Justice
Patrick F. Fischer

Justice Patrick Fischer has had a rather distinguished legal career, which culminated in his receiving the Ohio State Bar Association’s most prestigious award, the Ohio Bar Medal, which is given to a lawyer or judge for their “dedicated service to the legal profession, the community, and humanity.”

Justice Fischer began his first six-year term on the Supreme Court of Ohio on Jan. 1, 2017, following his election in November 2016.Then in November 2022, Justice Patrick F. Fischer was reelected to a second term. Previously, he had been twice elected to serve as a judge on the First District Court of Appeals.

Justice Fischer has dedicated himself to the rule of law for 40 years. An honors graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College, he tried cases throughout the country, and was named to Best Lawyers in America, Top 50 Lawyers in Cincinnati, and Top 100 Lawyers in Ohio. He was routinely named to Ohio Super Lawyers.

A respected member of the legal community, then-Judge Fischer served as president of the Ohio State Bar Association from 2012 to 2013, and previously served on its Board of Governors, chaired its budget and headquarters committee, and served on numerous other of the Association’s committees and task forces, and in its House of Delegates. Justice Fischer also has served two terms on the board of the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program. He was elected by his peers as president of the Cincinnati Bar Association for 2006 through 2007, and served on numerous CBA committees.

Justice Fischer has an abiding interest in ethics and professionalism. As an attorney, he served two terms on the Ohio Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism, including serving as vice chair. He also chaired the CBA’s Ethics and Professional Responsibility, as well as its Professionalism, committees.

Having represented plaintiffs and defendants while an attorney, Justice Fischer knows the importance of listening to all sides and is keenly aware of how important it is that the law be applied properly in each case. The late Supreme Court chief justice, Thomas J. Moyer, named him to co-chair a task force to make the Ohio judicial system more efficient and just. Justice Fischer served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission and was vice chair of its committee on the judicial branch.

Justice Fischer began his legal career with a clerkship for U.S. District Court Judge William Bertelsman, and in 1987, he began working in the trial department for the law firm of Keating Muething & Klekamp and four years later, became a partner.

Justice Fischer has been a dedicated public servant, too. He served on numerous boards, such as the Hamilton County Mental Health & Recovery Services Board, Visions Community Services Board, St. Ursula Villa, and the Pleasant Ridge Community Council. He was a founding member of the Cincinnati Children’s Museum and serving on its board, and as president.

Justice Fischer and his wife, Jane, live in Cincinnati, and have one married daughter who is an Ohio attorney and two grandsons. A graduate of St. Xavier High School, Justice Fischer also is an active, longtime member of St. Xavier Catholic Church in downtown Cincinnati.