UC Law celebrates 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients

The Honorable Stephen Markman served for 21 years as Justice of the Supreme Court of Michigan and, for a time, as that Court’s Chief Justice. Judge Markman took pride in serving on the trial courts of Michigan in administering more than 100 state adoptions. In addition, he served for seven years as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution and as Deputy Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

He was nominated by President Ronald Reagan, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as Assistant Attorney General of the United States, in charge of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, in which he headed the federal judicial selection process, recommending more than 200 judicial candidates to the President, and coordinating the principal policy-development office of the Department.

Prior to serving on the Supreme Court of Michigan, Markman also served for four years as the United States Attorney in Michigan, earning national attention for firearm-prosecution policies and for a series of anti-corruption prosecutions against state judges and the Chief of Police of the City of Detroit.

Judge Markman was one of three international members of the Judicial Selection Commission of Ukraine since 2021. Along with three Ukrainian judges, the Commission has chosen all members of the High Qualifications Commission of that country, the country’s judge-selectors, and judge-evaluators, to elevate Ukraine’s judiciary as a prelude to membership in the European Union.

Judge Markman has spoken before hundreds of youth, civic, charitable, and professional groups throughout Michigan and nationally; debated frequently in law schools and elsewhere (including at the UC Law School); testified before Congress and state legislatures; received recognition from the Michigan Bar Association, and federal and state law enforcement organizations; and written numerous law review articles, including for the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, the University of Chicago Law Review; and the Stanford Law Review.

Ted Martin has decades of experience trying civil cases. His trials have run the gamut from a six-month jury trial in state court in which scores of witnesses testified to a bench trial in federal court in which the judge permitted each side only ninety minutes to present its case before rendering a million-dollar verdict.

Until last June, Martin served as litigation leader, hiring partner, and pro bono legal services coordinator for BakerHostetler’s Cincinnati office, overseeing the Cincinnati office’s participation in the Summer Work Experience in Law (SWEL) program, and mentoring newer attorneys at BakerHostetler and within the larger legal community. While at BakerHostetler, his cases focused on civil matters that called for a tailored strategy, a detail-oriented approach, and a willingness to proceed to trial. In numerous cases, his clients have prevailed on nuanced questions of first impression in state and federal court.

Prior to this position, he was a Partner at Thompson Hine LLP/Paxton & Seasongood, focusing his work on contract, products liability, and business tort cases.

In June 2023, Martin formed his own firm, Ted T. Martin, LLC, to provide mediation and arbitration services to parties seeking a rigorous and confidential examination of the merits of their positions.

His community involvement over the years has included Summer Work Experience in Law (SWEL), Scholarship Committee, Greater Cincinnati Minority Counsel Program (GCMCP), Board of Trustees, Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati (BLAC), Lifetime Member, Ohio Supreme Court Mentoring Program, Mentor, Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, Board of Trustees, and Prokids, Board of Trustees, Chair.

Tara M. Rosnell is the current Chair of the Board of Advocates for the Ohio Innocence Project (OIP) at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.  Rosnell joined OIP’s Board of Advocates in 2018 and has served in numerous capacities, including as Vice-chair and as a member of the Executive Committee and Events Committee.  In 2023 she chaired the planning committee for OIP’s 20th  Anniversary Gala at Music Hall featuring John Grisham as keynote speaker. This event raised $500,000 in support of OIP’s work to free the wrongfully convicted from Ohio’s prisons.  Additionally, she has done volunteer legal and investigatory work for OIP since 2018.

Prior to 2018, Rosnell was Associate General Counsel- Intellectual Property at the Procter & Gamble Company from 2000-2018.  She joined P&G’s Legal Division in 1991 and her practice included all aspects of IP law: patents, trademarks, copyright, designs, domain names, rights of publicity, brand protection and IP enforcement through negotiation, mediation, and litigation.  Additionally, from 2009-2018, she was responsible to the Chief Legal Officer for P&G Legal/Government Relations Diversity, Inclusion & Recruiting program.

Sarah Topy, recipient of the Young Alumni Award, is an attorney and an Assistant General Counsel at Procter & Gamble where she focuses on advertising, trademark, and regulatory law.  She has spent her entire legal career with P&G since graduating from the College of Law.  In addition, she is an adjunct professor at the College of Law teaching classes on In House Counsel.  Topy serves on the boards of the Immigrant and Refugee Law Center, the Ohio Innocence Project, the Association of Corporate Counsel, and Bigger than Sneakers.  She is also a trustee for the Cincinnati Bar Foundation.  While a student at the College of Law, Topy was the Chair of the Student Legal Education Committee and the Executive Editor of prestigious University of Cincinnati Law Review.