Northland High School Alumni Foundation
NHSAF Valhalla Newsletter
Spotlight Questions
Mark Serrott 
1. Who was your favorite teacher, class, friend and hang out?
My good friends in High School were Mike Newlon, Ron Lovell, Mike Coccia , and Mark Roberts (who is a lawyer now he came to my swearing in ceremony when I became a Judge), and Dan Keysor. I was probably closest with Mike Newlon. We played a lot of Basketball together and cruised around looking for girls. I also had a great time dating and being friends with Patti Good. (Her sister, Chris, is involved in a lawyer organization and I see her all the time.)
Favorite teacher-there were two of them-Mrs. Plummer and Mrs. Chokreff both were amazing teachers who caused their students to want to be better people. They also made us all engage in critical thinking and self analysis. I also enjoyed Mrs. White for Latin class.
2. Most memorable moment at Northland High School
The night that I was “arrested” after the Walnut Ridge Basketball game along with Ron Lovell when there was a fight after the game. My dad came and “rescued” me from the police and from Mr. Evans who told the police to “lock us all up” in the jail downtown. Danny Crabtree was also involved. All charges were dismissed but Ron Lovell had to go to court and I was a witness in his defense. (Maybe this helped inspire me to be a lawyer. LOL)
Other most memorable moment was when I was a new sophomore and did not realize the future model, Bo Bower, was way out of my league. But I did talk her into going out on one date. She was also my neighbor she lived just 4 houses down from me. The date was I think rather boring for us both! I also quickly figured out she was in fact way out of my league.
3. What was your family expectation of you?
I think my Mom and Dad wanted me to either enter the ministry or become a lawyer. My father was in politics and was a bailiff at court and that really made me interested in the law.
4. How did your Northland experience help in your life/job?
I had great teachers and my relationships taught me the value of life-long relationships and to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Northland had a number of great people and very smart people. I also learned that life is competitive and you had better be prepared and compete if you want to succeed.
5. Personal Question: Why did you become an attorney? As an attorney what do you do? What do you enjoy the most out of your career?
I wanted to become an attorney because I really wanted to help people. I always identified with and wanted to help the “underdog”.
The law is the great equalizer and I realized that the little guy with a great lawyer could take on the big companies and the government and obtain justice. I also love competition and courtroom or jury trial work is very competitive and it is you against the other side. (That’s why it is called the “adversary system of justice”).
I am currently a Common Pleas Judge in Franklin County Ohio after practicing law for 31 years as a courtroom trial lawyer. I also taught at Ohio State and Capital Law Schools part-time. As a trial lawyer I represented many ordinary people that were in extraordinary or crisis circumstances. I represented people accused of crimes (murder to drunk driving) and also represented people in employment discharge cases, auto accident cases, and basically anything and everything that could be brought into a courtroom . I tried over 100 jury trials and many hundreds of court trials. I also wrote about 80 briefs in appeal cases and argued many cases in higher courts including the Ohio Supreme Court and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. I believed I helped out many, many people in the worst times of their lives. I was gratified and humbled by the fact that I won a lot of cases and accomplished a lot for my clients.
I ran for and was elected in 2010 to my current position. It is an incredible job with incredible responsibility . I am responsible for managing a staff of 5 and handling 600 active lawsuits. I am assigned 100 new cases a month and therefore I have to resolve at least 100 cases a month or my docket would be out of control. I am responsible for sentencing about 15 people a week to either prison or probation. I also handle complex business litigation and any and every type case. Yesterday I had a pretrial on the case of the police officer that was shot in Clintonville where the defendant is facing the death penalty. Today I am handling a real estate dispute. I love my job.
I am up for re-election this year but fortunately I am unopposed but please do not forget to vote for me!
