Judge Timothy C. Kuhlman

Timothy C. Kuhlman was born and raised in Arlington, Ohio.  He graduated from Hillsdale College in Michigan in 1988 and graduated from the University of Toledo Law School and joined the Ohio Bar in 1991. 

During Law School he was a member of the Law Review and was a Prosecutor Intern in the Toledo Municipal Court.  After graduation he became an associate at Eastman & Smith, Ltd., where he practiced for 14 years, trying more than 20 jury trials and handling more than 20 appeals.

In February 2005 he joined the Toledo Municipal Court and served as Presiding and Administrative Judge from 2007 through 2010, and again starting in 2019-2020.   As Presiding Judge, he worked closely with the other Judges, the Toledo Bar Association, city and other government officials and interest advocacy groups to continue improvements in the Toledo Municipal Court to ensure efficiency of operations, budget saving measures, and justice for all people who are served by the Court.

Judge Kuhlman serves on the Lucas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council as Vice Chair and Finance and Reentry Committee Chairs.  He works closely with the Domestic Violence Task Force and its Court’s Subcommittee to ensure safe and fair access to the Court for victims of domestic violence, and works with the YMCA Storer Camps on Camp Hope for children who witness violence.  He works with the Re-entry Coalition of Northwest Ohio to give incarcerated offenders an opportunity to be successful citizens upon release, and since October 2011 has run a monthly re-entry docket where recently released offenders have an opportunity to address outstanding Toledo Municipal Court issues.  Judge Kuhlman also serves on the Toledo Police Athletic League Board.

Judge Kuhlman has focused recent efforts on working with leadership in Lucas County to reduce its overall jail population, with particular focus on defendants of color, defendants with mental health, drug and alcohol issues and poverty.  Judge Kuhlman serves on the Lucas County committee that successfully obtained a MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge grant to continue to focus on these issues, and has worked with others in Lucas County and the Arnold Foundation (Arnold Ventures) to implement the Public Safety Assessment risk assessment bond tool.  With others in that group, Judge Kuhlman presented at the University of Michigan Law School, Michigan Journal of Race and Law, at their seminar titled “Innocent Until Proven Poor, Fighting the Criminalization of Poverty” on February 20, 2016.  Judge Kuhlman is part of the Leadership Team that has provided procedural justice training to over 600 people in the Toledo Lucas County Criminal Justice System; he taught procedural justice to participants of the Bureau of Justice Assistance Smart Suite Fellows Academy through Michigan State University and has been an instructor for the Ohio Supreme Court and the Municipal Court Judges Association on topics ranging from procedural justice to alternative bail practices. In October 2019 he participated with the Center for Court Innovation, the Joyce Foundation and Latham and Watkins for Risk Assessment, Violent Crime and the Fight to End Mass Incarceration: A National Judicial Leadership Summit. 

Judge Kuhlman is married to Kathy and has two sons, Benjamin 15 and Scott 10.