At the February 3rd, 2025 3M Club meeting, Judge Tim Rudduck spoke about what led him to his 40-year career as a judge. For a project in high school, Rudduck chose to interview a local attorney, Fred Buckley. This inspired him to attend Miami University, where he majored in Political Science with the intention of attending law school after obtaining his undergraduate degree. However, Rudduck was selected for the draft in the late 1960s. He was stationed throughout the United States, where he was trained to be a military police officer. After serving as a guard of a nuclear weapons facility in Savanna, Illinois, Rudduck was given an early out to attend law school. He attended Ohio State University and obtained his law degree in 1976. Although not in his original plan, Judge Rudduck credits his time in the military with meeting his wife, which he described as love at first sight.
After marrying his wife in 1976, Rudduck got his first job with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office as the Assistant Attorney General. Upon living near Columbus for a few years, he received a call from Bill Peelle, a local attorney and friend. Peele proposed that Rudduck move back to Clinton County and partner with Peele in private practice law, which Rudduck accepted.
In 1984, Rudduck received a call from the Clerk of Courts, who informed him that the sitting judge was retiring and planned to appoint Rudduck as the acting judge. He completed the former judge’s term and was then elected shortly after. Up until his retirement in 2024, Rudduck did not leave the bench after that appointment. During his tenure as a judge in Clinton County, Rudduck started the “drug court” after he studied addiction and learned that it was a brain disease. Rudduck stressed the importance of justice, consistency, and mercy on the bench. He even noted that he encouraged Judge Rocky Coss in Highland County to start a “drug court.” Rudduck sees the “drug court” in Clinton County continuing under the new judge, Andrew McCoy. Rudduck also mentioned that the “drug court” had 64 total graduates in 14 graduations of the two-year program.
