2023-2024 Nominations

First Vice President:
Adam S. Nightingale
  
Second Vice President:
Robert C. Tucker
Craig M. Witherell

Secretary: 
Joseph K. Cole
  
Treasurer: 
Jeremiah P. O’Brien
  
Board: 
Cheri A. Budzynski
Mag. Christy L. Cole
Kayla L. Henderson
Evy M. Jarrett
Tammy G. Lavalette
Thomas E. Luettke
Jeremy T. Rodriguez
Kurt M. Young

  
The 2023 Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.
Under the Toledo Bar Association Code of Regulations, First Vice President Cindy M. Kirby, will become president for 2023-2024.  
 
Electronic Voting
In accordance with Article VIII, Section 2, a ballot and instructions for voting will be sent to the members by electronic means, on or about May 2, 2023.

• All full members and retired members of the Toledo Bar Association will receive a ballot via the email address on file with the TBA. 
• Biographies of each candidate will be posted on the Toledo Bar’s website, linked above. 
• A personal link will be generated for each member to the ballot on the TBA’s polling site. Links are not transferable and may be used only once. 
• Voting is completely anonymous and secure. 
• Members who do not have an email address or who may be inconvenienced by electronic voting may request a paper ballot to be mailed. Please contact Gina Scherzer at 419-244-1044 or gscherzer@toledobar.org. 
• Questions may be directed to Toledo Bar Association Executive Director, Brad Lagusch, at 419-242-9363 or blagusch@toledobar.org

Join us on Thursday, May 25th at the Pinnacle in Maumee, Ohio for the 2023 Access to Justice Awards Ceremony & Dinner where we will be honoring extraordinary service in the public interest by individuals and organizations in northwest Ohio. Benefiting Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE), Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. (LAWO), and Toledo Bar Association Pro Bono Legal Services.

This year's Access to Justice Awards Dinner keynote speaker is Mónica Ramírez, an attorney, author, and activist fighting for the rights of farmworkers, migrant women workers, and the Latin(x) community. She is the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and co-counder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, The Latinx House, and Poderistas.

Mónica has received numerous awards, including Harvard Kennedy School's first Gender Equity Changemaker Award, Feminist Majority's Global Women's Rights Award, the Smithsonian's 2018 Ingenuity Award, and the Hispanic Heritage Award. Mónica was named to Forbes Mexico's 100 Most Powerful Women's 2018 list, TIME Magazine included her in its 2021 TIME100 Next list and People en Español recognized her as one of the 100 Most Powerful Latinos in 2021.

She is an inaugural member of the Ford Global Fellowship and serves on the Boards of Directors of the National Women's Law Center.

TICKETS
 

Awards to be Presented:

• Public Interest Law Award: Eugenio Mollo, Esq. 
• Community Advocacy Award: Ramón Pérez
• Distinguished Service Award: Hon. Myron C. Duhart
   

Sponsorship Opportunities:

• Sponsorship and artwork deadline: Friday, May 5, 2023
• RSVP deadline: Friday, May 19, 2023
• Questions? Call Carmen Vega-Perez at 419-930-2515
   

SPONSOR

ChatGPT is a powerful language generation model developed by OpenAI. It is capable of generating human-like text based on a given prompt. It can be used for a variety of tasks such as writing articles, composing emails, and even coding. Since its inception, ChatGPT has seen a significant increase in usage across various industries, particularly in the field of legal research and writing, where it is being used to assist attorneys in drafting documents, researching case law, and summarizing complex legal concepts.

That’s a pretty good opening paragraph, but unfortunately I did not write it. ChatGPT wrote the paragraph in response to my question: “Can you write an introductory paragraph to tell the readers of a Toledo Bar journal who are mostly but not exclusively practicing lawyers what Chat GPS is and can do and what is the increase in usage since Chat GPS started?” It took ChatGPT less than 10 seconds to write the first paragraph.  It actually took longer for me to write the question, which had a few errors.

So I took ChatGPT up on its assertion that it was being used “…to assist attorneys in drafting documents, researching case law, and summarizing complex legal concepts” with some test queries.

ChatGPT failed the first query, because it was unavailable when I first logged in.  The popularity of the free service at this point outpaces its capacity, and when I first tried to enter a query, it told me it could not process my request because it lacked the capacity.  It asked me to leave my email and it would email me when it had capacity.  By the afternoon, no email had come, so I tried again, and again it said it lacked capacity.  So regardless of how good it is, at the moment it lacks accessibility and thus reliability.  When I finally was able to submit queries in the evening, it at times could not produce any answers.  It never did send the promised email that it had capacity.
When I finally gained access, I asked an analytical question I thought that it would be able to handle: “Which Ohio Supreme Court Justice sided with the defendant the most in a civil case?”  It could not handle this query, responding the first time that it couldn’t answer the question and the second time I tried, with slightly different terms, it gave me an error message.

