On the Job 

The Appeals Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office was awarded a Best Brief Award from the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) for its work on Sheriff v. Gillie.

The association bestows the awards to recognize high-quality written advocacy in the U.S. Supreme Court and to highlight legal briefs that can serve as models for others.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed in Sheriff v. Gillie that private attorneys working to collect state debts on behalf of the Attorney General are not in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when using official letterhead bearing the name and seal of the Attorney General’s Office. The Appeals Section wrote the brief asking the court to preserve the arrangement.

The award was presented on June 24 in Burlington, Vt., to State Solicitor Eric Murphy, Chief Deputy Solicitor Michael Hendershot, and Deputy Solicitor Hannah Wilson. The section won the same award in 2015.