Former Pro Football Player Gets Law Degree

Jenna Gant | May 7, 2013

Brandon Mitchell played football at The Ohio State University and professionally for the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns before he decided to trade his football pads for a legal pad.

Mitchell said he knew he would eventually change professional fields as his grandfather instilled in him the commitment to serve the community and its people from an early age.

"I set out a goal when I was 8 or 9 years old that I wanted to be a lawyer," Mitchell said. "I majored in political science as an undergrad, so I always had those aspirations to eventually go to law school."

Mitchell went back to his Ohio roots from his football playing days and attended OSU's Moritz College of Law. He said he was able to use his competitive side to complete his law degree.

On May 6, he joined around 250 other successful bar admission applicants who also satisfied all of the Ohio Supreme Court's requirements for admission in the May 2013 Bar Admissions Ceremony.

"It's one of those things where you set out goals for yourself in life, and to finally be able to accomplish those goals and to walk across that stage and know I'm an attorney now, and the long road, you think of the struggle it took to get there, it was a great feeling," Mitchell said.

Supreme Court Justice William M. O'Neill led the new attorneys in the professional oath, and Justice Sharon L. Kennedy offered remarks.

"Despite what others may think, promoting the common good, defending our constitutional rights, upholding the rule of law, and making another person's problems, even if temporarily, your own is noble and honorable, and in the end that's what being a lawyer is all about," Justice Kennedy said.

Promoting the common good is one reason why Mitchell said he doesn't miss playing football too much. Mitchell is currently employed with Nationwide in its general counsel division.

Following the ceremony, the attorneys and their families visited the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center, including the Supreme Court courtroom, and the Law Library. New attorneys also were able to file their registration paperwork and learn about the Supreme Court's mentoring program.