I then asked what the law in Ohio is regarding caps on damages in a civil case. The answer failed to distinguish between economic damages that are not capped and non-economic damages which are (subject to some exceptions) pursuant to R.C. 2315.18.   Since that distinction was critical to the analysis, I think that ChatGPT failed to give appropriate legal advice and probably worse for lawyers, might arm clients with half-baked legal theories that unfortunately might have an additional aura of authority of having been produced by artificial intelligence. This may make the client conversation a bit more difficult.  

ChatGPT also failed a statute of limitations question, stating that the claim for damages to real property was 15 years, an answer which is wrong by 11 years. R.C.2305.09. Google’s first answer to that same question got that one right and even gave the correct citation and a link to nolo.com for a more helpful context.

But there were some tasks that ChatGPT did very well.  I asked it to “Draft a business letter to attorney John Smith with a regarding section about the case of Jones v. XYZ company and tell him that I am enclosing discovery and that if he has any questions he should call me.  Put this on a letterhead form that lists Brian A. Newberg, Attorney 16410 West River Road, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402 and have a signature line and space for Brian to sign.” The response took just about 10 seconds and was remarkable, with no typos and with formatting that allowed me to easily cut and paste it into a word processing program, add the attorney’s address and send. It even added an “Enclosure:” at the bottom of the page although I did not tell it to.  

Last, I asked it to “write a letter to a landlord from a tenant about a leaking pipe and lack of electrical power due to that leak and that they needed to fix citing the Ohio Landlord tenant act with statute numbers or the tenants would seek to terminate the lease pursuant to whatever statute or law that would allow the breaking of the lease.”  The letter ChatGPT produced was remarkably good, with proper formatting and the correct statutory citation, so that it read as if it were written by an attorney.  It was four paragraphs and had no typos and would have required me to make no substantive changes to the document.  All I would have needed to do is add in the addressees of the landlord and the tenant’s address and it was ready to sign and send.

So in summary, for substantive legal analysis, ChatGPT was not helpful to me and caused concern that it might lead the practitioner (or clients) down the wrong road.  However, when ChatGPT was available, it was certainly up to the task of drafting the day-to-day letters that a lawyer has to generate.  I suspect the capacity problems will be resolved and that attorneys will start to use the system for simple letters and possibly more, if it improves as is promised and remains free for users.  

The text of the letters generated by ChatGPT and referenced in this article can be found below. 

[Your Company Letterhead]

January 20, 2023

John Smith, Esq.
[Attorney's Address]

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to you in regards to the case of Jones v. XYZ Company. Enclosed with this letter, you will find the discovery related to the case. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me at [Your Contact Number].

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Signature]

Brian A. Newberg
16410 West River Road
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402

[Your Contact Information]

Enclosures: Discovery related to Jones v. XYZ Company

Proof of landlord letter

Your Name & Address]

[Landlord's Name & Address]

Date

Subject: Leaking Pipe and Lack of Electrical Power

Dear [Landlord's Name],

I am writing to inform you of a serious issue that has arisen in the rental property located at [Your Address]. As you are aware, there is a leaking pipe in the [specific room or area] that has caused a lack of electrical power in the same room. The leak and the resulting power outage have caused significant inconvenience and damage to my property.

As per the Ohio Landlord Tenant Act, Section 5321.04, the landlord is responsible for maintaining the property in a fit and habitable condition (ORC 5321.04 (A)(3)) and the failure to do so constitutes a violation of the lease agreement. In addition, Section 5321.07 (B) states that the tenant may terminate the lease if the landlord fails to comply with the duty to maintain the property in a fit and habitable condition.

I kindly request that you take immediate action to repair the leaking pipe and restore the electrical power as soon as possible. If the repairs are not made within a reasonable time frame, I will be forced to seek legal remedies, including termination of the lease agreement.

Please let me know the schedule for the repairs and if there is anything I can do to assist in the process.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Tenant

cc: [Any other relevant parties]

Encl: [Any relevant documents]

On Friday, January 27, 2023, the Toledo Bar Association (TBA) welcomed students from high schools in northwest Ohio to Toledo Municipal Court for the 40th Annual Ohio High School Mock Trial District Competition.

