Oct. 7, 2011

Cheryl Hacker, general counsel and special assistant to the president at Shawnee State University, was admitted to the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Oct. 3.

Hacker has been a practicing attorney in Ohio since 1988. For more than a year now, she has been working at Shawnee State University.

She has a certificate with the federal district court for the southern district of Ohio. The requirements for being admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court are that a person must be in good standing with a state court, pay a fee and get two sponsors who are already admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Richard Cordray, former Ohio attorney general who had clerked for two of the justices before was one of my sponsors," Hacker said. "The other sponsor was the first Ohio state female Chief Deputy Solicitor General Alexandra Schimmer."

Capital University Law School organized the event so that about a dozen Ohio attorneys could be admitted that day, among others.

"I had been in that courtroom before but never in the section just for the attorneys just a few feet away from the justices," she said. "After everyone is in the courtroom, the justices enter and the dean of Capital Law School made a motion to the court to admit each of us. It was a really neat ceremonial experience. It is a great honor."

Hacker doesn't anticipate arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court but she will get a certificate and be able to enter the court, use the extensive legal library and sit in a special reserved section in the courtroom.