WSU Attorney on Supreme Court | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State attorney of nearly 20 years Stephanie Allen appeared to all nine justices of the Supreme Court for approval to present to the Court in possible future cases.
How the approval happened
A staple of WSU Legal Services, attorney Stephanie Allen can be seen assisting students in a variety of legal matters, including parking tickets and landlord disputes, most of the time.
Allen began her time at WSU in 2006 after graduating from the University of Dayton Law School. Previously, Allen earned an undergraduate degree from Eastern Kentucky University in political science.
Allen wanted the approval to present to the Supreme Court seven or eight years ago, but the University of Dayton always reached their annual cap on the attorneys that would attend the Court each year.
Less than 10 years ago, the University of Dayton began this program to sponsor selected attorneys to be granted admission to the Supreme Court Bar. Attorneys associated with the University of Dayton that had been previously approved to present to the Supreme Court would sponsor the selected attorneys. Only attorneys previously approved to present to the Supreme Court may sponsor attorneys for consideration of this honor.
Earlier this year, Allen received an email confirming her sponsorship from the University of Dayton Law School.
“It’s a pretty rigorous application process. They have to do a background check on you. You get a certificate from the state of Ohio saying you’re in good standing, meaning you haven’t done anything to be disbarred or reprimanded as a lawyer,” Allen said. “If everything comes back fine, then you go there and they swear you in.”
Appearing before the Supreme Court
On the morning of April 12, Allen appeared to the Supreme Court along with all other attorneys receiving the same honor.
Usually, at least one Supreme Court justice will swear in the applicants, but the 2024 cohort had the rare treat of being sworn in by all nine justices.
“We were all very happy and excited, and you know, as a lawyer, there’s nothing bigger. There’s no stage bigger than that,” Allen said.
It was especially surprising considering that the cohort is not told which justices will appear beforehand.
The justices read three opinions of unrelated cases to the cohort, cases that had previously appeared to the court. The cases were Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. v. MOAB Partners, Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St. and Sheetz v. County of El Dorado.
After that came the swearing-in ceremony, the oath of admission and signing the roll of attorneys, signifying the attorneys’ admission to the bar and the eligibility to practice before the supreme court.
Overall, Allen reported that the experience was very surreal.
“Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don’t see that a lot of students, like at Wright State, are gonna have constitutional issues,” Allen said. “But still, it’s cool to be able to say I went there and I was sworn in. I can go there and practice if I want.”