This past fall, students across Ohio received an original case written around a current constitutional issue important to the students. The 2023 Ohio Mock Trial case, In re S. Khan, examines the complexities of school investigations into incidents of misconduct, specifically when the misconduct may have criminal implications. Each Ohio Mock Trial team consists of five to eleven students who assume the roles of attorneys and witnesses to present both sides of an original, unscripted case based on an important constitutional issue.

At the district competition, the teams competed in two trials against opposing teams. Teams must win both trials, or the majority of their judges’ ballots, to advance to regionals. Students from St. Ursula Academy (1), Sylvania Southview High School (2) and Perrysburg High School (2) argued both sides of the case in front of volunteer panelists. Both Sylvania Southview High School teams advanced from the district competition and will compete in the regional competition on February 17. The Sylvania teams were led by long-time legal advisor and coaches, Dennis Lyle, Esq. and Vicki Donovan Lyle.

The TBA thanks its volunteer attorneys that served as judicial panelists during the competition, the staff at Ohio Center for Law-Related Education as well as Toledo Municipal Court judges and staff for allowing area high school students to utilize courtrooms on the third floor to provide an authentic experience for the students to compete and perform in a courtroom. The TBA congratulates all students on their participation of this years 2023 Ohio High School Mock Trial District Competition. 

Students participate in 2023 Ohio High School Mock Trial District Competition		Sylvania Southview High School Mock Trial Teams
TBA members, Josh Williams, Esq., Marty Goff, Esq., and Jennifer Brown, Esq. volunteer as judicial panelists		Students participate in 2023 Ohio High School Mock Trial District Competition
Students participate in 2023 Ohio High School Mock Trial District Competition		TBA members, Allma Miller, Esq., Zahraa Nasser, Esq., and Jim Burkhardt, Esq. volunteer as judicial panelists
TBA members, Twila Ferguson, Esq., Bill Bair, Esq., and Sol Zyndorf, Esq. volunteer as judicial panelists		St. Ursula Academy Mock Trial Team

The TBA invites area students, grades 7 through 12, to participate in the 2023 Toledo Bar Association Caty Armstrong Memorial Law Day Essay Contest. Cash prizes for each division available! 

Write an essay on the topic:
The Cornerstones of Democracy: Civics, Civility and Collaboration

We invite all the people of the United States to join us in rebuilding trust in our institutions, respect for one another, and our willingness to collaborate to address the challenges that face our nation.

In recent years, tensions in our democratic system have revealed deep divisions in American society. These divisions are aggravated by incivility in public discourse and insufficient understanding among many people about the Constitution and the way American government works. Together, however, we can collaborate to overcome our differences, resolve our disputes, and preserve our democracy and republic. To that end, we call on members of the legal profession to lead the way in promoting civics, civility, and collaboration—the cornerstones of our democracy.
 

ESSAY QUESTION
 

Entries due by Friday, March 3, 2023 at 3:30 PM. For the complete essay questions, contest details, and rules visit www.toledobar.org/lawday

The TBA Legal Directory is THE reference guide used daily by legal professionals in the Toledo community. Order your extra copies for support staff, non-member attorneys and/or your home office today.  

The 2023 Legal Directory Includes:

• Listings of over 1700 Attorneys & Judges
• Contacts in Local Government & Courts
• Certified Specialists
• Law Firm Listings & Focus Areas

NOTICE:  In December, all members* of the TBA were shipped a copy of the all NEW 2023 TBA Legal Directory as a benefit of membership in the Toledo Bar Association.

SHOP

Please download the 2023 errata sheet here. This update includes corrections to errors in the Certified Specialist section. If you notice an error in the directory, please contact gscherzer@toledobar.org.

If you need to update your information, simply login to your TBA profile to update it to reflect your changes. Updates will be included in the "Change of Scene" portion of the printed Newsletter. 

*Students members are not mailed a copy of the printed directory.

TBA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Engagement in the Toledo Bar Association is what gives our legal community life. Your involvement makes practicing law in our community truly unique to our region. Joining the TBA Board of Directors can give a voice and stronger stake in the Association and its future. Nominations for 2nd Vice President and TBA Board of Directors will be accepted now through February 7, 2023. Nominations can be made via self-nomination or by a current TBA member. All nominees must be current TBA members.

