Lanzinger’s legal and judicial background reads like that of a novel. The first in her family to attend college, Lanzinger graduated magna cum laude from the University of Toledo in 1968 with an education degree and soon after began teaching. Five years down the road and two children later, she entered law school at the University of Toledo College of Law. She graduated as valedictorian of her class in 1977. Her legal career was kickstarted at Toledo Edison Company, where she specialized in environmental law. In 1981, she joined Shumaker, Loop and Kendrick as an associate in the employment law and litigation. She was then elected to the Toledo Municipal Court in 1985. From 1989 to 2003, she served on the Lucas County Common Pleas Court, where she heard cases involving everything from dog bites and traffic tickets to 12 death penalty cases. In 2002, Lanzinger was elected to the Sixth District Court of Appeals. During her tenure on the bench, she has heard more than 9,500 cases and has written over 1,000 opinions at the trial and appellate levels.

All of this experience will surely help her in her bid for a seat on Ohio’s high court. No current justice has served on all three lower levels of court. “I have breadth and depth of experience to bring to the Supreme Court,” Lanzinger noted. “As the only candidate with experience at the municipal, common pleas and court of appeals level, I think that practical experience will be extremely important to the citizens and I’m looking forward to serving everyone.”

She has received a rating of “highly recommended” from the Ohio State Bar Association and also received an “excellent” rating from the Cuyahoga County Bar Association.

Lanzinger is looking to fill the Supreme Court seat that will be left vacant by the mandatory retirement of Justice Francis Sweeney, due to age limits. Her judicial philosophy is that of a purist – “I believe in the separation of powers,” she said. “It’s not our job to be super legislators.” Lanzinger has promised to be even-handed, open-minded and impartial, and to practice judicial restraint. “We want judges who are unbiased, look at the law, then make a fair decision,” she stated.

Judge Lanzinger has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Toledo College of Law for 16 years. In 1992, she became the second woman in the country to earn a Masters of Judicial Studies from the National Judicial College (NJC) and University of Nevada, Reno. For the past 15 years, she has served on the NJC faculty and has taught courses in seven states as well as in the former Soviet Union.