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County magistrate hopes to unseat Hoover for Stow bench
BENJAMIN WHITE
Associate Editor
Published: October 25, 2013
After 16 years working behind the scenes in the judiciary, Summit County Court of Common Pleas Magistrate Kandi O’Connor hopes to finally take the bench as she campaigns against longtime Stow Municipal Court Judge Kim Hoover for his title.
The race pits two Republicans against each other since Judge Hoover made the contested and highly publicized decision to run as a nonpartisan – in part to avoid the primary. Though O’Connor said she prepared her campaign to face Judge Hoover sooner or later, she took an interest in the news.
“Personally I think we should all run without a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ associated with us,” she said. “I have no qualms saying that I’m Republican and that I’m affiliated with the Republican Party, but I also can’t fault Judge Hoover for being knowledgeable about the law and applying the law.”
Though O’Connor’s interactions with the Stow Municipal Court have been limited to arraignments with little contact with the judges, she has researched a few key areas she would improve.
Along with a “more moderate approach” to leadership, O’Connor said she wants to improve the court’s offerings for pro se litigants.
“If you’re suing somebody because they sold you a bad vacuum cleaner or because your neighbor’s tree dripped sap on your car and your insurance won’t pay for it, you’re not going to pay a lawyer to represent you for that,” she said. “You’re going to represent yourself.”
“Am I encouraging people to go out and file their own lawsuit? No, but they’re going to do it, so let’s give them some better tools.”
In a 2010 American Bar Association survey of 1,200 state trial judges around the country, 60 percent indicated an increase of pro se litigants in their courtrooms.
Along with the titles of magistrate and judicial attorney, O’Connor wears the hat of the common pleas court’s technology advisor, and she said she hopes to modernize the Stow court’s case management system. Currently, she said, Stow Clerk of Courts Diana Colavecchio and court staff are researching an upgrade, but O’Connor believes it could be given a higher priority.
“There are some functions that are apparently being done by hand and are being double-checked by hand which are taking up to 45 minutes or an hour, which is ridiculous,” she said.
O’Connor said her path through the legal field since graduating from Cleveland Marshall College of Law in 1996 – a year after Judge Hoover took the bench – is uncommon in that the vast majority of her career took place within the judiciary.
After clerking at two Cleveland law firms, O’Connor accepted a position as a staff attorney at the 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown. The next year, she clerked for Judge James Mason at the 10th District before working as a staff attorney and magistrate at the Summit County Court of Common Pleas, where she remains after 14 years.
She worked under former judge Patricia Cosgrove for over 12 years until Cosgrove’s retirement, when she picked up the same duties for Judge Amy Corrigall Jones. She has also served as magistrate since 2008.
As a magistrate, O’Connor’s responsibilities include conducting criminal arraignments, bench trials and various hearings. Her judicial attorney duties include drafting opinions, conducting legal research and pre-trial conferences along with substantive case management. As technology advisor, she assisted in the implementation of the court’s new computer system, including the recent remote availability of attorneys’ court schedules.
“I feel like I’ve been training to be a judge my whole career,” O’Connor said. “I have always been on this side of the bench. I’ve never been in private practice and I’ve never tried a case from that side of the bench, but I’ve seen how a courtroom runs. I know how cases are litigated.”
O’Connor said that while she believes a career confined to the judiciary is rare, it is much less so than just a few decades ago. Some appellate courts have started keeping permanent clerks in addition to the traditional short-term clerking positions.
“I think the judges are recognizing the benefits of having a staff attorney they can trust,” O’Connor said, noting that an intimate understanding of a judge’s writing style helps a judicial attorney immensely. Still, she said if she could turn back the calendar she would have tried to gain experience at the prosecutor’s office as a young attorney.
Outside the court, O’Connor remains active in the Akron Bar Association’s Common Pleas Court Committee and Leadership Hudson. She also serves on the Hower House board.
Though her 2012 campaign for Summit County Clerk of Courts proved unsuccessful, O’Connor said this race feels much more comfortable since she lived all but two years of her life in Boston Heights and Hudson. Whatever the outcome of the race, O’Connor said she plans to remain the judiciary for the foreseeable future.
“I love my job – I love what I do.”