Hon. Craig R. Baldwin is the presiding judge for the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals. He was appointed to the seat in 2013 by former Governor John Kasich to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Julie Edwards (Ret.). Baldwin was subsequently elected to the Court of Appeals in 2014 and 2016.
Prior to his position there, he had presided as a judge in the Domestic Relations Division of the Licking County Court of Common Pleas since his election in 2004 (2005 to 2013).
Baldwin received a B.A. in political science from Ohio University in 1986. While attending law school at night, he worked for the Franklin County Municipal Court Clerk of Court and the Ohio Public Defender’s Office. Baldwin went on to complete a J.D. at Capital University Law School in 1992.
Prior to beginning his judicial career, he practiced as a partner in the law firm of Jones, Norpell, List, Miller & Howarth since 1997. Before that, he was an associate at Swank & Wilson (1992 to 1997). Baldwin represented clients in civil and criminal matters, doing both trial and appellate work.
In addition to his private practice, he was appointed by the Licking County Commissioners in 2001 to serve as Director of the Licking County Child Support Enforcement Agency, a position he maintained until joining the Common Pleas Court.
Baldwin has served on assignment on the Ohio Supreme Court and is a former chair of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Commission on Rules of Superintendence. He was also appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court Task Force on the Funding of Ohio Courts.
His other memberships have included the Licking County Bar Association, the Stark County Bar Association, and the Ohio State Bar Association.
Baldwin has taught as an instructor at the Ohio Judicial College.
His civic involvement included the Newark-Heath Rotary and the Licking Memorial Hospital (board member).
Baldwin, who had an unsuccessful bid for judge of the Ohio Supreme Court in 2018, considers himself to be a Constitutional originalist and a textualist patterned after the late Hon. Antonin Scalia, former United States Supreme Court Justice.
He and his wife, Kelly, have two grown children.
Baldwin is registered as a Republican.