BOARD NOMINATIONS

TBA AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Do you know someone who goes above and beyond in the legal community? Celebrate their dedication by nominating them for one of our prestigious awards. Nominations are now being accepted for the Toledo Bar Association’s Trustees Award and Community Service Award, to be presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting in June. The deadline for nominations is March 22, 2023. View the list of past recipients here.

The Trustees Award is given by the Board of Directors to a young member of the Association who exemplifies professionalism in the practice of law and who has demonstrated a commitment to improving the profession through active involvement in the TBA.

The Community Service Award is presented to a TBA member who demonstrates a commitment to service to community organizations or activities that are not law related.

AWARD NOMINATIONS

GET INVOLVED 

Committee work is the lifeblood of the Association. If committing to the TBA Board of Directors doesn’t match your path right now, we invite you to join one of our active committees. The Toledo Bar Association sponsors over 40 committees covering practice areas, local courts, association administration and program advisory boards. Experienced practitioners and new attorneys can take advantage of monthly meetings to explore new developments and make contacts in the field. You can browse the complete list of committees here. Note, there are two pages of committees to explore.

JOIN A COMMITTEE

We are proud to announce the TBA Member 401(k) and Retirement Planning Program, now available to Attorneys, Law Firms and TBA members in partnership with Equitable Advisors, Rea & Associates, and Transamerica.

When you join, you’ll have a professional service team by your side to:

• Manage most of the plan’s administrative tasks including 5500 form
• Mitigate your fiduciary burdens
• Personal Plan Design specific to your Firm needs
• Local 1 on 1 Support & Education

You may even reap cost savings through economies of scale, compared to sponsoring a plan on your own. If starting a new plan, you may qualify for the IRS Small Business Retirement Plan Tax Credit up to $5,000/yr for the first 3 years!  

Employees benefit too, by gaining access to professionally selected investment options, support from financial professionals, and local resources designed to help them stay on course to reach their retirement goals.

To learn more, register for the 401(k) & Retirement Plan Rollout Webinar on Thursday, February 2 at Noon, with Plan Overview, Benefits of Enrolling, how to Enroll, Tax Benefits along with have all your questions answered.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION

To get started today, contact Jason Harris or David Barth of Equitable Advisors:

• Jason Harris: 419-705-6580, jason.harris@equitable.com
• David Barth: 440-746-8100, david.barth@equitable.com

Cut your administrative tasks. Participating in a pooled plan arrangement significantly reduces tasks assigned to you.

Before adopting any plan, you should carefully consider all of the benefits, risks, and costs associated with a plan. Information regarding retirement plans is general and is not intended as legal or tax advice. Retirement plans are complex, and the federal and state laws or regulations on which they are based vary for each type of plan and are subject to change. In addition, some products, investment vehicles, and services may not be available or appropriate in all workplace retirement plans. Plan sponsors and plan administrators may wish to seek the advice of legal counsel or a tax professional to address their specific situations.

For a multiple employer plan (MEP): While a multiple employer plan (MEP) arrangement offers adopting employers the ability to delegate fiduciary functions to the MEP provider, employers should be aware that they still retain the fiduciary responsibility for selecting and monitoring the MEP provider. Because a MEP is treated as a single plan, a violation of the qualification rules by an adopting employer could affect the qualified status of the plan as a whole. In order to be treated as a single plan under the qualification rules, the adopting employers of a MEP must share a commonality — a connection among the adopting employers such as a trade or professional organization.

For a pooled employer plan (PEP): Pooled employer plans (PEPs) are a new type of multiple employer plan for which the Department of Labor (DOL) and IRS guidance is still pending in a number of areas. An employer participating in a PEP retains certain fiduciary responsibilities, including responsibility for retaining and monitoring the 3(16) plan administrator, for determining the reasonableness of its fees, and for periodically reviewing the plan as a whole. Transamerica does not act as a 3(16) plan fiduciary. Nothing in this communication should be construed as the commencement of operations by a pooled plan provider ("PPP") prior to registration as a PPP.

For Group Plan Solution and Retirement Plan Exchange: The GPS or the Exchange is not a multiple employer plan (MEP). Unlike a MEP, certain plan qualification and ERISA requirements are applied at the individual plan level. An employer participating in the plan retains certain fiduciary responsibilities, including responsibility for retaining and monitoring the 3(16) plan administrator, for determining the reasonableness of its fees, and for periodically reviewing the plan as a whole. Transamerica does not act as a 3(16) plan fiduciary.

