Judge Luann Cooperrider, Perry County Probate-Juvenile judge, has received yet another accolade in her long and distinguished career—The Ohio State University at Newark Distinguished Alumni Award. The Thornville resident was presented with the award at the 2017 Student and Alumni Homecoming Dinner at the Newark campus on Thurs., Oct. 5.
“Judge Cooperrider truly represents how starting your college and career path at Ohio State Newark can be a connection to an extraordinary life,” said Ohio State Newark Dean/Director William L. MacDonald. “We are incredibly pleased to present this second annual award to such a notable alumna. She has built a career out of helping others and putting community first.”
Cooperrider is a graduate of Sheridan High School in Thornville, Ohio. She attended Ohio State Newark and earned a Bachelor of Arts at The Ohio State University. She then earned a Juris Doctor at Capital University’s law school and also completed graduate work at Loyola University in Rome, Italy.
In her early career Cooperrider was the night prosecutor-hearing officer in Licking County from 1982 to 1990 and also taught business law classes at Central Ohio Technical College from 1985 to 1988. In 1986, she became the first female lawyer to be an assistant prosecutor in Perry County, a position she held until 1990. She took office as the Perry County Probate-Juvenile judge in 1991 and became the first female judge in Perry County. She also has been a professor of various law courses at Hocking College, Perry County campus, New Lexington.
Throughout her career Judge Cooperrider has received many honors and awards, including: president of the Ohio Association of Juvenile Judges, Ohio State Bar Association Women in Law Award, Ohio Education Service Center Award for Enhancing Education to the Youth of Perry County, president of the Ohio Juvenile Court Judges Board of Trustees, Grand Master’s Community Service Award from the Freemasons, and the Ohio Justice Alliance for Community Corrections C.J. McLin award, as listed on the Perry County Juvenile Court/Probate Court website.
In 2008, Judge Luann Cooperrider was instrumental in starting a free legal clinic in Perry County with Judge Dean Wilson of the Perry County Court. In 2012, Judge Cooperrider and Judge Wilson were honored by The Ohio State Bar Foundation with an Outstanding Organization Award.