Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor received a professionalism award for her leadership during the pandemic from the Ohio Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor received a professionalism award for her leadership during the pandemic from the Ohio Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

When the pandemic hit Ohio, Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor spearheaded guidance to local courts to keep operating remotely and transferred $6 million from the Court’s budget to remote technology grants.

Her leadership resulted in the Ohio Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) presenting Chief Justice O’Connor with its Professionalism Award at a recent remote meeting.

“Chief Justice O'Connor has clearly been our bellwether and led us through the crucible in this court coronavirus calamity,” said Mark Kitrick, president of the ABOTA Ohio Chapter.

“She has led us steadily through exceptionally stressful times,” Kitrick said. “She’s been exemplary and exceptional. Our main mission, besides the highest ethics, is to keep the doors open.”

“It's been a remarkable sweep of work that you've had to do to keep the doors open so that we still have trials for our clients, criminal, civil and otherwise,” he said.

Among the previous recipients of the award was the late Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer.

“When I think about this award, I’m humbled because I see the folks who have received it prior to me and for what it stands, the dedication to integrity, civility and professionalism,” Chief Justice O’Connor said.

“The fact that you've bestowed this award on our late chief justice, Tom Moyer, makes this award even more special for me because I think that Tom embodied ethics and professionalism.”

“This was a common effort to keep our courts open during this pandemic,” she said. “It's a great example of people within an institution working for the common good to keep justice systems open and serving the public. It's our obligation to keep those doors open and keep the process there. And when I say doors, obviously, we can have virtual doors open.”

Chief Justice O’Connor also urged the group and the public to seek COVID-19 resources at sc.ohio.gov.