Steve Simon

Question 1

List your judicial experience (courts and years)

I am a first-time candidate running for judicial office.

Abbreviated Candidate Answers

---

Question 2

What non-judicial legal experience qualifies you to be a judge?

I graduated from the University of College of Law in 1997 and, in recognition of my excellent academic record of achievement, was honored as a member of the Order of Coif.  I have spent my 27-year career practicing law primarily in the field of labor and employment law.   I have focused my practice on representing individual employees, who have been victims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment and other types of injustice in the workplace.  During my career the overwhelming percentage of my practice has been dedicated to litigation.  Some of the cases involved litigating at the administrative level (e.g., EEOC, NLRB) but I frequently have prosecuted lawsuits in federal district court and state court, including Hamilton County Common Pleas.  

I have developed an outstanding reputation among local lawyers, including my peers in the plaintiffs’ bar and management bar.  I have taken leadership roles with the Cincinnati Bar Association.  For more than 15 years I have served as an officer of the Cincinnati Bar Association’s labor and employment practice group, which holds regular meetings educating local lawyers about current legal issues in this area of the law.  I have been a frequent speaker at these meetings.  I also currently serve on the bar association’s Ethics Committee and am a board member of the Cincinnati Bar Foundation, which funds charitable work in the community.  In addition, I was a member of Class XVII of the Cincinnati Academy of Leadership for Lawyers, and for many years I was a legal adviser to Reading High School’s wildly successful mock trial team.

Abbreviated Candidate Answers

---

Question 3

Why are you running for this particular court seat?

I have fought for justice and equality in and out of the courtroom.  As a civic leader, I have served on my neighborhood's community council, including as president.  The focus of every community council meeting was maintaining the safety of our neighborhood, which was and remains critical to the growth of our business district.  I helped rally the neighborhood to persuade the Ohio EPA to conduct a complete cleanup of a nearby brownfield.  I also was proud to lead a grass-roots effort to desegregate our neighborhood’s elementary school.  I believe this experience and perspective make me uniquely qualified to serve as a Common Pleas judge in Hamilton County.

If elected, I am committed to being a judge who makes fair and just rulings that also serve the public interest, including ensuring the safety of our community.  My priorities as judge will be (1) to reat everyone in my courtroom, regardless of their background, with the utmost respect; (2) to ensure attorneys practicing before me fulfill their obligations to their clients and the court, I will lead by example and cultivate a reputation as a hard-working, well-prepared and conscientious judge; and (3) to advocate for more transparency in criminal sentencing, so that this information is readily available to both the public and my fellow judges, which will encourage uniformity. 

Abbreviated Candidate Answers