John Watters
Staff Attorney

Education: BA English, University of Akron; JD, University of Akron

Practice: Criminal Law

From an early age, Attorney John Watters has been driven by a desire to help others. The son of a mother who routinely worked two jobs, and a father whose only day off has ever been Sunday, he learned to keep his head down, to apply pressure, and to not rest until the work is done.

In 2013, John graduated from the University of Akron with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Pre-Law Philosophy. After taking a break from his studies to spend more time with family, he entered the University of Akron School of Law in the fall of 2015. While attending law school, he clerked for a personal injury attorney in Medina County, while also participating in the school’s Inmate Assistance Program.

John earned his law degree in 2018, and began his career as an attorney at a private firm in Tuscarawas County, before eventually moving over to the Tuscarawas County Public Defender’s Office.

In dozens of courtrooms, across nearly 20 Ohio counties, John has worked on a variety of matters—including divorces, custody disputes, evictions, and personal injuries—and has defended clients accused of everything from minor misdemeanors to first-degree felonies. Whether pressuring a prosecutor to re-think a certain charge, or standing beside an anxious client facing their first charge ever, John knows that there is no job too big or too small, and if you ask him, he will tell you, in the timeless words of the Eleventh Doctor: “I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important.”

John has been with the Summit Legal Defender’s Office since March of 2024.

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