Matt Rambo’s dream job is to become a “professional puppy cuddler,” he recently quipped, then added — more seriously — he’s always wanted to serve his community on the judicial bench.
Matt Rambo’s dream job is to become a “professional puppy cuddler,” he recently quipped, then added — more seriously — he’s always wanted to serve his community on the judicial bench.
Rambo fulfilled that dream Dec. 27 after being sworn in as a Geauga County Court of Common Pleas judge.
“It’s a job I’ve always wanted and … it (has) met all my expectations so far,” he said in a May 2 interview, reflecting on his first five months on the bench.
Rambo defeated the late Judge Mary Jane Trapp by six percentage points in the Nov. 5 general election.
Trapp earned 22,050 votes while Rambo received 25,048, according to final results of the Geauga County Board of Elections.
“Russell Township and the legal community have lost a very valuable resource,” he said of Trapp’s recent passing, adding the former Eleventh District Court of Appeals judge was a mentor for Rambo early on in his political career and helped him get into the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.
Most recently, Trapp helped him mediate cases on his docket, he said.
“I was kind of looking forward to getting her more involved with some of these cases and I was confident that she was going to do a good job,” he said. “She’ll really be missed.”
Rambo was raised in Maumee, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University in 2002 and a law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2005.
“I just loved working in the court, I loved working with the judges,” he said of his time working for the Court of Claims of Ohio while in law school.
Later, Rambo worked as a magistrate for the Court of Claims of Ohio from 2006 to 2013, followed by five years as a staff attorney for the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
For the past eight years, he’s been in private practice and in addition to his legal career, he served as a trustee for Russell Township — where he lives with his wife and two children – from 2022 until late last year, when he was elected to the bench.
As a trustee, his work on the township budget with Russell Township Fiscal Officer Karen Walder helped Rambo, as he has an even greater responsibility for budgeting in his new role, he said.
His experience working with law enforcement has also carried over from his time as trustee, he said.
While Rambo realized early on the challenges he would face and the weight of the responsibility he would have as a judge, it is not for the faint of heart, he said.
“One of the challenges that I think I realized early on is when you’re in a criminal case and they plead guilty or have otherwise been convicted of a crime and … my job is to sentence them either to prison or probation,” Rambo said. “At first, it was kind of a surreal moment to think that I had this person’s freedom in my hands, whoever it is. The Constitution guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and most days, I’m taking away two of those from somebody — their liberty and their happiness.”
He is doing the best he can while doing the job constituents voted him in to do, he said.
“Most times when people are in front of me, that’s — it’s one of the worst days of their life and so it’s kind of, I guess, humbling to some extent to think that that’s the power that I have, but it’s also what I was elected to do,” he said.
One thing Rambo did not anticipate was how large a role he plays in deciding court policy, employee policy and employee handbooks.
“The amount of time and effort I had to devote to (that) kind of administrative stuff — it was unexpected to me,” he said.
Looking ahead, Rambo expressed excitement for the completion of the Geauga County Courthouse expansion on Chardon Square.
“It’s going to be a huge step up in terms of technology in the courtroom,” he said, adding it will also be more handicap accessible.
He is also looking forward to having better security measures in the new building, Rambo said.
“Our building (is) not currently really up to snuff with a lot of those (security) standards,” he said. “So, it will be a lot more secure for not just the judges and magistrates, but (for) the other employees and the public, as well.”
He added, “From what I can tell and what I see, (this is) going to be something that the people in the county should be proud of.”
As Rambo continues donning his judicial robe and settling into this new chapter, he expressed a desire to remain there for many years to come.
“This is the job that I’ve wanted — the position I’ve wanted for a very long time,” Rambo said. “It’s a position I’m greatly enjoying, and it’s a position that as long as the voters of Geauga County will have me, I’ll still be here.”
