YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Domestic Relations Court Judge Beth Smith issued three judgment entries Tuesday and Wednesday disqualifying Mahoning County Chief Deputy Clerk of Courts Jennifer Ciccone from acting as an attorney in Mahoning County Domestic Relations Court.

The entries were filed in divorce cases Ciccone was handling as an attorney.

All three cases were filed in 2024, with one of them filed in March 2024, one in July 2024 and one in August 2024.

In her judgment entry, Smith cited a section of Ohio law stating that “no clerk of the supreme court or court of common pleas, or the deputy of either, shall practice in the particular court of which that person is clerk or deputy.”

The entries each state that, “In light of such provision, attorney Jennifer Ciccone, serving in the capacity of chief deputy clerk of the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts, is no longer permitted to act as an attorney within this court.” The entries each state that Ciccone is also “immediately disqualified to act as an attorney on behalf of the plaintiff in this case. The trial in this matter shall be (postponed) in order to give the Plaintiff a reasonable period of time to retain substitute legal counsel.”

The case filed in August had several pretrial hearings last year followed by additional court dates set in January and February and then a hearing March 26. The case had trial dates Monday and Tuesday starting at 1 p.m. each day, but the case was not resolved.

Don Hepfner, Domestic Relations Court administrator and magistrate, said Wednesday that because the three cases did not get resolved early this week, Judge Smith could not wait any longer and dismissed them. “The parties are going to be given the opportunity to find substitute counsel,” Hepfner said Wednesday.

Smith said last week she did not allow Ciccone to file any new divorce cases in her court and set strict deadlines for when the last three cases had to be completed.

BOARD LETTER

The law Smith cited in her judgment entry is not the only information indicating that Jennifer Ciccone is prohibited from certain legal roles in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Jennifer Ciccone received a letter Jan. 7 from D. Allan Asbury, senior counsel for the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct in Columbus, advising her that as chief deputy of Mahoning County Clerk of Courts, she is “prohibited from appearing before any court served by the clerk of court.”

Jennifer Ciccone was asked in person last week about the letter and the three cases in Judge Smith’s Court, but she said she was too busy to talk and only partially answered one question. The Vindicator made an attempt to ask her and Michael Ciccone questions through an email, but they did not respond.

Asbury’s letter states that the Mahoning County clerk of court “serves as the clerk for the Mahoning (County) Court of Common Pleas, the Seventh District Court of Appeals and (Mahoning County) area courts.”

The letter states that the “staff of the Board of Professional Conduct” issued an earlier opinion that the elected clerk, in this case Mahoning County Clerk of Court Michael Ciccone (no relation to Jennifer Ciccone), “may engage in the private practice of law, including practicing before courts in which he or she does not serve as the clerk of court.” Michael Ciccone is also an attorney.

The letter states that “Based on our prior analysis, staff is of the opinion that under the Rules of Professional Conduct, a lawyer working for the elected clerk of courts (such as Jennifer Ciccone) is prohibited from appearing before any court served by the clerk of court.”

Asbury wrote the letter to Jennifer Ciccone in response to a letter Jennifer Ciccone submitted Dec. 18, 2024, asking the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct for guidance on what types of legal matters she could still handle if she were to accept the position of chief deputy clerk in Mahoning County.

“As the chief deputy clerk, you will likely have personal and substantial involvement in all matters filed with the clerk’s office,” Asbury’s letter continues. It added that certain Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct “would prohibit you from participating in any matter in the clerk’s office in which you personally and substantially participated while in private practice.”

The letter listed other areas where a conflict of interest might arise between her position as private practice attorney and chief deputy clerk. It states that “As an employee of the clerk of court, your personal interests could impair your independent professional judgment when representing a client before the courts served by the clerk’s office.”

There is a “statutory relationship between the common pleas court and the clerk of court” in which the clerk of court under Ohio law is required to “exercise the powers conferred and perform the duties” required of the clerk of courts “under the direction of the court,” Asbury’s letter states.

Asbury’s letter also warns Ciccone that if she were to be employed by the clerk of court, she should “never state or imply that because you are an employee of the elected clerk of court that you have an ability to influence a government agency or official, including a judge.”

It also warns Ciccone that employment with the clerk of court would subject her to the Ohio Ethics Law, which “generally allows public officials and employees to engage in private employment or business activities,” but “only if no conflict of interest arises between your private legal practice and your public duties and there is no misuse of your position.”

It cites a 1996 Ohio Ethics Commission advisory opinion that “prohibits a public official or employee who engages in private outside employment or business activity from … using public time, facilities, personnel, or resources in conducting a private business or while engaging in private outside employment.”

Asbury’s letter states that the Ohio Ethics Law “would effectively prohibit you from working for the clerk of court while simultaneously representing parties with interests in matters filed with or regulated by the clerk of court.”

