DAYTON – Judge Jeffrey M. Welbaum of Troy was elected Presiding and Administrative Judge of the Ohio Second District Court of Appeals for 2018 by his fellow judges. The Second District is comprised of Champaign, Montgomery, Greene, Clark, Miami and Darke counties.
As the Presiding Judge, Welbaum calls and presides over meetings to discuss and resolve any administrative issues of the court and presides over oral arguments. As the Administrative Judge, he is responsible for the administration, docket, case assignment and calendar of the court of appeals, among other things.
He joined the Court of Appeals in February 2013. Before his election to the appellate bench, he was a General Division Miami County, Ohio Common Pleas Judge from 1995 to 2010 and was its Drug Court Judge for eight years. Between 1996 and 2011, he was frequently assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court as a Visiting Judge in many Western Ohio counties.
A 1970 graduate of Troy High School, he graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. degree from The Defiance College in 1974. After working his way through law school, he graduated from the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law in 1977 and was admitted to the Ohio Bar that same year. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts of Northern and Southern Ohio, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Prior to his judicial service, Welbaum was in the private practice of law with Miller, Schlemmer, and Luring Co., L.P.A., (1981-1989). He was an Assistant Miami County Prosecuting Attorney (1978-1982), an Assistant Miami County Public Defender (1982-1984), a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, S.D. Dayton, Ohio (1990-1993), and, for 10 years, the elected Miami County Prosecuting Attorney (1985-1994). From 2011 to 2013, he was Chief of the Criminal Justice Section for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.
He is a member of the Miami County, Dayton, Ohio State, and American Bar Associations and was president of the Miami County Bar Association. He has served the community in many leadership positions and received numerous awards for his service. He lives in Troy with his wife Peg. They have two adult children.
Judge Welbaum is joined on the court of appeals with Judges Mary E. Donovan, Jeffrey E. Froelich, Michael T. Hall and Michael L. Tucker.
