David D. White Award and Scholarship Reception

Judge Terri Jamison

Judge Terri Jamison’s journey from the coal fields of West Virginia to the highest reaches of the legal profession is a testament to her strength, intelligence, perseverance, and persistence. Her life story is truly a personification of the American Dream.

Judge Jamison was born and raised in Welch, WV where she attended Welch Dunbar and Welch Elementary School before graduating from Welch High School. While in high school she was active in sports, including baseball and track, was a cheerleader for the Welch Maroon Waves and worked after school at J. C. Penney’s.

Immediately after graduation she was employed by the Department of Welfare as a Daycare Provider Coordinator, Eligibility Specialist and Fraud Investigator but left the Department, joined the United Mine Workers Union, District 17, Local 7635, becoming one of few women who worked as an underground coal miner. After being laid off due to the declining economy in her hometown, Terri moved to Columbus, Ohio.

She enrolled in the CETA program and obtained the training she needed to enter the workforce. She was employed by Xerox Corporation, OCLC, Nationwide Insurance and was an office manager for Howard Tyler's State Farm Insurance Agency. At Mr. Tyler’s urging she opened a multi-line Allstate Insurance Agency which she owned and operated for more than 16 years.

Terri decided to return to college to complete her bachelor’s degree while continuing to run the agency on a full-time basis. She initially enrolled in Columbus State Community College then transferred to Franklin University where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a minor in Human Resources Management.

When Allstate made changes to its contracts with agents that made the insurance business less lucrative, Terri sold her agency and enrolled in the Capital University School of Law where she obtained her Juris Doctor in 2004.

After being admitted to the Bar, Attorney Jamison worked in the Franklin County Public Defender’s Office as an assistant public defender representing indigent clients in the Franklin County Municipal Court and served as a Hearing Office for the Ohio Unemployment Compensation Review Commission.

On February 1, 2005, she was admitted to practice in the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio, expanding her ability to provide representation in federal court. In May of 2005, she was once again bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and opened the Jamison Law Offices Co.L.P.A. where she practiced Criminal, Juvenile, Domestic Relations and Probate law at the trial and appellate level. As a lawyer, appearing before the highest court in the land is an aspirational goal. Judge Jamison pursued this goal and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States on October 29, 2007.

In 2012, she made her first foray into the political world, winning 55.08 percent of the vote to gain a seat as judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations and Juvenile Branch. She was overwhelmingly reelected to the Common Pleas bench in 2018. and was then elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals, Tenth District Court in 2020.

During her time on the bench Judge Jamison has used her experience, perspective, talent, and knowledge to develop new strategies to empower families, including the Compass Program, a collaboration with the Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency that provided child support obligors with the training and support needed to become employed. Compass received an award from the National Association of Counties in 2017 as part of CSEA's Procedural Justice- Informed Alternatives to Contempt, or P-JAC.

She has also devoted considerable time, energy, and attention to issues related to equal access to justice, diversity, inclusion, and the need to develop alternatives to detention for juveniles. Her work has been featured in two documentaries, "The Walking Logo" chronicling the life of Carlos Christian and his reentry and contributions to society, and "PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School" which shined a spotlight on troubling disparities in school discipline that impact Black girls.

Judge Jamison is a member of numerous committees, boards, and associations including:

• National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
• American Judges Association
• Ohio Black Judges Association Executive Board
• Ohio State Bar Association
• Columbus Bar Association
• Franklin County Women Lawyers
• National Council of Negro Women
• NAACP
• Ohio Women's Bar Association
• Ohio Women in Government
• COLERA
• National Bar Association
• Ohio Supreme Court Advisory Committee for Court Security
• Ohio Supreme Court Sentencing Commission
• Board of Counselors at Capital University Law School
• Advisory Board, the Franklin University Global Center for Healthcare Education

She is also an adjunct faculty member at Capital University Law School, a volunteer with the American Red Cross as a Blood Ambassador and YWCA. She performs community service through the National Council of Negro Women and Divine Kingdom Builders, her home church.

Judge Jamison has gained a national reputation as a prolific and energetic speaker. She has delivered commencement addresses at high schools and colleges, presented at national conferences, and participated in panels on the need for equal access to justice, greater diversity and inclusion in the judicial system, and alternatives to detention for juveniles.

Along with her many other accomplishments, Judge Jamison is most proud of being a spouse to Ricardo “Ty” Gary, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and retired Franklin County Deput Sheriff, who has started a new career as a realtor with E-Merge. Their blended family includes three sons, Tremayne, Demetrius, and Sean, eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

2022 Cassandra Jeter Bailey, L'03
2021 Lindsay Ford Ellis, L'07
2020 Jennifer A. Adair, L'05
2019 Hon. James E. Green
2018 Fred Gittes
2017 Hon. Stephen L. McIntosh
2016 Mark Hatcher, L'06, LL.M.'06
2015 John H. Strick, II
2014 Richard C. Pfeiffer, Jr.
2013 Jerry O. Allen, '75, L'84
2012 Janet L. Green Marbley, L’79
2011 Jack A. Guttenberg
2010 Hon. H. Alfred Glascor
2009 Floyd D. Weatherspoon
2008 Douglas J. Haynes, L’81 (posthumously)
2007 Mayor Michael B. Coleman, H’01
2006 Patsy A. Thomas, L’94
2005 Hon. Algenon L. Marbley, H’00
2004 Jack G. Gibbs Jr., L’81
2003 Senator Ben Espy
2002 Larry H. James
2001 Carl D. Smallwood
2000 Hon. Yvette McGee Brown
1999 Hon. Robert M. Duncan
1998 Janet E. Jackson
1997 John W. Waddy Jr., L’78
1996 Robert J. Weiler, L’83
1995 Janice G. White, L’77
1994 Hon. John A. Howard, L’49
1993 Clenzo B. Fox, L’66
1992 Louis Bernard LaCour, L’61
1991 William T. Johnson, L’72
1990 David D. White, L’31