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The Boyk Brief
Go into chambers with attorneys Chuck Boyk, Mike Bruno, Zac Shaffer, and the attorneys of Charles Boyk Law Offices on The Boyk Brief, as we talk with interesting personalities from the legal world, celebrities, experts, business & community leaders, and other engaging people about a variety of topics.
The Boyk Brief
Judge Myron Duhart: Do Better and Be Better
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In this episode, Chuck Boyk and Desmond Strooh sit down with Judge Myron Duhart. Judge Duhart currently a Lucas County Common Pleas Judge and is running for a seat on the 6th District Court of Appeals. Judge Duhart talks about his upbringing in Toledo, his education, his philosophy on the bench. And he offers rarely shared details about *how* he made it to where he is today and *who* made him the man he is today. Judge Duhart also jumps at the opportunity to brag about his kids, talks about the importance of continuing education, and chats about the challenges of campaigning during a pandemic.
www.judgeduhart.com/
Welcome to the Boyk Brief. I'm Desmond Strue, Marketing Director at the Charles E. Boyk Law Offices located in Toledo, Ohio. The Boick Brief invites you to go into chambers with the attorneys of Boyk Law as we explore real legal cases, talk to fascinating people in our area, raise awareness about community initiatives, and share helpful information about protecting yourself and those you love. In this episode, Chuck and I sit down with Judge Myron Duhart, who is running for the 6th District Court of Appeals. Judge Doohart talks about his upbringing in Toledo, his education, his philosophy at the bench, and he offers rarely shared details about how he made it to where he is today and, more importantly, who made him the man he is today. Judge Dohart also jumps at the opportunity to brag about his kids, talks about the importance of continuing education, and chats about the challenges of campaigning during a pandemic. All of this coming up on the Boyk Brief. Today we are here with a very, very special guest, and uh Chuck is here with me. So, Chuck, why don't you tell us where we are and who we're going to be talking to today? Thanks, Desmond.
SPEAKER_02We are at Lucas County Common Police Court, and we are with Judge Myron Duhart. Judge Duhart is a Lucas County Common Police Court judge since 2011, and he's running for the Sixth District Court of Appeals. And we thought it would be a great opportunity for you to learn all about Judge Doohart, what he does, and where he came from.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you, Chuck. As you said, uh I'm one of 10 judges here in the Lucas County Common Please Court, commonly referred to as the Big Court. Uh we handle a multitude of cases and matters here in the Common Please Court to include uh the most serious of criminal cases, uh, those being homicide cases, uh also civil cases to include, you know, multimillion dollar litigation. And so I've been here since 2011, uh, in which I was appointed by the then governor, and uh I've been the commercial docket judge since 2016. And so uh what the commercial docket judge does uh it is the thought being that those who are conducting business here in Ohio are potentially incentivized by having a court that is specialized in the areas of business litigation and the nuances of business law, and uh so the thought of creating a commercial docket or a business docket would be an incentive for those who are thinking about coming to Ohio to do business or those who are already here and contemplating staying. And so the commercial docket has been by all accounts and certainly anecdotal, but uh it's been well received by the bar and and I believe the business community in general, and so that's essentially uh what I have been doing in a nutshell uh for the last close to a decade now. My gosh, when I say that, where does the time go?
SPEAKER_02So the Common Police Court, Lucas County Common Police Court, is essentially where um all the big action happens in Lucas County, and you're currently running for the Sixth District Court of Appeals, I guess the questions would be what is the Sixth District Court of Appeals and why do you want to be on the Sixth District Court of Appeals?
SPEAKER_01Well, uh more than you know, I get the question. Uh, what in the world is the Sixth District Court of Appeals and what do they do? And so I often use a sports analogy to explain. You know, in in football, if there is a call that's made on the field and that call is challenged by a coach, that call then is reviewed by those who are in the booth or over in the other cameras. And so uh the umpire or the referee, rather, who is making the call that's on the field, that's what I do now at the trial court, common please court. Uh and the person who is reviewing the call with the benefit of cameras, time, the rules, they review the call to make sure that the trial court, or in my sports analogy, the uh referee that's down on the field that got the call right. And so the court of appeals hears cases from the municipal courts, the common pleas courts, as well as there are direct avenues to get to the 6th District Court of Appeals.
SPEAKER_00Judge Duhart, uh, which counties does the 6th district include?
