 1/3/2023
Candidate Details
- Residence
Avon Lake - Email
Info@BilanciniForJudge.com - Website
bilanciniforjudge.com - Social Media
facebook.com/BilanciniForJudge - Age
68 - Occupation
Judge -- Avon Lake Municipal Court (2006--present) - Education
J.D. Cleveland Marshall College of Law (1978)
- Work Experience
Lorain County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, Magistrate (1979-1981); Savoy and Bilancini, Attorneys at Law (1981-2014); Avon Lake Municipal Court, Judge (2006--present)
- Family
Married to Cindy Bilancini (42 years) with 3 adult children - Affiliations
St. Joseph Parish, Avon Lake (1985--present); Avon Lake Kiwanis Club (2003--present), President (2013); Avon/Avon Lake Community Resource Services, board of directors (2006-2011); Lorain County Bar Association (1981--present); Charter Review Commission, City of Avon Lake (2003).
- Endorsements
TBD
- Bar Association Ratings
"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED" -- Lorain County Bar Association 2022 poll of judicial candidates for Lorain County Court of Common Pleas, General Division
Darrel Bilancini
Question 1
List your judicial experience (courts and years)
Avon Lake Municipal Court, ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE: 17th year (2006 to present). In addition to his elected judicial experience, Bilancini has served as a referee in the Lorain County Juvenile Court (1979-1981), acting magistrate in the Elyria Municipal Court (2004-2005), and for over 10 years as mediator and arbitrator in the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas, general division.
Abbreviated Candidate AnswersAvon Lake Municipal Court, ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE: 17th year (2006 to present). In addition to his elected judicial experience, Bilancini has served as a referee in the Lorain County Juvenile Court (1979-1981), acting magistrate in the Elyria Municipal Court (2004-2005), and for over 10 years as mediator and arbitrator in the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas, general division.
Question 2
What non-judicial legal experience qualifies you to be a judge?
Judge Bilancini is very active in his community where he has served on the 2003 Avon Lake Charter Review Commission, as a cast member for seven shows of the non-profit community theater group – Mighty Goliath Productions, in a five-year term on the board of Avon/Avon Lake Community Resource Services, as a 17-year member and 8-year board member of the Avon Lake Kiwanis Club, for 14 years with the Avon Lake Soccer Association, and as a volunteer head-coach for 14 years in both the Avon Lake Softball League and St. Joseph CYO girls basketball teams. Bilancini has devoted service time to his parish, Avon Lake St. Joseph Catholic Church, where in 1999 as a member of the St. Joseph Building Committee he helped plan the construction of their new church. He has served for over 30 years as a minister of holy communion and as a member and soloist in their senior choir. In 2008 Bilancini initiated an ongoing parish ministry at St. Joseph that video-records weekly masses to play daily on local cable television. Since March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid19 shutdown at St. Joseph, that three-person ministry has been in place to internet livestream all of the daily and weekend masses to its parishioners and others.
Abbreviated Candidate AnswersJudge Bilancini is very active in his community where he has served on the 2003 Avon Lake Charter Review Commission, as a cast member for seven shows of the non-profit community theater group – Mighty Goliath Productions, in a five-year term on the board of Avon/Avon Lake Community Resource Services, as a 17-year member and 8-year board member of the Avon Lake Kiwanis Club, for 14 years with the Avon Lake Soccer Association, and as a volunteer head-coach for 14 years in both the Avon Lake Softball League and St. Joseph CYO girls basketball teams. Bilancini has devoted service time to his parish, Avon Lake St. Joseph Catholic Church, where in 1999 as a member of the St. Joseph Building Committee he helped plan the construction of their new church. He has served for over 30 years as a minister of holy communion and as a member and soloist in their senior choir. In 2008 Bilancini initiated an ongoing parish ministry at St. Joseph that video-records weekly masses to play daily on local cable television. Since March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid19 shutdown at St. Joseph, that three-person ministry has been in place to internet livestream all of the daily and weekend masses to its parishioners and others.
Question 3
Why are you running for this particular court seat?
Having had an extensive 33 year career (1981 to 2014) as a active litigation and trial attorney in the courts of common pleas in North Central Ohio, Bilancini has taken from his experience with dozens of judges their effective methods in their handling of cases, incorporating them into his personal judicial character. As a result of this lengthy experience he is comfortable in the common pleas environment. He will have exhausted his opportunity to serve as the municipal judge and plans to extend his judicial career by taking over for the retiring Judge Mark Betleski for a full term.
Abbreviated Candidate AnswersHaving had an extensive 33 year career (1981 to 2014) as a active litigation and trial attorney in the courts of common pleas in North Central Ohio, Bilancini has taken from his experience with dozens of judges their effective methods in their handling of cases, incorporating them into his personal judicial character. As a result of this lengthy experience he is comfortable in the common pleas environment. He will have exhausted his opportunity to serve as the municipal judge and plans to extend his judicial career by taking over for the retiring Judge Mark Betleski for a full term.