Programs
Judicial Candidates Rating Coalition (JCRC)
 The JCRC is comprised of five legal organizations: The Norman S. Minor Bar Association, The Cleveland Bar Association, The Cuyahoga County Bar Association, The Cuyahoga Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and The Ohio Women's Bar Association.
Under the JCRC umbrella, members of the five JCRC organizations jointly interview the candidates and discuss the candidates and their qualifications. The goal is to educate the voters of Cuyahoga County about qualified judicial candidates and eliminate the judicial election "guessing game" at election time.The election of judges and the decisions they make can have profound consequences for us, our families, our businesses and our community. In our society, judges have been given enormous power. Only a judge can decide whether a convicted criminal is imprisoned and whether a jury must decide a civil claim.
In their deliberations, the five organizations evaluate the impartiality, integrity, temperament, diligence and professional competence of each judicial candidate and incumbent. Each organization uses standard terms - Excellent, Good, Adequate or Not Recommended - to express its views. Please note that each organization within JCRC decides on its own ratings.
The 3R’s - Rights, Responsibilities, Realities
 The 3R’s is a program of the Cleveland Municipal School District and the Cleveland Bar Association to connect with CMSD high school students with the Cleveland legal community to address fundamental issues facing the students and ultimately, the city of Cleveland and the Northeastern Ohio region. Using a real-world curriculum focused on the U.S. Constitution, The 3R’s Program sends local attorneys into tenth-grade social studies classes to work with students to accomplish the following:
- Improve passage of the Ohio Graduation Test
- Improve understanding of and respect for the rule of the law and our Constitution
- Provide practical career counseling to focus students on their potential beyond high school
- Improve the ‘pipeline’ of minorities flowing onto legal careers in the region
Summer Legal Academy
 The Summer Legal Academy is sponsored by Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, the Cuyahoga County Bar Association and the Norman S. Minor Bar Association. The academy has been held annually at local college campuses.
Following a competitive application process, students are chosen to participate in the two-week program from four school districts: Bedford High School, Warrensville Heights High School, East Cleveland’s Shaw High School and Cleveland’s Martin Luther King Jr. School’s Law Academy. The Academy includes a mock trial experience, seminars on criminal law, family law, juvenile law, due process and various “shadowing” opportunities.
The Summer Legal Academy program is expressive of a national effort to increase minority representation in the legal profession. The national Education Pipeline Project is a coalition of law faculty, policy-makers and teachers on every level of the education pyramid who are developing strategies and curricula to engage minority students from preschool through college and beyond in order to encourage them to prepare for careers in law.
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