Judge Michael R. Goulding was appointed to the Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Michael R. Goulding was appointed to the Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Michael R. Goulding is still following Judge Gene A. Zmuda.
In January 2007, Gov. Bob Taft appointed Judge Goulding to the Toledo Municipal Court to replace Judge Zmuda, whom Taft had appointed to the Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

On Friday, Gov. John R. Kasich appointed Judge Golding to the common pleas court where he will join Judge Zmuda on the bench. Judge Goulding will take his seat in common pleas court a week from today. He replaces Judge James D. Jensen, who was elected to the Sixth District Court of Appeals.

Judge Goulding said he’s honored and humbled to have been appointed.

“I have fully enjoyed serving our community on the municipal court bench, and look forward to the challenges that await me as I accept this appointment,” he said. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues, and treasure the friendships and experience I have enjoyed over the past six years with the excellent staff at Toledo Municipal Court.”

Judge Goulding must run in the November 2014 general election to serve out the remainder of the unexpired term that ends January 1, 2017.

He received his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University, earned his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law, and was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio on May 13, 1996. He was elected to a full six-year term on the municipal court in November 2007.

Judge Goulding is a member of the ABLE/LAWO Emerging Leaders Council and co-founded the Northwest Ohio Municipal/County Judges’ Association – of which he was elected president in 2012. He and his wife, Amy, have three children.

A March 14 story in the Toledo Blade reported that Judge Goulding was one of six applicants to submit their names to the Lucas County Republican Party for the common pleas court vacancy. The party narrowed that list down to three candidates and submitted those names to the governor.