Wilson to Serve as President of Ohio State Bar Assoc.

Judge Dean Wilson began his term as 2022-23 President of the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA). A resident of Roseville and judge of the Perry County Municipal Court, Wilson served as an officer of the OSBA in the post of President-Elect for the 2021-22 bar year.

“It is a tremendous honor and privilege to become the next president of the Ohio Bar,” Wilson said. “I feel strongly about the mission of the association to promote justice and advance the legal profession, especially because I hail from one of our smaller counties, where I have seen firsthand the difference that access to quality legal services can make. During my term, we will work to connect more Ohioans with skilled attorneys and provide our members support and tools to better meet the needs of their communities, regardless of their size or available resources. I have a strong leadership team to back me up and I look forward to all that we can accomplish together.”

Judge Wilson’s term as OSBA President follows a career-long commitment to bar associations. From 2016-2019 he served on the OSBA Board of Governors as the representative for District 9, which includes Knox, Coshocton, Licking, Muskingum, Fairfield and Perry counties.

During that time, he chaired the board’s Government Affairs Committee as well as the Deans & Practitioners Advisory Committee and served on the Amicus Committee and the Opiate Response Task Force. Outside of the state bar, he served as past president and vice president of the Perry County Bar Association and is a current member the Muskingum County Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Ohio Association for Justice, the County and Municipal Judges Association, the American Judges Association and the Association of Ohio Commodores. He also serves as a mentor for the Ohio Judicial College.

Wilson was elected as a judge for the Perry County Municipal Court in 1990. Prior to his current role, he served in various positions, including as solicitor for the Village of Roseville, acting judge for the Ohio Judicial Committee of Criminal Law and he was assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court to preside over cases in Fairfield, Hocking, Licking, Monroe, Morgan and Muskingum counties, as well as the city of Zanesville. Wilson was also named partner with the law firm of Graham & Graham Co., LPA in 1989, where he practiced domestic and criminal law.

Under his leadership with the Perry County court, Wilson established the Perry County New Direction Drug Court in 2016, which enlists county and service agencies to form customized recovery plans for individuals who otherwise would have faced likely jail sentences. The court has taken dozens of cases that have helped those charged with non-violent, drug related offenses and offered them a second opportunity instead of a prison sentence. For his commitment to closing the access to justice gap, he received the 2018 Presidential Award for Pro Bono Service from the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation along with Judge Luann Cooperrider, who he worked with to establish the Perry County Free Legal Clinic.

Wilson graduated with his bachelor’s and master’s from Ohio University and received his law degree from Capital University Law School.

Wilson will head the 2022-23 leadership team made up of the association’s Chief Executive Officer Mary Amos Augsburger, immediate Past-President David Lefton and President-Elect Michelle L. Kranz.