Judge Nancy R. McDonnell was the Court’s first female Administrative and Presiding Judge, and served nearly 25 years on the bench. She received her law degree from CSU|LAW in 1985. After graduating from law school, Judge McDonnell served as the Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor in the Criminal Drug Division and the Major Trial Division. In 1991, she became a magistrate for the Lakewood Municipal Court. Judge McDonnell joined the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Bench in 1997. During her tenure as Administrative and Presiding Judge (2006-2009), Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judges voted on Local Rule 23.1 regarding open discovery, which mandates that prosecutors share all evidence for and against an accused citizen in criminal matters. In addition, the Re-Entry Court docket was established in 2007, and a Commercial Docket was created in 2008. The first Cuyahoga County Drug Court docket began in 2009. After a decade of planning by other government officials, Judge McDonnell led the final efforts to select a site for and begin construction on the County’s Community Based Correctional facility (CBCF). Her efforts secured millions of dollars in State funding for the construction and continuing operations of the facility. The CBCF opened in 2011 and the Facility Governing Board for the CBCF voted to name the facility after Judge McDonnell and today it is referred to as “The McDonnell Center”. Judge McDonnell also had the opportunity to preside over one of the Court’s two Drug Court dockets before she passed away on September 28, 2021.