Second District Judge Jeffrey Welbaum sits as an assigned visiting judge for the Supreme Court.

Second District Judge Jeffrey Welbaum sits as an assigned visiting judge for the Supreme Court.

For Judge Jeffrey Welbaum, the most interesting part of his work on the Second District Court of Appeals is listening to oral arguments. Each case presents intrigue with the possibility of hearing an unexpected or novel legal claim. To him, it’s like when he’s scuba diving in the ocean, 80 feet beneath the surface.

“You might as well be on a different planet because of the creatures you see and how the laws of physics are so different from what we’re used to on land,” said Judge Welbaum, who has been on the Second District since 2013.

The judge’s scuba diving days began approximately 30 years ago. He tried it at the suggestion of a friend who owned a lake in Piqua. Since then, he’s had hundreds of dives across the world where he’s hunted for lobsters, seen the remains of sunken World War II ships and submarines, and swam among sharks.

“I was with a group in Hawaii when we spotted a whale shark beneath us that was 30 to 35 feet long. It wanted to check us out, so it came toward us. We swam out of its way as it went right by us. It was so close we could touch it,” said Judge Welbaum.

The judge’s exploratory nature can also be seen throughout his experience in the legal profession. Before the Second District, he was a private attorney, assistant public defender, assistant prosecutor, elected prosecutor, and common pleas judge in Miami County. The perspective from all those positions serves as an additional tool to navigate complex appellate arguments.

“The law is not always 100% clear. Many times, you have different laws that appear to be conflicting when needed to resolve a dispute,” said Judge Welbaum.

The state’s most challenging debates often make their way to the Supreme Court of Ohio where Judge Welbaum recently sat for Justice Joseph T. Deters, who recused. The Ohio Constitution gives the chief justice authority to select an appellate judge to sit for a Supreme Court case when there is a justice recusal. Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy assigned Judge Welbaum to hear the case of State v. Williams that explores whether a juvenile can be charged with an additional crime in adult court if the prosecution doesn’t first bring the charge in juvenile court.

The judge had one previous assignment as a visiting judge on the Supreme Court in January 2019. He remembered what it was like familiarizing himself to a new environment at the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center in Columbus and the process of deliberating a case on a panel of seven jurists instead of three at the Second District.

“Whether I’m in scuba gear or a robe, the unexpected is what makes life interesting,” Judge Welbaum said.