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Judge Cunning: From Sheet and Tube to the Campbell bench
RICHARD WEINER
Legal News Reporter
Published: December 28, 2017
Campbell Municipal Court Judge Patrick Paul Cunning had no plans to be a lawyer, much less a judge, until “Black Monday” fell on Youngstown Sheet and Tube on Sept. 19,1977 and the company shut down after having been in business since 1900. More than 2000 Youngstown-area workers lost their jobs that day, including Cunning.
“I was working my way up the management ladder at Sheet and Tube,” said Judge Cunning. “That’s why I got my MBA. My plan was to work in management in the steel industry as my career. I was there on Black Monday.”
After a brief stint at another local steel company, Judge Cunning said he saw the writing on the wall and set off to go to law school, launching a highly successful second career.
Judge Cunning graduated from Campbell Memorial High School in 1970, when the student population was more than twice the current attendance figure at a little over 400. He received both his bachelor’s degree in 1975 and his master’s degree in business administration in 1977 from Youngstown State University.
Escaping the collapsing steel industry, and with two young children, Judge Cunning found shelter in Akron for three years, graduating from The University of Akron School of Law in 1983. He has practiced in the Youngstown area since then. He was the acting judge in Campbell for several years before taking the bench himself.
Recently re-elected to his third term on this bench, the Campbell native is now age-limited and will retire from his post at the end of his term in six years. The Campbell Municipal Court position is part-time. The court is in session Tuesdays and Fridays. The court’s jurisdiction is Campbell and Coitsville.
Judge Cunning is also a founding partner in the Boardman law firm Scullin and Cunning LLC, founded in 2013. He concentrates his practice in Social Security and Probate, among other areas.
As a judge, he said he takes a human-centric approach to the people who come before him.
“I have always enjoyed working with people,” he said. “People who come into court are often nervous and often don’t understand what is happening. I try to allay their concerns and work with them. I have a strong capacity for making people feel comfortable.”
That approach spills over into his relationships with the court’s staff, said Campbell Clerk of Courts Christine Maker. She has been in her position since 2009.
“Judge Cunning is a fair and honest man who goes out of his way for all of us here,” she said. “All of us here agree that he is a great judge and a very good boss. He’s just a good guy.”
Judge Cunning said the most troublesome cases that come before municipal judges are drug cases, and most of the drug cases in his court arise from simple traffic stops.
He said that, although Campbell is not an official drug court, he does try to take guidance from the work of municipal drug courts.
“I try to give them an opportunity to get help” with options for treatment in lieu of jail time—although if they fail to meet his requirements, Judge Cunning said he will not hesitate to escalate the punishment.
“We can’t dismiss charges, but we have the same goals as drug court,” he said.
He said that the “worst part of the job” was that, “in a small community, you pretty much know everyone. You can’t recuse yourself from every case. It is a difficult thing to preside over a matter in which you know both parties. Someone you know is going to be mad at you.”
He also said that traffic court can be frustrating for people who get caught up in the system and cannot get out of it—whether it is the inability to get automobile insurance, pay fines or any of the little things that can add up to difficulties for defendants.
But Judge Cunning is still a local who stays on the ground and socializes with the community, even in possibly awkward moments.
In the fall and winter, Judge Cunning is known to don Santa Claus gear and show up at neighborhood functions and even visit people’s houses in the area.
“The key to playing Santa is to have a real beard,” he said. “It scares kids when they pull a fake beard of someone’s chin.”
Judge Cunning is married to Mary Eileen, and still resides in Campbell, the home of his youth. The couple already had two children when he started law school. They have four children altogether.