Serving Notice

February 10, 2012

Serving Notice

ROETZEL has joined the Columbus Bar 2011-2016 Managing Partners’ Diversity Initiative, 26 organizations from the legal community pledging to foster a diverse and inclusive firm culture by increasing the number of minority attorneys recruited, hired and promoted in the central Ohio area.

Proposed amendments to the Ohio Rules of Appellate Procedure, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Juvenile Procedure, and the Ohio Rules of Evidence have been published for public comment in the February 6, 2012 Ohio Official Reports advance sheet.

Although Ohio was a free state in the 1800s, the state’s treatment of African Americans trying to build a new life was oppressive. In recognition of Black History Month, the Supreme Court of Ohio Law Library, for the first time, is displaying items from that piece of Ohio’s history. The exhibit features books documenting the history of Ohio’s “Black Laws” that were passed by the state legislature in 1804. The Buckeye State’s General Assembly became the first legislative body in a non-slaveholding state to enact laws intended to restrict the rights of African Americans, suppressing their civil liberties. The last of the Ohio laws was repealed in 1887.

Pictured, left: Answering phones last week at Channel Six “Ask An Attorney” were Stephanie Dailey, James Tyack, Bobbie O'Keefe and Michael Marlin. This is a Wednesday evening volunteer event sponsored through Six On Your Side and the Columbus Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service.