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BARRISTER OF THE MONTH: PAUL E. ZIMMER ESQ
Paul E. Zimmer Esq.
Pickrel, Schaeffer & Ebeling Co. LPA
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While that phrase is the branding of bar exam. After taking the bar, he had Officer sion stations to participate. Both judges were his high school alma mater, Alter Basic Training at Ft. Benjamin Harrison just admirably trying to protect the right to a fair High School, it also portrays Paul as Vietnam was winding down. He had already trial. Those who remember Judge Carl Kessler E. Zimmer’s life and his lifelong career in been promoted to 1st Lieutenant due to his have to smile, but the Court ruled against him,2 the practice of law. participation in ROTC at Notre Dame and holding the one-sided nature of the hearing
Growing up in Kettering, Paul, along with his time in law school. Like many who went would render the hearing “meaningless.” The many others I know, had the distinct honor this route, he had rank with no experience. He local television stations were allowed in the to be the first graduating class of Knights at humbly recounts the irony of being “in charge” courtrooms, subject to conditions of course. Alter High School in 1966. I knew Paul in of training because of his rank, while the ex- The rest is media history. Paul is proud of his high school, but not well until we matriculated perienced “lifer” drill sergeants were teaching involvement in establishing broadcast access to Notre Dame together. We were in the same “green” officers, including himself, how to be to trials. class, though I was downtown with the Eagles an officer in the United States Army. His active After several years in general practice howof Chaminade High School. stint in the Army Reserve ended with going ever, Paul gravitated to corporate law. He said
Paul decided to go to Notre Dame, a inactive shortly before Thanksgiving in 1973. working with other attorneys, helping business decision which was influenced by guidance counselors and others “Prepared, purposeful and passionate” clients with corporate issues, negotiations, real estate, and succession going there whom he planning has given him knew. This was a great choice since he gradu- After completing Army Basic Training, tremendous satisfaction. His leadership ated magna cum laude in 1970 from Notre Paul began full-time with PS&E. While Paul abilities eventually led him to the management Dame with a major in Economics! Shortly is known as a prominent corporate attorney, team at PS&E and later, President of the firm. after graduation, Paul married his high school focusing his practice on mergers and acquisi- He has been actively involved in the Dayton sweetheart, Maggie Traynor right before tions, tax, health care law, and transactional Bar Association as Past Chair of the Business starting law school at Duke. He always felt law, he started in the general practice area first. and Taxation Committee, along with the he wanted to go to law school and it “seemed This afforded him the opportunity to par- OSBA Corporate Law Committee and the more practical” a career. However, Paul’s deci- ticipate in two of his most memorable and Business Law and Health Care Sections of sion to go to Notre Dame for undergraduate significant cases. Both cases changed the law the ABA. Paul told me he went into law partly school and then to law school at Duke had to in Ohio and gave guidance to the courts, the because it was more practical. I found it interbe based upon the fact that the Fighting Irish parties, and their counsel about access to tri- esting that Paul helped our entire profession are great at football and the Blue Devils are als through cameras in the courtroom. There in the Dayton area in a very practical way, by great at basketball. This has enabled him to was plenty of resistance. Both cases were chairing a committee at Sinclair Community hedge his bets for the appropriate team when proceedings in mandamus and prohibition. College, to obtain ABA certification for Sinthey were foes! Paul represented Grinnell Communications clair’s paralegal program.
While at Notre Dame Paul had been in (WDTN-TV). The first case involved the Paul does not view his professional responArmy ROTC but still had to attend summer Honorable Rodney Love.1 The Court ordered sibilities to his clients, and the practice of law, camp right after graduation to get his com- that Judge Love follow the mandatory Canons as the entirety of his obligations as a lawyer. In mission. At Ft. Riley, Kansas he witnessed of Judicial Conduct, hold a hearing with a continued on page 7the difficulties the 1st Infantry Division (“Big presumption to permit media coverage (print, Red One”) had assimilating back to the Army stateside, running trash patrol at the Ft. Riley radio, and television broadcasting) and allow cameras in the courtroom during a criminal ENDNOTES: Military Reservation instead of reconnaissance trial. A few months later, in the second case, the 1State ex rel. Grinnell Communications Corp. v. or combat patrols. After law school, Paul joined Honorable Carl D. Kessler, long remembered Love, 62 Ohio St. 2d 299 (June 1980). Pickrel, Schaeffer & Ebeling, spending part- as an icon of the Bench, resisted by holding a 2State ex rel. Miami Valley Broadcasting Corp. v. time as a clerk and part-time studying for the hearing, but not permitting the local televi- Kessler, 64 Ohio St. 2d 165 (December 1980).