Lynn Toler
| Lynn Toler | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Lynn Candace Toler October 25, 1959 Columbus, Ohio |
| Residence | Mesa, Arizona |
| Occupation | Judge for Divorce Court, lawyer, arbitrator |
| Years active | 2001 to Present |
| Spouse(s) | Eric Mumford (m. 1989) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | http://www.judgelynn.com |
Lynn Candace Toler (born October 13, 1959) is an American lawyer and the arbitrator on the court series Divorce Court.
Toler is a native of Columbus, Ohio. She earned an undergraduate degree in English and American Literature from Harvard University (1981) and a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1984).
Toler served as sole municipal judge in Cleveland Heights Municipal Court for eight years after working as an attorney specializing in civil matters. At 34 years old, she won her first judicial race by just 6 votes in a predominantly Democratic district as a Republican, where Democrats held 5:1 majority. Her cases involved all misdemeanor crimes, traffic, and minor cost civil cases within an inner ring suburb of Cleveland, Ohio of about 50,000 residents. When re-elected in 2000 she garnered 80% of the vote. Toler was known for enforcing nontraditional judgments, such as hand written essays. While on the bench she created and ran a mentoring program for teenaged girls. During this time, she served on many boards including The Juvenile Diabetes Board, The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and The Cleveland Domestic Violence Center. In 2002, she received The Humanitarian of the Year Award from The Cleveland Domestic Violence Center.
While serving as a retired judge between 2001 and 2006, Toler became an adjunct professor at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio where she created, and taught, courses on Civil Rights Law and Women's Rights.
As the level-headed arbiter of Divorce Court, Toler is usually seen providing counsel, words of wisdom, and trying to talk sense into the show's outrageous couples. She has a strident vocal timbre and uses emphasis in much of her speech. Prior to becoming the arbitrator of Divorce Court, she hosted the short-lived court show Power of Attorney. In 2007, while hosting Divorce Court, she expanded her television presence by becoming the host of the prime time television show and MyNetworkTV's Decision House. In 2008 and 2009, Toler was a bi-monthly contributor on News and Notes, a weekly news show on National Public Radio (NPR). In 2009, she became a co-executive producer of Wedlock or Deadlock, a syndicated limited-city series based on a segment of Divorce Court.
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