The letter closed with this summary: “You may practice law while serving as an employee with the elected clerk of court subject to the restrictions in the Ohio Ethics Law and the clerk’s or funding authority’s policies governing outside employment. However, under the Rules of Professional Conduct, you may not ethically appear before Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas and other courts served by the Mahoning County Clerk of Court while employed by the clerk.”

The letter notes that the letter is not a “formal opinion of the Board of Professional Conduct,” only a “non-binding staff opinion.”

The Vindicator attempted to get clarification from Jennifer Ciccone and Michael Ciccone on a number of issues, such as whether Jennifer Ciccone works a full 40-hour week and whether state law and the Asbury letter have implications for the private legal work Michael Ciccone did before being elected clerk of courts.

The Vindicator also wanted to know the reason why former Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Bailiff Ryan Kadel was recently hired as director of operations of the clerk of courts office and how the new position affects the work responsibilities of Jennifer Ciccone.

In the brief in-person interview the Vindicator had with Jennifer Ciccone, she acknowledged getting guidance from a state agency on limits that might be imposed on her private legal practice, but she denied that she would be prevented from practicing law in Mahoning County.

PENDING CASES

A check of area courts and a public records request to Mahoning County Juvenile Court indicates that Jennifer Ciccone has worked on four cases pending in Mahoning County Juvenile Court this year, two of which are still pending. Two were filed May 17, 2024, and were closed Jan. 31, 2025, after a final hearing Jan. 14, 2025.

She is serving as an attorney in another juvenile court case filed Nov. 7, 2024, that is still pending.

And she is an attorney on a case filed Sept. 5, 2024, that is also still pending. In that case, a Feb. 24, 2025, filing by Mahoning County Juvenile Court Magistrate Maryann Fabrizi states that “Attorney (Allicyn) Tocco stated that she is appearing on behalf of Attorney Jennifer Ciccone. Attorney Tocco was cautioned that (Fabrizi) understands that Attorney Ciccone was informed by Judge (Theresa) Dellick (of Mahoning County Juvenile Court) that (Ciccone) is not permitted to appear before this Court because of conflict through her County position.” The entry added that “Attorney Tocco was unaware of same.”

Dellick would comment on any cases pending in her court involving Jennifer Ciccone as an attorney beyond the public records the Vindicator obtained.

It’s unclear how many Mahoning County Common Pleas Court civil cases Jennifer Ciccone has worked on in 2025. She was one of the attorneys in a case filed in April 2024 before Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Dennis Sarisky that was resolved in early April of this year.

Michael Ciccone appears to have no pending cases in Mahoning County courts.

PAYROLL

The Vindicator has learned that Jennifer Ciccone’s starting salary as chief deputy clerk of courts and chief of staff of the clerk of courts office was $120,000 until she received a pay raise April 20 that raised her salary to $156,000, according to the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office.

By comparison, attorney Kathi McNabb Welsh, who served as chief deputy clerk of courts for 29 years before being hired by Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro recently, made $89,045 at the end of her tenure with the clerk of courts office, according to the auditor’s office.

Recently, the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts office hired Kadel, former Mahoning County Common Pleas Court bailiff for Judge Anthony D’Apollito, to serve in the new position of director of operations for the clerk of courts office. The salary for his position is $100,006, according to the auditor’s office.

The pay of Jennifer Ciccone and the additional payroll for Kadel’s new position has substantially increased the payroll of the Clerk of Courts office, especially the payroll of the staff who work in the county courthouse. The clerk of courts office also has employees in the county’s Oakhill building and in the area courts.

The two-week payroll of the entire clerk of courts staff is now $121,519, compared to $107,041 in December, before Ciccone became clerk of courts. That is an increase of 13.5 percent.

The payroll of just the clerk of courts staff in the county courthouse rose by 26.8 percent — from $56,608 now, compared to $44,625 per two-week pay period in December, before Michael Ciccone became clerk of courts.

BACKGROUNDS

Michael Ciccone discussed his background on a campaign Facebook page last year.

He stated that he has practiced law for 10 years, mostly in Mahoning County. He is a lifelong Mahoning County resident and earned his bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University and his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law. He has his own law firm, he said. “I love our community. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”

Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Jennifer Ciccone to serve as Struthers Municipal Court judge in late September 2023 to fill the unexpired term of former judge Dominic Leone. She lost in the general election in 2023 to attorney James Melone, who is the current Struthers Municipal Court judge.

Jennifer Ciccone is a practicing attorney and owner of The Ciccone Law Firm and previously worked as a civil commitment attorney for the Trumbull County Probate Court and as a public defender in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, a 2023 press release from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine stated.

She also ran for Mahoning County commissioner in the general election of 2024 and was defeated by incumbent commissioner Anthony Traficanti.

She has stated that she earned her law degree from Ave Maria Law School in Naples, Fla., and her bachelor’s degrees in marketing and public relations from Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa.