Login | April 29, 2025
New and longtime lawyers honored at Mahoning County Opening of Courts
ASHLEY C. HEENEY
Legal News Reporter
Published: September 15, 2011
New members of the Mahoning County Bar Association were introduced Monday at a special Opening of Courts ceremony, followed by a luncheon where Attorney J. Gerald Ingram, Attorney R. Allen Sinclair and 25 year members of the bar were honored.
The Hon. R. Scott Krichbaum said Ingram, this year’s recipient of the Professionalism Award, is a “great example of what a lawyer should be or aspire to be.”
He is where he is today “not because of what I learned in law school, but what I learned form you and those who came before you, and legendary judges, past and present,” Ingram told guests at the Opening of Courts luncheon.
“The Opening of the Courts is a great opportunity for us in the legal profession to reflect on the events of the prior years and examine how we can improve our service in the legal profession,” said Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of the annual event.
Sweeney, a bar member for nearly two decades, presided over the introduction in her courtroom in the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas, where she spoke about how lawyers from the county have played a role in its history.
“As we welcome these new members,” she said, “let us remember that it is quite possible they will be making history, too.
Bar members, court staff and judges from all over the county gathered for the welcome of the 19 new members.
They are: Michael R. Babyak, William L. Bartos, Donald E. Dixon, Wade T. Doerr, Chad B. Hawks, Thomas F. Hull, Ryan D. Ingram, Chantal A. Jackson, Anthony W. Lesko, Stephen P. Kocon, Lori L. Pesci, Brian P. Pfau, Joseph A. Potkonicky, Jr., Farid J. Rafidi, Thomas H. Sanborn, Jenny C. Schiller, Maureen A. Walsh, Robert S. Yallech and Andrew R. Zellers.
The organization’s member tally is at 525, according to bar leadership.
“We are a professional, social organization that services its members, services the community and we’re trying to get more people involved in the bar association,” said Robert N. Rusu, whose term as bar president started in July and runs for a year until 2012.
“It’s seems to have waned, because the younger membership, they don’t seem to see the importance of the personal connections. That’s what we’re trying to show,” said Rusu, a bar member since 1993.
By joining the bar, members get to know their colleagues that they’ll work with on a case, or be against on a case, he said. “You get to know them on a personal level, and you get to learn a lot of new skills.
“It also gives us the opportunity to deal with issues that affect our membership,” he said, such as new laws as well as issues in the local community, whether it may be about aging veterans or foreclosures.
“What people don’t know if that it doesn’t take much time, usually one or two meetings a month,” Rusu said of the commitment to getting involved in the bar. “It just takes a pre-planning on the attorney’s part.”
“Once you’re there you’re going to get involved in some good things, like the referral service, the pro bono legal service and it’s going to help you. You’re going to get known, too. It’s a great way to network.”
“My whole reason for joining is I’ve been out of the loop,” said Michael Babyak, who graduated this year from Thomas M. Cooley law school in Michigan, but is originally from the Mahoning Valley area. He practices with Lane & Rusu Attorneys-at-Law in Canfield.
Tom Sanborn, a longtime attorney who works for the regional business Lane Funeral Homes, headquartered in Austintown, graduated from The University of Akron School of Law in 1974 but marked becoming a member of the Mahoning bar for the first time ever on Monday after being encouraged by Rusu. He participated in the ceremony in support of Babyak and colleague, Joseph Lane, who received a 25-year member pin.
Chantal Jackson, also a Cooley grad who passed the bar this year, said she decided to join the bar because she’s focusing a big portion of her South Avenue, Youngstown practice, which consists of mostly family law, in Mahoning County.
At the luncheon, Community Legal Aid’s Jennifer Van Dulmen presented Attorney R. Allen Sinclair with the Pro-Bono of the Year Award for his exceptional work on 39 cases is the past year.
In the eight Ohio Counties serviced by CLA, 28,000 requests for need were made in 2010¬¬–nearly 5,000 of those from Mahoning County, Van Dulmen said, noting many requests came from families without basic food or shelter.
On that note, Rusu rallied support of bar members to participate in the Food Fight kick off at the Food Bank Sept. 19 at 4 p.m. at the Second Harvest Food Bank, 2805 Salt Springs Road, Youngstown.
Ohio State Bar Association Carol Marx among other state leaders will be present.
It is the first year a county bar association has done the food fight, according to Rusu, who said the whole state of Virginia pulled it off last year. He hopes it will turn into a statewide effort in Ohio, in cooperation with all of the regional bar associations.