Login | April 25, 2024
OSBF presents Community Service Award to Judge Corrigall Jones
NATALIE PEACOCK
Legal News Reporter
Published: May 28, 2015
A judge can sentence a defendant to community service but in the case of Judge Amy Corrigall Jones, her own community service was recently recognized with an award by the Ohio State Bar Foundation.
Jones, who sits on the Summit County Common Pleas Court bench, received the foundation’s Community Service Award for Attorney’s 40 & Under for District 11 in March for her volunteer work with various sports and academic programs.
“I didn’t know that I had been nominated,” she said. “But I was pleased and humbled by it. I truly enjoy being able to serve our community although I guess I didn’t expect an award for that.”
Jones has been involved with the Akron Dapper Dan Club Charity, which supports youth through athletics. According to Jones, the organization has been in existence since 1959.
“We raise money and acknowledge organizations that help underprivileged children,” she said. “For example, the Sparkle Cheerleaders in Springfield have kids with developmental disabilities or different youth programs where the kids are unable to pay for their particular interest. We contribute money to those organizations.”
Dapper Dan also has an annual banquet, which honors top area athletes and people who have contributed to the local community. Jones served as board president for two years and is currently secretary of the Akron chapter.
In addition, Jones has coached basketball for the last 10 years in 4th grade through high school. She is currently a basketball coach for 7th and 8th grade girls. Even with all her sports experience, Jones is modest about her own athletics abilities.
“I don’t know if I’d classify myself as athletic now,” she said. “But there was a time I played volleyball, softball and basketball.”
Jones isn’t the only athlete in her family.
“My father was a football player and a coach too so it’s kind of been in my blood,” she said.
As if her fulltime job as a judge and her coaching duties weren’t enough, Jones also volunteers as a coach for a mock-trial team at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. She says there are similarities between coaching a sports team and a mock-trial team.
“I think the principles of interacting with the students and the student athletes are similar,” she said. “Trial team and athletics is similar in that there’s competition involved. So they are working towards a common goal and they need to maintain their composure and manage the stress and pressure that goes along with the competition.”
Jones says she is able to balance the demands of community service with the demands of her professional life and personal life with her attorney husband and two children.
“I think the work that I do in my community service actually serves as a stress reliever to the duties and responsibilities in the role that I play as a judge,” she said. “So often in the court system, I deal with the negative impact on peoples’ lives as a result of a decision they make. In my volunteer work I’m able to have a positive impact.”
Jones said that her community service also makes her more empathetic and able to be a better judge.
“It helps me learn all aspects of people and where they come from and the experiences they have,” she said. “It’s very important for what I do as a judge.”
Her husband also coaches football in addition to being a lawyer.
“I think it’s nice for our kids to see us give back the time we spend together as a family,” she said. “There is a balance but as long as I keep my priorities in line and we make time for our family, I am able to balance it.”
Jones believes this lesson is especially important for young women.
“That’s why I enjoy teaching and coaching young women,” she said. “My goal in life is to teach my daughters and women that the world will be a better place when women are strong and independent and have the opportunity to be equal to men. I believe my role as a community leader is to help women get there because I don’t think we’re there yet.”