Equitable is the brand name of the retirement and protection subsidiaries of Equitable Holdings, Inc., including Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company (Equitable Financial) (NY, NY); Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company of America (Equitable America), an AZ stock company with main administrative headquarters in Jersey City, NJ; and Equitable Distributors, LLC. Equitable Advisors is the brand name of Equitable Advisors, LLC (member FINRA, SIPC) (Equitable Financial Advisors in MI & TN). The obligations of Equitable Financial are backed solely by its claims-paying ability.

Securities offered through Transamerica Investors Securities Corporation (TISC), member FINRA, 440 Mamaroneck Avenue, Harrison, NY 10528. All Transamerica companies identified are affiliated but are not affiliated with any other organization referenced. Logos and trademarks are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

Transamerica
6400 C St. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52499, U.S.A.

1701437
© 2021 Transamerica Retirement Solutions, LLC

Did you know the Toledo Bar Association is in the business of educating and training notaries public in Ohio? Through its co-ownership of Ohio Notary Services, LLC (ONS), the TBA is actively involved in Ohio’s notary business providing non-dues revenue to support the association’s mission.

Ohio Notary Services was created in 2019 in response to Ohio’s Notary Modernization Act which:
•    Centralized the notary commissioning processing through the Ohio Secretary of State (streamlining the application process, setting the fees required and creating a discipline process for notaries);
•    Standardized the education and testing requirements (establishing authority for approving the educational content); and
•    Created the ability for remote online notarizations.

So what does this mean for ONS? Anyone wishing to become a notary in Ohio can visit ONS at www.becomeanohionotary.com. New “traditional” notary applicants can register and take the required three hour educational course followed by a 30-question exam. Attorneys are not required to take the exam and earn free CLE credit from ONS for the class – plus they earn a commission that runs parallel with their license to practice law. Non-attorneys who need to renew their commissions may register and take the required one-hour refresher course (no test required) from ONS as well.

No longer does a notary public have to physically sit in front of a client seeking a notarization. Through the use of specialized software and identity proofing, Ohio notarizations can be performed remotely. The timing to permit this in Ohio couldn’t have been any more perfect prior to the start of the pandemic which clearly helped people understand the need. Please know, a notary is not permitted to notarize documents remotely using a simple signature attachment to a pdf document for example. There are special requirements clearly defined in the Ohio Revised Code to manage this process. ONS is the only business in Ohio that offers the required two-hour educational course and the exam (attorneys have to take this one!) that allow a “traditional” notary to receive the “authorization” to be a remote online notary (RON). These authorizations expire every five years – even for attorneys – so ONS offers the renewal course too.

The Ohio Notary Store is available through a partnership with an Akron-based supply company which provides all types of supplies a notary public might need to perform their role – including the digital notary stamp needed as a remote online notary. ONS provides free shipping for customers who order a notary supply bundle.

ONS is the one-stop shop for all things notary in Ohio. Please support the TBA by visiting the ONS website for details and to take advantage of the services it provides. 
 

The Toledo Bar Association hosted a donation drive, collecting new children’s hats, gloves and scarves of all sizes from November 1 through December 31, 2022. Throughout the Warm Hats, Warm Hearts Donation Drive, 144 items were collected and donated to the Friends of Lucas County Children Services (“Friends of LCCS”) to benefit children in foster care in our community. 

Friends of LCCS was started over twenty years ago through a Junior League project committee. TBA member and Spengler Nathanson attorney Clare C. Armbruster was on that committee and has been involved with Friends of LCCS ever since. She serves as the President of the Board of Directors and has been in this role since Friends of LCCS obtained its 501(c)(3) status in 2002. When asked what drew Clare to this mission, she shared:

“I am involved with this organization because it provides me with the opportunity to support children going through a tough time in their lives and I find that extremely rewarding. These children are under the supervision of LCCS due to allegations of abuse and neglect and they have had to deal with more adversity in their young lives than any child should ever be expected to face. It is important to me that an important goal of Friends of LCCS is to provide the positive and memorable childhood experiences that many of us had and take for granted. We try to support the children throughout the year by providing programs and activities like holiday gifts and a party, high school graduation and adoption celebrations, summer picnics, a birthday cake made just for them, and a brand new backpack filled with supplies at the start of every school year. I have three grown children now, but I remember how important these types of experiences are to children and how much joy they bring. I hope our efforts let the kids know that there are people in the community that think they are important and that we care about their wellbeing and future.”

Thank you to all of our members, staff and friends for helping make this donation a success! We were honored to partner with Clare and Friends of LCCS and hope that through this donation drive, we helped spread love and warmth this winter.