SPEAKER_01The 6th district is comprised of eight counties, of which Lucas County is the most populous of those eight counties. The other counties uh is Wood County, Erie County, Sandusky County, Fulton County, Hearing County, Williams County, and Ottawa County. Hopefully I got all eight of them. I'm very impressed. Uh I am too. Uh I always get uh very apprehensive when I try to name all eight, but look, before I took the bench, uh I practiced law for close to 20 years, and I had a very large general practice uh in multiple areas of law. But most importantly, my practice allowed me to practice in, if not all, close to every single one of these counties of which the 6th district is made up of. And so uh I have direct contacts in each of those counties. I practice in those counties, and I honestly believe and think that's a value add for me if I was so fortunate to move to the 6th district.
SPEAKER_02One of the things that I find intriguing about you is that every election the Toledo Bar Association has a judicial candidate rating, and typically the lawyers who practice in front of judges are the ones who really know who the hard workers are and who the best judges are. And in this sixth district court of appeals election, I wrote it down ninety six point five two percent of the lawyers rated you as highly recommended or recommended. And that's essentially like an A plus. And I've been around for thirty-seven years, and I don't remember any judge getting such a high ranking that has to have pleased you.
SPEAKER_01Uh certainly it does, Chuck, and uh frankly it's humbling to me to know that uh those who are your colleagues and those who have practiced in front of you respect what you do. Uh, I certainly take the practice of law and the job that I have. It is a craft, and I take the craft seriously, and I think that is reflective in those numbers. You know, in addition to not only just the competence of doing what I do, you know, I think law is essentially a people business. And so I believe in addition to not only doing what you do and doing it well, uh you need to treat people right with respect and dignity. And and frankly, I've always tried to do that when I was a lawyer, but uh more importantly, in the position that you sit in, and with uh a judge with a great deal of uh authority and power, you always try to treat people with dignity and respect. And so I have a saying, Chuck, uh, and I live by this saying, uh, and that is I'm just a judge, but never judgmental. And so I say that to say uh that I try and walk in humility, whatever it is that I do, and whoever it is that I'm interacting with, and honestly, I think that's essentially a reflection of that. I'm pleased, I'm happy, I'm uh so thankful that folks uh think you're doing a pretty good job and and they're willing to to publicly express uh their affirmation of the job that you're doing. So yes, yes, it was it was good to see because sometimes you were here in a bubble. Uh I call it the ivory tower here, and you don't oftentimes get a lot of feedback for fear of potentially reprisal, uh, although I would never do that, but I I understand how people would feel that way. But to get that kind of feedback from those in the bar is extremely, extremely humbling to me.
SPEAKER_02I've always felt the best way to understand somebody is to see where they came from. Uh why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about where you grew up, where you went to high school, and what your family background is.
SPEAKER_01Well, I've uh you know, I I think I've got a fairly unique background in some respects. Uh I was born and raised in Toledo in the central city. Uh my mother was a teacher for Toledo Public Schools for a very long time. She passed away when I was very young. Um she was raising me as a single mother. Uh, and then I went to move with my grandmother, who raised me as a single grandmother. Uh she sold Avon to put food on the table and to help me through school. And so the two biggest things in her household and her life was hard work and education. Uh it was her thought and her feeling that hard work and education, you don't know what's in front of you, uh, but the uh tried and true way of uh elevating your circumstances is to further your education. And so uh she put me through St. Francis de Sales High School, and so um when I graduated from St. Francis, I I didn't really have a way to pay for college, and so uh, as many young men do and women, I joined the Army, and so I did uh a couple years on active duty, and they had a program called Green to Gold, the idea being that you can go from green camouflage to a second lieutenant gold bar when you're commissioned, and so I took advantage of that uh opportunity. I went to Wright State in Dayton, Ohio, and so I often get the question, well, why Wright State in Dayton? And so Wright State is right next to Wright Patterson Air Force Base, which is the largest military installation in Ohio, and that's how I ended up at Wright State, and so while there, I was a legislative aide to State Representative Casey Jones, and so the story with that is is when I was a kid, my childhood church was directly across the street from his office here locally. And so I would watch him from afar to uh, you know, I'd watch him uh and what he did and the impact he would have in the community, and I always thought, my gosh, at some point in time, uh I'd love to uh uh work for him and to uh try and contribute and give back to the community as I saw he did as well. And so I had that opportunity to intern for him uh while in college. Uh after I graduated from college, I matriculated to the University of Toledo College of Law. And uh while uh at law school, I had a very young family to to take care of, and so uh young families motivate you. Uh if you're not otherwise already motivated, I was highly motivated when I was in