Two Cleveland-Marshall College of Law alumni, Christopher Blake '99 and Jon Pinney '00, have been named to the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2018.
A Cleveland Leadership Center program, Leadership Cleveland welcomes approximately 65 participants each year after a highly competitive selection process. Participants are selected based on their level of volunteer leadership in the community, senior-level leadership within their profession and support from their employers and Leadership Cleveland alumni.
Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law is pleased to announce that 
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s moot court teams had arguably the most successful season in the program’s history in 2016-17. C|M|LAW moot court students earned first place finishes at the 
Chris Harrington '12, his dad, and several close friends watched the waning moments of the most improbable NBA Finals in League history from his downtown Cleveland apartment. With two minutes left to play in Game 7 and the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors tied at 89, Harrington, a self-professed diehard Cleveland sports fan, was anxious. The Cavs weren’t just his hometown team anymore. He had recently joined the organization as in-house counsel, a dream job helped made possible by a C|M|LAW professor and mentor who saw great potential in him at the Great Lakes Sports and Entertainment Law Academy.
The French family has established a strong legacy during their time in Cleveland that dates back at least five generations. A significant part of their legacy centers around the family’s presence in the legal community and their five graduates of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (and predecessor John Marshall School of Law) spanning three generations and 70 years. 
Cleveland-Marshall graduates hold judgeships in impressive numbers throughout Northeast Ohio and the entire state. C|M|LAW also has a national presence on the bench, including a sitting judge in a location that would not be expected – the northern-most city in the United States.
CMLAA Alumni of the Year recipient Ian Friedman knew he wanted to be a lawyer from a young age. A sense of fairness and a determination to stand up for those in need drew the 1997 Cleveland-Marshall College of Law graduate to the profession and sparked his interest in criminal defense.
CMLAA Alumni of the Year recipient Reverend Doctor Stephen Rowan’s mission in life is to support others. That calling has taken the 1980 Cleveland-Marshall College of Law graduate on a unique, successful and fulfilling career path from the law to a spiritual calling.
Judge Michael J. Ryan ’96 experienced a childhood more challenging than most could possibly imagine. Ryan overcame the numerous hardships and now uses his story, and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law education, to make a difference as a judge on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Division.
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law has established a regular fundraising Call Day to take place multiple times each semester and help reconnect alumni, students, staff and faculty with colleagues, classmates and others who care about the C|M|LAW community. At the first Call Day on December 15, three alumni, Kimberly K. Corral ’12, Thomas E. Green ’02 and Keith D. Weiner ’82, joined students, faculty and staff, and showed their commitment to supporting the law school.
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law graduate P. Kelly Tompkins ’81 attended law school knowing that his career ambitions would likely progress away from practicing law. His inspiration for attending law school came from a semester he spend interning in Washington D.C. and the wide-array of professionals he met during that experience.
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law graduate Ashley Jones ’11 has great passion for her work as a criminal defense attorney. She has always enjoyed the ability to help people in need navigate the justice system, but could never pinpoint exactly what set criminal justice apart from other areas of practice in this regard. That changed recently, when her husband helped illuminate why she is so drawn to criminal defense.