Release Date: September 20,2022
Judge Stormer Receives Award for Excellence
Over 30 years of Innovation and Integrity Celebrated
(Summit County, Ohio-September 2022) – Summit County Probate Court Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer has been recognized with the 2022 Thomas J. Moyer Award for Judicial Excellence. The Ohio Bar Association declared Stormer as the clear choice for this year’s award due to her innovations that have reshaped judicial practices and created groundbreaking firsts in Ohio and Summit County throughout her career.
The Moyer award annually recognizes a judge who displays outstanding qualities of judicial excellence including integrity, fairness, open-mindedness, knowledge of the law, professionalism, ethics, creativity, sound judgment, courage, and decisiveness. The Ohio State Bar presented the award on September 15, 2022, at their annual meeting at the Ohio Judicial Conference in Columbus.
In her many years of service, Judge Stormer has been a trailblazer who transformed systems at nearly every level of judicial practice. While serving in Akron Municipal Court, she began the first Municipal Drug Court and the first Mental Health Specialty Court in Ohio. When she was elected to the Court of Common Pleas, she began a model Reentry court to help offenders returning from prison become productive citizens. While serving as Probate Court Judge, Stormer initiated New Day Court, the first in Ohio for those who have been civilly committed. New Day court assists participants in avoiding return trips to the hospital and provides a path to recovery for those suffering from severe mental illness.
“Judge Stormer has been a leader in bringing therapeutic jurisprudence to Ohio and, throughout her impressive career, has accomplished many firsts,” said Ohio State Bar Association President Judge Dean Wilson. “Her creativity, open mind, and integrity are the hallmarks of a great leader that Chief Justice Moyer so valued and Judge Stormer is a wonderful example of a public servant who is dedicated to helping her community.”
The Judge was unable to attend the evening but sent this video as acceptance: https://bit.ly/moyeracceptance
The Moyer Award, established in 2010 by the Ohio Bar honors the late Chief Justice Thomas J Moyer who served from 1987 to 2010.
In Probate Court, Stormer also began a Mediation Program and a free Help Desk as well as the Senior Visitor and Volunteer Guardian Programs, both serving some of Summit County’s most vulnerable citizens.
In addition to her work locally, Stormer serves on the National Board of Directors of the Treatment Advocacy Center. This non-profit is dedicated to eliminating barriers to the treatment of those suffering from mental illness.
Judge Stormer has received many community awards including the 2018 Harvey L Sterns Lifetime Achievement Award from Direction Home, the 2018 Russ Pry Community Leader of the Year Award from The Summit County Developmental Disability Board In 2017, she received the Compass Award, from PEGS Foundation (formally the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation) for her long-term contributions that have made an impact in mental health, the Vantage Aging SOAR/Ed Kaufman Leadership in Aging Award. Others include the 2016 Akron Bar Association Liberty Bell Award, the 2015 Woman of Achievement Award from Women’s Network, the 2014 Pinnacle Award of Summit County, and the Spirit Award from Stewart’s Caring Place. In 2013, she received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Akron Law School and the Fred Frese Advocacy Award, the ATHENA Award for Leadership, the HEROES Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the statewide OCCO C. J. McLin Award, the Urban Light Award for Public Service, the Outstanding Leadership Award from Mental Health America of Summit County and the Public Official of the Year Award from the DAR.
As an additional service to the community, she created the Curated Courthouse, a partnership between the Summit County Probate Court and the Curated Storefront. This Knight Arts Challenge is a matching grant awarded in 2019 to bring the art of both established and emerging artists, as respite and representation, to the Historic Summit County Courthouse. This partnership was also the winner of the Arts Alive Collaboration Awards of 2020.
For more information contact Lisa Mansfield Community Outreach Specialist at (330) 643-7346.