Login | May 09, 2025
Incoming Akron Bar president Tom Teodosio unveils agenda
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: June 21, 2024
Over the past year, Akron Bar Association President-elect Tom Teodosio has been working closely with president Susan Durr on a variety of initiatives designed to increase diversity in the legal profession and the bar association by creating a welcoming culture for attorneys from a variety of communities and backgrounds.
They’ve also been focused on making bar membership more attractive, especially to those who are just starting their careers.
Now the retired 9th District Court of Appeals judge is gearing up to take the reins as president, vowing to continue and expand upon Durr’s work, while exploring new ways in which the bar association can better serve Summit County legal professionals and the community at large.
First up, making the Akron Bar Association more appealing and convenient for members who have families, a goal he plans to begin carrying out at the bar association’s annual meeting on June 27, which will be held during the evening at the Akron Zoo.
“I am on the zoo’s board and I thought this would be an interesting and fun family-friendly location for the annual meeting,” said Teodosio, who will be sworn in during the event by his wife, Summit County Juvenile Court Judge Linda Tucci Teodosio. “I plan to keep the meeting portion short so families can enjoy the animal exhibits and the zoo’s beautiful carousel.”
Teodosio said he’s particularly honored to serve as president this year as the Akron Bar Association celebrates its 150th anniversary.
“A special committee will be formed to plan the events,” said Teodosio, whose term begins on July 1. “I know that we will also rely a great deal on the input from many of our past presidents.”
During the annual meeting, Roetzel & Andress Shareholder Brian J. Moore will also be sworn in as the new president-elect.
“I’ve known Tom a long time and I think he is an excellent choice for Akron Bar Association president,” said Moore, who focuses his practice at Roetzel on commercial real estate and finance.
“Frankly, when I was first asked to consider serving as president-elect, one of the things that made it particularly appealing was the opportunity to work with Tom during his term as president.
“I know Tom is very community minded and interested in helping the bar association serve its membership and act as its liaison to the community, as am I,” said Moore. “I’m confident he will also be able to highlight the importance of bar membership to those in the profession.”
Outgoing bar association president Durr said she is looking forward to continuing to work alongside Teodosio in her soon-to-be new capacity as immediate past president.
“Tom has boundless energy and is the first to volunteer when something needs to be done,” said Durr, a solo practitioner. “He also seems to know people wherever we go, and he has the ability to get people to agree to donate their time and talent.
“This coming year is the 150th anniversary of the Akron Bar Association,” she said. “I know Tom will be a great president to lead us through this year.
“He was an integral part of all of our initiatives this past year,” said Durr. “He was actively involved with our Pathfinder program which is a mentorship program with the law school.”
Among the things Teodosio said he would like to do as president is to expand the Pathfinder program and resurrect the Akron Bar’s Leadership Academy, which was suspended due to the pandemic. The academy works with emerging young attorneys to assist them in becoming leaders at the bar association and in the greater Akron community.
But that’s not all he plans to do. In fact, he has quite a few items on his agenda.
“One area of focus will be finding new ways for lawyers to better serve their clients and the community through education, advocacy and community service,” said Teodosio.
“A Veterans Day committee has been formed to plan a new event that will recognize lawyers and judges who have served our country,” he said.
The committee has decided to mark the occasion with a breakfast on Monday, Oct. 28, at the MAPS Air Museum. The event will be open to all veterans.
Teodosio also wants to improve and expand the bar’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS), which provides help to individuals by connecting them to a local lawyer who can assist them with their cases.
He said he hopes attorneys will join the bar association to take advantage of the organization’s new A-plus membership, which provides members with a number of free services including unlimited CLE and self-study courses, section memberships and practice area listings; Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) referrals; vLex/Fastcase legal research; Unmind mental health and wellness resources and practice management library materials and consulting services.
In addition, Teodosio said he wants the bar association to do more to educate the community about the rule of law and the important role that lawyers and the judiciary play in society.
One way in which he intends to carry that out is by increasing outreach to members of the media, with the goal of offering bar association members as sources for legal stories.
“A lot of times when members of the media are on deadline, they do not always have time to find the most appropriate attorney to answer their questions,” said Teodosio. “This can result in incorrect information making its way into stories.
“I would like the bar association to be the first place the media turns so that we can connect them with an attorney who can provide accurate and thorough information on issues.”
Born in Akron, Teodosio obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from The University of Akron.
He met his wife, Judge Linda Tucci Teodosio, while they were students at Akron Law.
They were married on July 23, 1983, and had two children. They lost their daughter Andrea in 2011 in a skiing accident in West Virginia.
The family has since established the Andrea Rose Teodosio Foundation, which funds organizations that support causes and groups that she cared deeply about.
Their son, Christopher, is a trust and estate attorney at the law firm Tucker Ellis.
Teodosio spent the first 25 years of his career in private practice at the law firm Teodosio, Cherpas, Manos & Ward, where his father, the late Al Teodosio, was a partner until he retired. He initially started as a clerk, working his way up to partner.
Prior to running for judge, Teodosio served on the Summit County Council where he chaired the Predatory Lending Task Force and sponsored legislation that led to the creation of the county’s Office of Consumer Affairs.
He was elected to the Summit County Common Pleas Court in 2006 and remained on the bench until February 2017 when he moved to the 9th District Court of Appeals, after being elected the previous year.
In 2019, Judge Teodosio was asked by then Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor to serve as a visiting judge on the Ohio Supreme Court.
Teodosio retired in February 2023.
He continues to serve as a visiting judge at common pleas and municipal courts around the state.
In addition to the Akron Bar, Teodosio is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association. He is a past member of the Medina County, Wayne County and Lorain County bar associations and the American Judges Association.
While Teodosio has been on numerous boards and committees over the course of his career, he has scaled back some of his commitments since retiring. He continues to serve on the Akron Zoo board and remains actively involved in the Andrea Rose Teodosio Foundation.
Over the years he’s received numerous accolades, including the prestigious St. Thomas More Award, the Akron Bar’s Liberty Bell Award, the Akron Law School Alumni Association’s Outstanding Alumni Award, the Harold K. Stubbs Humanitarian Award and the Bishop Cosgrove Justice Award from the Catholic Commission of Summit County.
As he looks ahead to his term as Akron bar president, he said he hopes his efforts to raise the organization’s profile in the community lead to an increased understanding of the rule of law and a greater respect for the legal profession.
“I look forward to leading the bar association and feel very lucky to have great people around me, including the bar staff, executive director C. Allen Nichols, my president-elect Brian Moore, immediate past president Susan Durr and the numerous past presidents who have reached out to me to offer their assistance,” said Teodosio.