---
title: "Kani H. Hightower | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/kani-h-hightower"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-07-27"
---

# Kani H. Hightower

Summit Co. Domestic Relations Court · Judge

## Profile

- Court: Summit Co. Domestic Relations Court
- State: Ohio
- Role: Judge
- Service status: active
- Last verified: 2026-07-27

## Summary

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

## Before you appear

- Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
- Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
- Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

## Courtroom Rules

### remote hearing exhibits

Scope: statewide

Ohio's statewide virtual-court guidance tells courts to include instructions for submitting exhibits or notifying the court of witnesses when remote-hearing information is sent to participants.

Evidence excerpt: Instructions for submitting exhibits or notifying the court of witnesses.

[Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)
Source checked: 2026-07-26

### remote hearing ground rules

Scope: statewide

Ohio's statewide virtual-court guidance recommends advance ground rules for documents, exhibits, screen sharing, and pre-marking exhibits for remote hearings.

Evidence excerpt: Documents: Share any documents/exhibits that will be reviewed in advance. Use the share screen function while documents are being discussed during the hearing. Request that the documents are pre-marked for exhibit purposes.

[Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)
Source checked: 2026-07-26

### remote recording

Scope: statewide

Ohio's statewide virtual-court guidance states that litigants, attorneys, and the public should be instructed not to record the hearing.

Evidence excerpt: The court should instruct the litigants, attorneys, and the public to not record the hearing.

[Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)
Source checked: 2026-07-26


## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.ohiojudges.org/directory/ojc-directory/)
- [Official roster](https://www.ohiojudges.org/directory/ojc-directory/)
- [Ohio Judicial Conference Directory official judicial roster](https://www.ohiojudges.org/directory/ojc-directory/)
- [Virtual Public Access to Ohio Court Proceedings](https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/courts/virtual-court/)

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## Biography

### Professional career

- Judge Kani Hightower was elected to the Summit County Domestic Relations Court on November 8, 2022, and currently serves as the Presiding Judge of the Summit County Common Pleas Court
- Before her election, Judge Hightower held the role of an Akron Municipal Court magistrate from January 2020 through December 2022, presiding over thousands of cases including evictions, traffic, criminal arraignments, and small claims.
- Raised in Stow, Ohio, Judge Hightower is a lifelong Summit County resident and a graduate of Stow-Munroe Falls High School

### Education

- Kent State University — B.A.

### Additional information

- Private trial attorney for over fourteen years
- handling complex family, juvenile, criminal, civil, and probate cases, and also practiced appellate law before the Ohio Supreme Court.
- overseeing administrative matters, jury and grand jury proceedings, and initiatives across all divisions of the court.
- Her legal work focused on representing indigent and underrepresented clients, emphasizing fair and competent representation.
- As presiding judge, Hightower has launched the Justice Initiatives Collaborative, a program designed to increase access to justice, reduce trauma in court proceedings, and improve accessibility for the public, including ADA compliance, parking, and signage improvements.
- She is also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Akron, teaching Family Law Practice and Procedure
- She was unanimously elected by her peers to this leadership role and is the first African American to serve as presiding judge in at least 20 years