Michael P. Donnelly

Michael, who most recently served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Ohio, is of counsel in the firm’s Cleveland office. 

He provides mediation and arbitration services related to complex cases throughout the United States.  Michael also provides strategic legal counsel to the firm’s clients in a variety of areas, including litigation and appellate work. 

Prior to joining the Supreme Court of Ohio in 2019, Michael served as a judge on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, General Division for 14 years.  Before serving as a member of the local judiciary, he was an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor and a civil litigator in private practice.

Michael served on the Ohio Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism from 2007 to 2012 and chaired the commission during his final year.  During his tenure on the commission, he helped establish the highly successful Lawyer to Lawyer Mentoring Program, which has received national accolades.  He also spent more than a decade personally mentoring new lawyers.

Michael has spoken on numerous occasions on comprehensive data -driven criminal and civil justice reform, as well as ending wrongful conviction in Ohio.  He is a nationally recognized leader on the subject of plea-bargaining reform.  In February 2025, Michael was appointed to the Board of Advisors to the National Plea Bargain Institute located at Belmont University,

Michael also serves as an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University College of Law.  He teaches two courses: Power and the American justice system and The Ohio Court Watch Program.