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Muni judge to run for appellate court
Published: March 6, 2014
Columbiana County Municipal Court Judge Carol Ann Robb has, in her words, “lived the American dream.” The judge worked her way through undergraduate school in construction, worked her way through law school and she and her husband have created careers and lives for themselves out of virtually nothing.
Judge Robb will now run for a higher judicial seat with Ohio’s 7th District appellate court.
“I feel prepared for this new position,” said Judge Robb, who is, as of this writing, running unopposed in the Republican primary for the seat, which will be open upon the retirement of Judge Joseph J. Vukovich. That will take place when he finishes his term of office on Feb. 8, 2015. Vukovich has held this seat since 1997.
Judge Robb, now 61, graduated from Columbiana’s Crestview High School in 1971. She graduated in 1977 from Youngstown State University with a degree in business administration, which included minors in finance and management. She spent a year in the MBA program at The University of Akron before she was accepted into law school at that university. She received her juris doctorate from Akron and passed the bar in 1983.
While in law school, she also worked full time for a Youngstown law firm.
Judge Robb also met her husband while she was in law school, and started a petroleum company with him.
Eventually, the couple, “established several companies in the petroleum industry,” she said, including owning and operating several retail locations, a home heating business, and a wholesale petroleum business.
While all of those businesses grew, Judge Robb was practicing law.
She began her legal career working for the firm that she had worked for while she was in law school—the Youngstown firm that is now Roth, Blair, Roberts, Strasfeld & Lodge. She worked there in general civil litigation for about five years, she said.
While she was there, she said, “it was a very active litigation firm, and I handled the majority of their appellate work. I argued in front of the 7th District many times successfully.”
Judge Robb then left that firm and engaged in the private, solo practice of law for the next 13 years, spending much of her practice in domestic relations. She acquired at that time, she said, “an appreciation of the structure of family, and the challenges that a lot of people face in their personal lives.”
Judge Robb began her judicial career by serving as a magistrate for the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court. She ran successfully for the seat on the municipal court bench of that county in 2005, and was just recently re-elected to her seat on the bench.
The Robb family also transitioned during that time. They gradually sold off the family petroleum businesses, the last one in 2010. At the same time, Judge Robb’s husband became a full-time farmer. Two of their three daughters have now graduated from college, and the third is still attending.
Over time, the Robbs purchased several parcels of Columbiana County farmland, where they eventually acquired about 500 acres.
The family’s farmlands are spread over five parcels in Fairfield and Unity townships, Judge Robb said. They live on one of the farms, and raise field corn, soybeans, and, “a little wheat,” she said. “We have a small herd of beef cattle and some horses, and raise hay to feed our horses and cows.”
“We have experienced the American dream,” said Judge Robb. “I have a very diverse background in the work force, and a strong work ethic, and a wealth of knowledge that I have brought to the bench.”
While on the bench, she said that her basic attitude is one of respect for all who come before her, which is characterized by, “listening and contemplating before you make a decision. I am fair, impartial and respectful for all who appear before me in court.”
The 7th District Court of Appeals includes Mahoning, Columbiana, Belmont, Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe and Noble counties.
If Judge Robb wins election to the appellate court, she will be the only member of that court who is not from Mahoning County.
The election will be held on May 6.