Member Achievements

The John Mercer Langston Bar Association would like to recognize several of our members for their accomplishments over the last several months.
  • Congratulations to the following members who will be featured in the 11th edition of Who's Who in Black Columbus
    • Jennifer Adair
    • Michelle Alexander
    • Jerry Allen
    • Judge Laurel Beatty
    • Otto Beatty, Jr.
    • Otto Beatty, III
    • Almeta Cooper
    • Sharon Davies
    • James Ervin
    • Michael Flowers
    • Ivery Foreman
    • Mark Hatcher
    • Janet Jackson
    • Larry James
    • Margeaux Kimbrough
    • Kelvin Lawrence
    • Lark Mallory
    • Marchelle Moore
    • Beaturice Nokuri
    • Kathy Northern
    • Emmanuel Olawale
    • Lloyd Pierre-Louis
    • Tracie Ransom
    • Necol Russel-Washington
    • Anthony Sharett
    • Alex Shumate
    • Keith Shumate
    • Kimberly Shumate
    • Lasheyl Stroud
    • Stefan Thomas
    • Sean Walton
    • Keesha Warmsby
    • Floyd Weatherspoon

  • Judge Algenon Marbley (Federal District Court) was featured in the June 2013 Federal Lawyer Magazine.  G. Michael Payton (Civil Rights Commission) provided quotes in this article as well.

  • Members Jennifer Adair (Ohio Medicaid), Judge Stephen McIntosh (Common Pleas), Tracie Ransom (Porter Wright) and Carl Smallwood (Vorys) have been appointed to the OSBA’s Council of Delegates for District 7 (Franklin County).

  • Judge Andrea Peeples was featured in the July 12, 2013 Daily Reporter’s weekly series “Personal Profiles of Franklin County Judges”.

  • Carl Smallwood (Vorys) will be sworn in as President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents at this year's American Bar Association Annual meeting in August.

  • Rachel Robinson and Jennifer Adair were appointed to the City of Columbus Blue Print Advisory Board.

  • Barrister’s Salute: Tracie Ransom is the recipient of the Emerging Leader Award.

  • Barrister’s Salute:  Janet Jackson is the recipient of the Distinguished Leader Award.

  • Barrister’s Salute: Bo Chilton accepted the Outstanding Organization Award on behalf of IMPACT Community Action

  • Edmund Brown (Ulmer & Berne) has been named to Lawyers of Color’s 2013 Hot List Midwest Region.

  • Yvette McGee Brown has been named to an advisory group selected to review safeguards in place to prevent abuses of Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway (OHLEG), which is Ohio’s web-based law enforcement platform.

  • The OSU Board of Trustees appointed Professor Sharon Davies as the Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law in April 2013.

  • Carl Smallwood (Vorys) has been elected as the New President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents,

  • Mike Flowers (KBK Enterprises) is commencing his second year of a three-year term on the ABA Board of Governors.

  • Jocelyn Armstrong (CBA) has been named Assistant Executive Director of Operations at the Columbus Bar Association.

  • Judge Kim Browne was featured in the October 4, 2013 Daily Reporter in its Benchmarks of Success: Personal Profiles of Franklin County Judges.

  • On October 10, 2013 the Portrait of Robert M. Duncan, the 124th Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, was dedicated to the Ohio Supreme Court.  It will hang in a first floor meeting room.  Alex Shumate and Professor Sharon Davies were among the speakers at the event.

  • Judge Kimberley Cocroft was featured in the September 27, 2013 Daily Reporter in its ongoing series Benchmarks of Success:  Personal Profiles of Franklin County Judges.

  • Keisha Jenkins, Karen Morrison and Bryan Steward are members of the High Performing Schools Working Group.  The Working Group was formed in September by the Columbus City Council and Columbus City Schools to, “examine, deliberate, and recommend steps and standards to expand the number of high performing schools within the Columbus City Schools district.”   The Working Group will hold public briefings through November and a final report of recommendations will be issued to Columbus City Council and Columbus City Schools by the end of this year. 

  • Aaron Granger (Excel) published “Like Skills Learned Through Video Games” and Shantae Clayborn (Clayborn Law) published “MOTHER-LAWYERS—the Shero Revamped” for the Fall 2013 Columbus Bar Association’s Lawyers Quarterly Magazine.

  • Gov. John Kasich named Cynthia Dungey as the new director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).

  • Jayme P. Smoot (Littler Mendelson) was reappointed by the Governor to the Ohio Elections Commission for a term beginning Oct. 24, 2013 and ending Dec. 31, 2017.

  • Ben Espy, Janet Jackson and Mayor Coleman were named among the 2013 Class of Columbus Black Legends. They will be honored at the Columbus Black Leaders and Legends Award gala Saturday, November 9 at the Easton Hilton.

  • Otto Beatty and James Ervin were among the 2013 Class of Columbus Black Leaders. All honorees will be recognized at the Columbus Black Leaders and Legends Award gala Saturday, November 9 at the Easton Hilton.

  • On Friday, November 1, Sharon Davies, Executive Director of the Kirwan Institute and JMLBA Advisory Board member, and Tracie Ransom, Partner at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, completed another Amicus Brief on behalf of the Coalition of African American Male Initiatives for the ongoing Fisher case, and filed it with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

  • Judge Timothy Horton was featured in the November 8, 2013 edition of the Daily Reporter for its ongoing series titled Benchmarks of Success:  Personal Profiled of Franklin County Judges.

  • W. Curtis Stitt was honored by Ohio Cancer Research Associates on December 11, 2013.

  • Judge Terri Jamison gave the Commencement Address at Columbus State Community College's graduation on December 6, 2013. She was also chosen as one of the 50 Notable Students during this CSCC’s 50 year anniversary and has been chosen to serve on the Board of Trustees for the Ohio Justice Alliance for Community Corrections. Congratulations Judge Jamison!

  • Yvette McGee Brown recently joined the Board of Directors for Glimcher Realty, one of Columbus’ leading real estate companies.  

  • Mark Hatcher was recently named the newest partner at Baker Hostetler.

  • Jameel Turner was recently named the newest Member at Bailey Cavalieri.

  • Judge Laurel Beatty was featured in the Daily Reporter’s Benchmarks of Success:  Personal Profiles of Franklin County Judges on November 29, 2013.

  • Congratulations to Evelyn Smith (Exel), Elizabeth Cary (Ice Miller), and Noceeba Southern Letts (Ohio Attorney General) for being selected as Fellows of the African American Leadership Academy in Cycle 10.

  • Yvette McGee Brown is Capital’s Black Law Students Association’s 2014 MLK Image Award recipient.  The award will be presented at on January 30, 2014 at the MLK Symposium reception.

  • Kimberly Shumate was named Interim Chief of Human Resources, for The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center on November 1, 2013!