Headlines 22 August 2025

DeWine appoints McDowell to Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, General Division

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine today announced the appointment of Christopher McDowell to the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, General Division.

McDowell, of Cincinnati, will assume office on September 8, 2025 and will be taking the seat formerly held by Judge Tom Heekin, who has retired. He will serve the remainder of the unfinished term and will run for election in November 2026.

McDowell began his law career in 1994 when he served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Richard F. Neely of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. McDowell served as a Judge Advocate General in the US Army from 1994 to 2000. During his military career McDowell was posted to South Korea, Germany, Bosnia, and Kansas. McDowell served as both prosecution and defense counsel for the Army.  Following this position, he worked as a partner for a major law firm until 2014. He currently is a partner with the law firm of Strauss Troy. He also serves as a prosecutor for the City of Wyoming, and the Village of Newtown.  

In 1991, McDowell received a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Marshall University and received his Juris Doctor from West Virginia University College of Law in 1994.

* * *

••• Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 26 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.
 

Add new comment

This is not for publication.
This is not for publication.
About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
Article comments are not posted immediately to the Web site. Each submission must be approved by the Web site editor, who may edit content for appropriateness. There may be a delay of 24-48 hours for any submission while the web site editor reviews and approves it. Note: All information on this form is required. Your telephone number and email address is for our use only, and will not be attached to your comment.
CAPTCHA This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.