SIDNEY — Shelby County Common Pleas Judge James F. Stevenson opened the door to his courtroom late Thursday morning and took a full step backwards in surprise.
He had thought he was going into the room between sessions to check on a malfunctioning projector. That’s what his staff had told him to look at. Instead, he was greeted with a standing ovation by a courtroom packed with family, friends, coworkers and elected officials who were all there to honor him.
“I’m innocent!” he pled as he sat down on the bench to a laugh from the crowd.
Stevenson was then presented with the Shelby County Bar Association’s Outstanding Career Service Award.
Local Bar Association President Keith Hegeman introduced Third District Court of Appeals Judge William R. Zimmerman, who recounted personal stories of his long association with his fellow magistrate, before listing Stevenson’s considerable achievements.
A Bellefontaine native and 1972 Ohio State University graduate, Stevenson came to Sidney in 1975 after earning his Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He engaged in private practice here until 2005. From 1975 to 1981, he also served as an assistant public defender for Shelby County.
His next post was as an assistant county prosecutor and from 1981 to 1992, he served as chief felony prosecutor. He was elected county prosecutor in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 and common pleas judge in 2006 and 2012.
“Judge Stevenson’s 30 years of private practice have given him much valuable and varied experience in many areas of the law,” Zimmerman said. “He tried civil jury trials for both plaintiffs and defendants, represented many clients in divorce and dissolution cases and represented clients in business and real estate matters … his career as a prosecutor both as an assistant and as the elected prosecutor was no less active. He handled thousands of felony criminal cases, including of such notoriety as the Roy Lawrence, Kevin Yarbrough and Lawrence Michael Hensley murder cases. He has provided legal advice and representations to both elected officials and agencies.”
Stevenson cochairs the Court Technology Committee of the Ohio Judicial Conference and is a member of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Commission on Technology and the Courts. He is a frequent guest lecturer at Edison State Community College. Locally, he is a former president of the Shelby County Bar Association, the Council of Delegates District 2 representative to the Ohio State Bar Association and a member of its Board of Governors, and a member of the Litigation Section, the Government Lawyer Division and the National Conference of State Trial Judges of the American Bar Association.
He is admitted to practice in Ohio, the federal courts of the Northern and Southern districts of Ohio and the United States Supreme Court.
“I’m very surprised,” Stevenson said as he looked at the large, inscribed crystal vase he had been given. “I know many of the lawyers who have received this award before. I’m honored to be with them.”
Shelby County Bar Association members were invited to nominate a fellow practitioner, and Stevenson received multiple nominations this year.
To be eligible, a person has to have been practicing law for at least 30 years, have demonstrated excellence in the practice of law and a record of community service, service to the bar and service to the profession in general.
Past recipients were Eugene P. Elsass, Carroll Lewis, Michael F. Boller, John D. Schmitt, Harold E. Christman, Harry N. Faulkner, Norman P. Smith, Richard H. Wallace, John M. Garmhausen, Donald G. Luce, Ralph F. Keister and Zimmerman.
