A Conversation with Judge Jeffery Hopkins ‘78

It’s not every day that a Middlesex student gets to speak with someone who was nominated by a President of the United States. 

Judge Jeffery Hopkins ‘78 was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022 to serve as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio. Before this, he served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the same district from 1996 to 2022, including eight years as Chief Judge. 

So naturally, I was quite nervous as I prepared to interview him, expecting a stern, formidable figure who would be able to quiet a courtroom with his presence alone. Instead, when our call began, Judge Hopkins greeted me with warmth and ease, casually mentioning that he had just come from cutting his grass outside. 

From there, our conversation flowed between reflections on his Middlesex years, the mentors who shaped him, and the lessons he carries from both the courtroom and our campus. 

“I was very young when I knew I wanted to be a lawyer,” Hopkin says. Growing up during the Civil Rights Movement, he recalls watching people marching, sitting in, protesting for change, but what made the most impression on him was how the lawyers made those changes permanent, turning those ideals into law so that no one could discriminate on the basis of color. It was this vision of justice that first inspired him to pursue law. 

Hopkins came in as an ABC (A Better Chance) scholar from Canton, Ohio, a small industrial town far removed from the elitism of New England preparatory schools. “My father was an auto worker,” he recalls. “My mother was a teacher and later a principal.” Coming from a modest, middle-class background, Hopkins entered Middlesex as a minority student surrounded by peers from families of wealth and influence. He was aware that many of his classmates had received educational advantages that he had not, and that, he admits, was one of his greatest challenges. 

As a fourteen-year-old living 500 miles from home, feeling out of place was inevitable. But Hopkins vividly remembers the moments that made him feel seen. The first long weekend during his freshman year, then Head of School David Sheldon invited the few students who had stayed on campus to his house for dinner. That evening, Hopkins formed a lifelong relationship with Mr. Sheldon and began to feel like Middlesex was a place that he belonged to. 

He also recalls a formative moment during his senior year, when he remembers struggling with a C average in math class. His teacher, Mr. Brad Kingman, refused to let him give up and pushed him to keep going until, in the end, Hopkins had pulled his average up to almost an A. Hopkins credits Mr. Kingman’s persistence and encouragement as one of the most meaningful parts of his Middlesex career. 

By the time Hokpins graduated, Middlesex had given him more than knowledge. “Confidence,” he said. “A confidence in my ability to be able to succeed in an academically challenging environment with people from all around the country, all around the world.” That foundational conviction came to guide him, carrying him to Bowdoin, to law school at Ohio State, and ultimately to a long and distinguished career on the federal bench. 

For all the distinctions attached to his name, perhaps what stands out most about Judge Hopkins is his conviction in where he wanted to go and his unfaltering belief that he could get there. Reflecting on his journey, Hopkins comments on how easy it is, especially in rigorous environments like Middlesex, to confuse achievement with identity. Though he was not at the top of the class, he always believed deeply in what he wanted to do. That belief became the ultimate force that carried him forward. His advice for current students is to hold fast to who they are amidst competition, to stay grounded in their values, and to “do it with the full gusto that you have.”

Jessica Wu '27