Gerson seeks Girard court post

Staff report

liberty

Atty. Rebecca M. Gerson of Liberty has announced her candidacy for Girard Municipal Court judge.

Judge Michael Bernard is not seeking re-election.

Gerson has served as a part-time acting judge by appointment in the Girard court since March 2009.

The court’s jurisdiction is Girard, Hubbard city and township and Liberty and Vienna townships.

A lawyer for 17 years, Gerson graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor’s degree in American studies and earned a law degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Cleveland.

Gerson was special investigative counsel on voter-intimidation issues and administrative hearing officer for Help America Vote Act Issues in 2010 with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, and from 1998 to 2009, she was an assistant criminal and civil prosecutor in the Mahoning County prosecutor’s office.

She has had a general civil- and criminal-law practice since May 1994.

She has served on the board of trustees of Butler Institute of American Art from 2005 to the present and D & E Counseling Center from 2006 to the present and as president of the board from 2009-11.

Gerson also serves on the board of Hope Foundation of Mahoning Valley.

The other declared candidates for the post are attorneys Mark Finamore, Jeff Adler and Martin Hume.