law school, and so um I would characterize my experience as being a non-traditional student. So my day consisted of um I would get up in the morning and I would come to work. I I think Chuck, this is when I first met you, I worked for Judge Robert Penn uh as his law clerk, and so that was in Toledo Municipal Court for a very long time. Uh he had been in uh Munich Court for a very long time, and so I worked there. Uh Lucas County Public Defender's Office, I worked there as well, but uh I would work there through the day, and then I would get off work and I would go to law school at night. I then would go home, eat, go to bed, and get up and work the graveyard shift at UPS. And so I'd get up and do that all over again. And so people don't know that, but that's how I worked my way through law school, and so uh again, going back to that grandmother I told you about, it's hard work, it's motivation. That's uh essentially my existence through law school. Uh once I graduated law school, I then started practicing law, and so uh that's in a nutshell my background. I've done a number of things in between there, but you know, while I was in Munich court working for Judge Penn, uh he had a philosophy of of again hard work and motivation and accountability, and and there are often life lessons that I was being taught at that time that I still carry to this day and and uh uh finds itself in my decision making process while I've been on the bench, and so you probably found out more than what you wanted to find out, but hey Hey, I think it's fascinating.
SPEAKER_00Uh but I do have to ask the burning question on my mind is when you were in law school, you mentioned an incredible day's worth of activity. Was there any sleep in any of that?
SPEAKER_01Very few hours. Uh I would sleep, you know, I'd probably get home from the law school at about 9, 9 30. I'd study a little bit, uh, and then get a catch a couple hours of sleep, and then get up and do the graveyard shift, and then come home and do it all over again. And so it was very little sleep, but when you again are highly motivated, uh you do what you have to do.
SPEAKER_00That's incredible. And uh I'm sure your grandmother was very proud of that work ethic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she was, and uh unfortunately she died in 2009, so she didn't see me become a judge, but uh I'm sure she's watching from above, and you know uh often uh the things of which I am telling you and have told you here today, they rest with me all the time.
SPEAKER_02One thing um that you haven't mentioned so far that I wanted to talk about is that most of us after we finished law school, we're glad that we never had to go to school again. And you are one of the very few people that I know that after graduating from law school and becoming a judge went back to school. Why don't you tell the listeners about that?
SPEAKER_01Sure. Well, you asked me earlier, Chuck, what um motivated you to uh think about and want to go to the Sixth District Court of Appeals. And so for me, and I tell people this all the time, it's a natural progression. Uh one of the things that uh I believe and feel strongly about is that throughout the arc of your life, it is a continuous, uh at least for me, a continuous quest to get better and to learn more. And so with my grandmother's insistence that learning is a lifelong endeavor, and my internal desire to uh challenge myself, uh I decided and sought uh further education to assist me in being a better judge. And so in 2014, I did some time at uh the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. That was essentially executive education designed for those who were in the three branches of government and uh state and local government. And uh the majority of my class at Harvard consisted of folks that were in the legislative branch and in the executive branch. There were very few in the judicial branch. But I was there with mayors and um city managers and state reps from all over the country. Uh the purpose of that program was essentially to think about ways to be uh more effective in your administration of um, you know, at the in the legislative branch, uh administration of the laws and ordinance and things of which uh you deal with in the judicial branch, uh to think about how you're dealing with the public and how public policy has uh potentially some influence and effect on your judicial decisions and vice versa. And so that's what the purpose of uh that particular program was. And immediately after, in 2015 or 16, I applied to the Duke School of Law, LLM, which is a Master of Laws and Judicial Studies. Now, the purpose of this program is essentially those who are judges to dive into and to peel back many of the mechanisms that come into play with the judicial branch, whether it's judicial philosophy, whether or not it's your decision making process, thought process, administrative, uh it runs again financial. Uh and so um it was a highly selective program. I had classmates from all over the world. These are judges. Uh one of my classmates uh was the equivalent of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in Sierra Leone. I had judges from Taiwan, from Denmark, from Brussels, not to mention, and I always say I was the low person in the room of uh my classmates. There were only two state court judges in the entire room. The rest were uh district court judges or circuit court judges uh in the federal system, and uh obviously the state Supreme Court judges in some of these other places. And so it was a very rewarding experience, and I that was a two-year process of which portions of that was in residence. I had to complete an academic paper, and in 2018 I got that degree. And so, again, these are all multiple things that I thought were value ads in my lifelong quest to do better, to be better, and uh ultimately to be better as a judge.
