The Honorable Judge Mary Kate Huffman

Judge Mary Katherine Huffman was a longtime judge of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas until she won election to the Second District Court of Appeals on November 8, 2022. As a testament to the esteem in which she is held, the announcement of her candidacy for the court of appeals cleared the field, and she faced no opposition in either the primary or the general election. Nathaniel Fouch recently sat down to interview her. The following has been edited for clarity.

What led you to run for the open seat on the Second District Court of Appeals? What are your objectives in your new role?

I ran for the Second District Court of Appeals because I enjoy the academic aspect of the law and thus the research and writing associated with appellate courts was interesting to me.

Imagine for a moment that it is February 8, 2029. Looking back on the "past" six years of your first term on the court of appeals, what will have made it a success in your eyes?

This is a difficult question, particularly since courts have a very discrete function. I think a success would be that decisions from the court continue, as they have under the current and former judges on this bench, to be thoughtful, thorough and timely.

Your two-plus decades of service as a common pleas judge has given you deep connections to Montgomery County. In what ways have you been able to connect with the other counties in the Second District (Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, and Miami) both before and during your campaign? Campaigning provides a great opportunity to meet people all over the district, and I certainly appreciated meeting others, including many people both in the legal community and outside of the legal community in the other counties. I am from Miami County originally and most of my family remains there, so I have deep roots in that part of the district. I was fortunate when I practiced, though, to litigate cases in all of the counties in the district, so I had some historical familiarity with those counties also.

You have a long record of service to the Dayton Bar Association (DBA), culminating in your term as president of the organization in 2013–14, and continuing even now as you co-chair the Public & Member Services Section and sit on the Carl D. Kessler Inn of Court Executive Committee. What do you consider the most important work you have done for the DBA?

Wow, this is a tough question! I have been so privileged to work with the DBA and its staff on many different projects, including the Dayton Bar Foundation, which provides financial support for many critical law-related organizations. I think, though, what I value greatly in terms of my DBA involvement has been the opportunity, whether as a Bar Association or the Foundation, to collaborate with and assist in supporting the work of the Greater Dayton Volunteer Lawyers Project, which provides such valuable aid to those in need of legal services in the Miami Valley. In addition, the programs provided by the DBA that support the collegiality of our profession, including Chancery Club, Women in Law Forum, Breakfast with the Bench, and the Bench Bar Conference, among many others, afford great opportunities for our legal community.