---
title: "Sydney Strickland Saffold | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/sydney-strickland-saffold"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-07-27"
---

# Sydney Strickland Saffold

Cleveland Municipal Court · Municipal Court Judge

## Profile

- Court: Cleveland Municipal Court
- State: Ohio
- Role: Municipal Court 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

- Nonpartisan judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court, elected in November 2023 for a six‐year term ending in 2029, and is assigned to Courtroom 15‐C
- Her legal career began during law school with work in the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office and as Civil Constable for Hon
- Judge Saffold also held the role of a Magistrate in the Cleveland Municipal Court’s Housing Division and volunteered in areas such as expungements, custody, and housing issues

### Education

- University of Cincinnati College of Law in — J.D. (2014)

### Additional information

- Elected on November 7, 2023 to replace Judge Joseph J. Zone, who retired at the end of 2023.
- The Legal Redress Officer for the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP
- Licensed in the U.S. Supreme Court, Ohio, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio
- Part of a notable legal family legacy — her mother, Shirley Strickland Saffold, and her brother, Jeffrey Saffold, are also judges in Cuyahoga County
- In her own words, she values the compassion, patience, and temperament needed to be a good judge, and she remains active in raising her two sons, Kingston and Cruz.
- She later worked in civil litigation at a local law firm handling employment discrimination cases, then founded Saffold Law, LLC, where she tried cases from homicides to misdemeanors across Northeast Ohio.