Youngstown Daily Legal News

Two judges to receive mock trial coaching honors

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: September 29, 2016

Two judges will receive high honors at the Ohio Center for Law Related Education’s Law & Citizenship Conference today.

The Eiler Award for Mock Trial Coaching Excellence and the Founders’ Award will be presented at the 26th Annual Conference to retired Perrysburg Municipal Court Judge S. Dwight Osterud and Supreme Court of Ohio Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger.

Osterud, the recipient of the 2016 Eiler Award, started the Perrysburg Court Law & Government Explorer Post in 2001.

Since then, he has coached the Post’s mock trial team as part of his efforts to instill in young people an understanding and appreciation for the law and the justice system.

A statement from the OCLRE says that Osterud is known as “Judge O” to students. Perrysburg alumnus and fellow coach Russell Quick said that Osterud strikes the balance of having “created a competitive though friendly atmosphere, allowing participants to see the court as a tool for justice as opposed to a place to be feared.”

Lanzinger, the recipient of the 2016 Founders’ Award, is being honored for her commitment to enhancing public understanding of the judicial system.

“She has been particularly supportive of civic education and, in 2010, she launched her ‘Justice Judy’ blog in an effort to engage an increasingly tech-savvy population of young people in understanding the purpose and function of our laws and courts,” according to the OCLRE.

Lanzinger has served as a judge or justice at each level of the state judiciary for more than 30 years and will soon be retiring from her seat on the state’s high court due to the mandatory retirement age.

“Justice Lanzinger is a very deserving recipient of the OCLRE Founders’’ Award,” said Kate Strickland, OCLRE executive director, in a statement. “As readers of her Justice Judy blog know, she is committed to providing meaningful and accessible information to the public, and she encourages questions and provides a space for civil public discourse.”

The OCLRE’s Law & Government Conference is an annual statewide gathering of teachers, professors, lawyers and other civic professionals that covers everything from best practices for teachers to the latest hot legal topics.

This year’s theme is “Democracy in Action: Teaching Students About the 2016 Election.”

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