Law director selected for Perrysburg

0

PERRYSBURG — City council has chosen a new law director who comes from the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

Mayor Tom Mackin’s choice for the open city law director position, Timothy Effler, was confirmed on a unanimous vote. There was little discussion during the council meeting, because it followed a special committee of the whole that took place immediately prior to the regular council meeting on Tuesday.

Effler was something of a surprise choice. Of the 10 applicants interviewed, his was not made public, because of confidentiality of his on-going work at the attorney general’s office.

Several aspects of the new job with the city grabbed Effler’s interest.

“My private practice that I had before was very general and I got to work in a lot of different areas of law,” he said. “I’ve always been kind of a life-long learner. I love working in all different areas and learning new things about the law. I also like working with different individuals.

“I’m really looking forward to having a good community to work with, as well as getting back into some of the old law that I really loved.”

Effler said he worked on consumer protection cases, anything that had to do with consumer scams, contractor scams and multi-state litigation, which was dealing with large-scale national companies that states had to sue.

Councilman Mark Weber asked about Effler’s municipal legal experience and what resources he might use when he has questions on areas that he might not be familiar with.

He said that he has a wide network of contacts within the local area, and also referenced possible use of the Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association. He has worked with the organization in the past.

Prior to his work at the attorney general’s office, Effler ran his own practice for 12 years, with a focus on commercial contract and real estate contracts and negotiations. He worked cases related to zoning, civil and defense litigation for individuals, small businesses and corporations. Additionally, he represented clients in labor and employment issue resolution.

Effler also worked for the Toledo Legal Aid Society, training and supervising junior attorneys especially in investigation and trial advocacy techniques.

He is a graduate of Bowling Green State University, in business education, and the University of Toledo College of Law.

Effler has worked part time in the family real estate business since 2005, first doing accounting work but also doing the occasional legal project.

“I’ve been a Realtor. Basically I got my license to help my father and to get through law school and once I got through law school and passed the bar I started working more on the legal side and less on the real estate,” Effler said.

No posts to display