Know Your Clerk
Vallie Bowman-English was elected Clerk of the Toledo Municipal Court in
November of 2003. She is the first African-American and first attorney to be
elected to the position.
As Clerk, Vallie has worked to make the office more efficient and better
serve the public. She has aggressively collected past due money owed to Toledo
Municipal Court through the collection program she began in 2005. To date, over
$10 million dollars has been collected through the program.
Additionally, Vallie has implemented real time data entry in 8 high volume
courtrooms. This allows clerks to record entries as the Judge or Magistrate is
ruling on the case(s) and gives other departments and the public immediate
access to the case information. In many instances, it also allows for further
processing without having to wait for the case file to be delivered to locations
within the court.
Vallie has also increased the public’s access to the Court’s records by
placing case information online on the Clerk of Court’s website. Prior to this,
the public had to call or come to the Clerk’s office to inquire about case
information. Images of court documents are also available on the site.
Vallie is a member of the Ohio Association of Municipal / County Clerks, and
serves as the organization’s First Vice-President. She is also the Vice-Chair of
the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and acts as the Chair of CJCC’s
Finance and Allocation Review Committees.
In addition, Vallie is a member of the Toledo Bar Association and serves as
the board secretary. She is a member of the Lucas County Democratic Party, the
Perry Burroughs Democratic Women’s Club and serves as Vice-President of the
Toledo Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.
Prior to her election as Clerk, Vallie was an Assistant Lucas County
Prosecutor under the leadership of Julia R. Bates. During her employment,
Vallie was responsible for the convictions of many offenders charged with crimes
such as aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, rape, felonious assault, drug
possession and trafficking, forgery, escape, and grand theft.
Vallie was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. She is a graduate of Jesup W.
Scott High School, and received her Bachelors Degree in Political Science from
the University of Toledo in 1992. Vallie received her Doctorate of Jurisprudence
from the Ohio Northern University College of Law in 1995.
Vallie lives in Toledo with her husband Ian and their son.