Judge Sean C. Gallagher was elected to the Ohio Court of Appeals on November 5, 2002. Prior to his election he served as a judge in the Cleveland Municipal Court from 1997 to 2002. Judge Gallagher has over thirty-five years of direct experience in all areas of the Ohio justice system. He, literally, worked his way up from the “ground floor,” having started as a janitor cleaning courtrooms at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court in the 1970s, while home on break from Ohio University.  

Judge Gallagher was a felony prosecutor in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office from 1991-1997. He served three years in the specialized “while collar” Economic Crime Unit of that office. In the 1970s, he also worked with underprivileged children at the Metzenbaum Children’s Center in Cleveland and with incarcerated youth at the Youth Development Center in Hudson, Ohio. He served four years as a Juvenile Probation Officer in Cuyahoga County and was Common Pleas Court Bailiff for six years to Donald C. Nugent, now a Federal Judge for the Northern District of Ohio. 

Judge Gallagher served as Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure for Ohio Courts (2009-2010). He also serves on the Ohio Judicial Conference Criminal Law and Procedure Committee. He has been an instructor with the Supreme Court of Ohio Judicial College for fifteen years. He also has served as an instructor with the American Bar Association, the Ohio Highway Patrol, the Cleveland Police Academy, and the Cleveland Browns. Lastly, he served as president of the Northern Ohio Municipal Judges Association in 2001-2002. 

Judge Gallagher was named “Legal Eagle - Man of the Year” for St. Edward High School in 2005. He received the “President’s Award” for service with the Cuyahoga County Bar Association in 2006 and was named one of the Outstanding Alumni for Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 2007. In 2010 he received a “Champion of Justice Award” from the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys for his work in passing the new “open discovery” Criminal Rule 16.