Chief Justice Eric Brown
Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown has spent his career in public service focused on protecting our community and our families. For more than 30 years, Chief Justice Brown has demonstrated his passion for serving the community, based upon values derived from his parents and his Jewish faith. He has had broad and extensive experience, from owning his own business to serving as a school board member to presiding over one of the busiest courts in our state. When he was an Ohio Assistant Attorney General, Chief Justice Brown fought to protect consumers from fraud and protect children and minorities from tobacco marketing.
Chief Justice Brown started his legal career engaged in a private law practice in his hometown of Cleveland, handling a wide variety of legal matters in both a small firm and solo practice. Not only did he handle civil and criminal litigation, but he also handled business, real estate, and probate law matters. Chief Justice Brown was one of the first lawyers in Ohio to develop a law practice serving the needs of the elderly and their families.
Chief Justice Brown served for nearly 15 years as an elected public school board member for the Mayfield City Schools. For a decade, he served the Ohio Bar Association as treasurer, chair of the budget & management committee and as an elected trustee. Chief Justice Brown has also owned and operated several businesses, and was honored by his local chamber of commerce as Business Person of the Year.
Chief Justice Brown has the experienced leadership to bring our Supreme Court back into balance. Before being appointed Chief Justice, he served as Franklin County’s Probate Court Judge, where he presided over the largest single-judge probate court in Ohio. Chief Justice Brown oversaw a staff of 50 employees, including seven magistrates. Before serving as probate court judge, Chief Justice Brown served as a judge and magistrate on the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, General Division where he presided over a large caseload that included criminal felony cases, substantial civil disputes and a wide variety of other matters, including serving as the probate judge in a significant guardianship case.
As a common pleas court judge, he handled more than 5,000 cases on his docket; nearly 3000 of those were civil cases and more than 2100 of those were criminal cases. Chief Justice Brown also served 11 years as an assistant attorney general under Ohio Attorneys General Lee Fisher and Betty Montgomery, working as both a lawyer and as a manager. As Assistant and Acting Chief of the Consumer Protection Section, he successfully managed a staff of 70, including lawyers, investigators, consumer specialists and support staff. As Tobacco Litigation Counsel, he helped lead the largest litigation in Ohio history, coordinating the work of six law firms serving as outside counsel, supervising a core team of eight staff attorneys and coordinating Ohio's efforts with more than 40 other states.
Chief Justice Brown shares his passion for public service with his wife of more than 36 years, Marilyn. After decades of public service, Marilyn now serves Franklin County as a Member of the Board of Commissioners. Chief Justice and Commissioner Brown share two wonderful and independent daughters: Daryn, who is a stage manager and event planner in New York City; and Beryl, who is a lawyer at the Ohio Industrial Commission and graduate of the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. Beryl and her husband, Andy Piccolantonio, reside in Gahanna and are the proud parents of the Browns’ two grandsons, Vincent and Max.