SPEAKER_02I know your kids are very successful, and I know almost any parent likes to brag about their kids. Why don't you uh I'm no different. Why don't you tell the listeners about what's going on with your kids?
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you, Chuck. I didn't know you were gonna ask me. Well, thank you. I I jump at that opportunity. Look, I I've been married to my wife, Nicole, for 23 years, and uh, we have three beautiful children. You know, first and foremost, I think any parent, uh, more than anything else, you just want to raise good people. And uh all three of my children are doing well. My oldest graduated from Morehouse College, and he graduated with a degree in economics, and he's in corporate America right now. My middle child, uh, she graduated from Spelman College, uh, which is the sister school to Morehouse College. Uh, she's in her first year of law school at Ohio State right now, and uh my youngest, uh she's in her last year at Capitol University in Bexley, Columbus, Ohio. And uh she's pre-law and she has thoughts of going to law school too. So of the three kids, uh I may have two that uh certainly one. But potentially uh two of my three children are looking to get into the law. And so I'm so, so proud of them and what they have done so far and what they've accomplished. My youngest uh she was uh an intern on Capitol Hill. This would have been March of this year, and so right as COVID was hitting, she was hitting D.C., interning for the Congressional Black Caucus, and uh unfortunately they shut D.C. down, and so that shut her internship down a little early. But if by chance she's listening to this podcast, uh I wanted to make sure that I touted her accomplishment because I'll have to hear about it.
SPEAKER_02So I know you've you've run in past campaigns. What's the difference between a normal campaign and a COVID campaign running for judge?
SPEAKER_01Well, first of all, the sixth district is a lot of real estate, as I said to you before, uh it's eight counties, and so in a regular campaign, the idea and the uh necessity of trying to clone yourself and be in uh multiple counties at multiple times is always a daunting task in and of itself. In this environment, this COVID environment, although a lot of the festivals and parades and otherwise social things have been canceled or postponed, we've done, I think, a very good job in reaching out to people via social media, via other forms of uh contacting and interacting with people. Uh there there are some things that we've been able to do in a very limited capacity. Uh, certainly there are some events that are still happening. They're just with social distancing uh precautions and protocols in place, and we've certainly taken advantage of those opportunities. But the feedback uh that we've been getting has been, in my opinion, very positive relative to uh not only my race but all the other races here locally, but at the national level too. And so it's different. You know, campaigning is a people business, just like the law. And uh, you know, when you don't get the full advantage of interacting with people, it's it's challenging. And so uh we've made do with what we've had. Look, one of the benefits I've been able to take advantage of is I am able to be in two places at one time because of the uh opportunity to be on Zoom, and so if there is an um event that is happening via Zoom in one county, I can be on that Zoom call as well as another Zoom call in another county and make my appearance that I would not otherwise be able to do in in a normal environment. So there's some positives. Uh and and again, we've taken advantage of uh those areas of opportunity when we can.
SPEAKER_02One of the things that I'm impressed with about you is a lot of people say the American dream isn't true anymore, and I think you're a shining example of the American dream and the fact that you're still working as hard or harder today as you did when you were going to law school.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you for that, Chuck, and I and I say that with uh sincerity. Uh one of those kind of things uh that is extremely important for me is is uh you just try to do the best you can with what you have. Uh you get up every day and and try to make the right decisions, do the right thing, treat people good, and good things will happen to you. And so I appreciate that coming from you especially, and uh thank you for this opportunity. I think this is a really, really great platform, honestly, and and uh, you know, those who are listening and will listen, uh I think it's a value add and very informative to them, and thank you for the opportunity for us to be able to uh connect with the folks that uh you know are listening to this.
SPEAKER_02I think we'll miss you in common police court, but I look forward to seeing you on the Sixth District Court of Appeal. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00And best of luck with uh November 3rd, and we we're definitely rooting for you. Thank you kindly, thank you so much. Tune in next week for another episode of the Boik Brief, where we'll discuss more issues of life and law. Thanks for joining us.