OACTA Membership Categories

Download the Membership Application

Those persons qualified for membership in OACTA are:

  • Active: (1) Members of the Bar of Ohio actively engaged in the practice of civil law who represent the interests of defendants in tort litigation or other parties in civil disputes who are paid for their services other than principally out of the recovery they obtain. (2) Full-time supervisory or managerial employees of insurance companies, corporations, governmental bodies, or house counsel who individually devote a substantial portion of their time to coverage disputes, civil litigation or litigation administration.

  • Active: (In-House/Corporate Counsel) 
    In-House or Corporate Counsel 
    In-House or Corporate Counsel are licensed attorneys, who are employed exclusively by a corporation or other private sector organization for the purpose of providing legal representation and counsel only to that corporation, its affiliates and subsidiaries. These lawyers act in a legal capacity for insurers or corporations but do not appear in court as defense counsel.
  • Active: (Claims Executive) 
    Claims Executives (Non-Attorneys)
    Claims Executives are individuals employed as a claims professional by a corporation or insurance co., who spends a substantial portion of his or her professional time hiring or supervising outside counsel in the representation of business, insurance companies or their insureds, associations or governmental entities in civil litigation.
  • Inactive: Any member who permanently retires from work or who moves out of Ohio and who had been a member in good standing for at least five years.

  • Associate: (1) Full-time law professors. (2) Full-time judges, magistrates and their legal staff. (3) Paralegals, legal assistants, or other employees who perform legal services under the direction and supervision of an attorney and are sponsored by a member of the organization who is their employee, supervisor, or co-employee. Paralegal membership is not open to anyone who has been admitted to practice law before the bar of the State of Ohio. (4) Anyone the Board of Trustees determines by a vote of two-thirds of those present, who meets the purpose of the organization as stated in Article II.

  • New Attorney: An attorney admitted to the Bar for five years or less.

  • Student: Law students
Submission of the application and payment is subject to review and acceptance per the OACTA Code of Regulations.

FREE DRI Seminar!
OACTA members who join DRI as a full-dues member, for the first time, will receive a certificate to attend a free DRI seminar.
Download the DRI application.

First Year OACTA Membership FREE!
DRI members who have not previously been a member of the Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys (OACTA) qualify for their first year of OACTA membership free.Contact the OACTA office at [email protected] for more information. 

Become involved in OACTA! 
Be sure to indicate the committees you are interested in joining when you complete or renew your application. OACTA has 14 substantive law committees and 5 member services committees that you can get involved in! This is a member-driven organization!