Colleen O’Toole was elected to the Eleventh District Court of Appeals in 2004. During her term
she has decided over 1500 cases and has authored over 500 opinions. The Eleventh District
Court of Appeals serves the counties of Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula, Portage and Trumbull. She
was a member of the Ohio Judicial Conference and the Courts of Appeals Judges Association.

O’Toole was active in the Ohio Judicial Conference by serving on the Community Corrections,
Court Administration,Court Technology and Criminal Law & Procedure committees. In addition
she served as a member of the subcommittee for Court Reporting and Transcripts. She was
integral member of these committees and assisted in drafting of various recommendations that
were adopted in the legislative platform of the conference. Judge O’Toole testified on the
positions of the Ohio Judicial Conference before the Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee
and participated in many legislative conferences advocating the position of the conference before
legislators. She was a member of Library of Reasoned Orders Committee. She was appointed
by the late Chief Justice Moyer as a member of Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission and is
currently serving in an advisory capacity to that commission. The commission is a bipartisan
statutory advisory body charged with reviewing the criminal justice system and recommending
improvements and changes to the Ohio Legislature. She participated as a member of the
Criminal Law Committee for the Ohio State Bar Association. She is a graduate of the Jo Ann
Davidson Leadership Institute.

Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer also appointed her to serve as a Visiting Judge on the Ohio
Supreme Court death penalty appeal of State v. White 118 Ohio St.3d, 2008-Ohio-1623, 885
N.E. 2nd 905.

Admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1991, O’Toole initially practiced law and interned in the Cuyahoga
County Public Defender’s Office in the major trial division. She then worked with the
National Interstate Company in Cleveland as a Litigation Manager. From 1996 to 1998, she
was associated with the Cleveland law firm of Kramer and Nierman, LPA and the Housing
Advocates Inc. In 1998 she opened her own law firm, specializing in criminal, civil and juvenile
litigation in State and Federal courts. O’Toole has extensive experience in civil, criminal,
family law litigation and Appeals.

O’Toole is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District
of Ohio, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
She has held memberships in the American, Ohio, Cleveland, Lake County and Geauga County
Bar Associations and has been a member of the Cuyahoga County Criminal Defense Lawyers
Association. She taught as an Adjunct Professor at John Carroll University and presently
for Kent State University. Prior to assuming the bench she served on many political/issue
campaigns. She was chairman of the Highland Heights Board of Zoning appeals. She presently is
on the advisory committee of The Western Reserve Land Conservancy. An avid Sportsman, she
enjoys Angling, lives on the Grand River with her husband and three children, is a member of
White tails Unlimited, and is licensed to carry a concealed weapon. She is presently CEO of On
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