Mark Hanusz never thought he would become an author.
Then again, Hanusz has had a few vastly different professional pursuits.
Now a law student at The University of Toledo, Hanusz began his career in international finance in Switzerland after graduating from Miami University in Oxford.
His work with the Swiss Bank Corporation took him to the bank’s office in Jakarta, Indonesia, which became his home for the next 20 years.
Even after he left the bank following the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s, Hanusz spent time traveling Indonesia, learning the language and culture. That’s when Hanusz said he felt compelled to try writing a book.
“It was about Indonesian clove cigarettes,” he said. “No one had written about them before. The book did really well, and I realized I was a much better publisher than I was a writer, so I set up a book publishing company.”
Hanusz’s publishing firm, Equinox Publishing Jakarta, grew to a success, producing 150 books from 2000 through 2016.
And yet, when the opportunity arose to return to Hanusz’s hometown of Toledo in 2016, he and his young son jumped on a plane back to the United States.
After 25 years abroad, Hanusz considered following in the footsteps of his father Richard, who was an attorney in the Toledo area for nearly 50 years, with a new career in law.
“The University of Toledo Law School was right down the street,” Hanusz said. “I met with the admissions office and was like ‘Hey, I’m thinking of going here.’ They asked if I had taken the LSAT yet and I said, ‘What’s that?’ ”
Determined to succeed, Hanusz spent countless days and nights studying. He scored well on the LSAT and was accepted into Toledo Law School in August 2019.
As a single parent, the ability to be a part-time student in the program was paramount.
Hanusz
“It was vitally important to me that I was home when my son got out of school,” Hanusz said.
In his first year, he applied for an externship opportunity. Offered to University of Toledo Law students, these placements are a chance to gain practical experience in a variety of legal areas.
Despite receiving an invitation to observe professionals that year, COVID put a stop to all in-person court proceedings and the externship was placed on hold.
Finally, this past summer, Hanusz was able to step into the courtroom.
He was offered a summer externship at the Lucas County Common Pleas Court with the Honorable Judge Dean Mandros, UToledo Law School alumni ’80.
At the end of his first day as an extern, Hanusz had changed his expected credit hours from 3 to the maximum of 6 and cancelled the rest of his plans for the summer.
“I sat in on a criminal trial,” Hanusz said. “After seeing the attorney, seeing the defendant there, seeing the witnesses, seeing the judge, the jury and how all these things work together, the puzzle became clear. I was able to figure out how all the pieces work together. And I thought, Yeah, I want to be doing this all the time.”
Hanusz says the professional relationship he fostered with Judge Mandros made the experience invaluable.
“He made me feel listened to and valuable and useful,” Hanusz said. “There is this decorum in the courthouse, and a high level of professionalism that we don’t normally experience as civilians. I was deeply impressed with how Judge Mandros was able to command a courtroom and keep a level of respect for everybody — from the defendant to the prosecutor to the court reporter. He was like a conductor, keeping control of everything.”
Mark Hanusz was offered a summer externship at the Lucas County Common Pleas Court with the Honorable Judge Dean Mandros, UToledo Law School alumni ’80.
Judge Mandros recognized Hanusz’s open attitude early in the externship.
“Mr. Hanusz was a little different than the typical extern,” Mandros said. “He has had a lot of different life experiences, and I think that additional level of maturity allowed him to tackle a lot of projects that frankly someone else may have been hesitant to tackle.”
Noting his drive to understand all details of the legal system, Judge Mandros said he believes Hanusz’s fearless nature will lead him to success.
“The first or second week he was observing a jury trial,” Mandros said. “He, on his own, volunteered to assist with the jury instructions and he did a very good job outlining those — especially for someone who had never been in a courtroom to see it happen before.”
Throughout this experience, Hanusz said he felt a strong connection to his father, who passed away mid-way through his externship.
“As I visited different areas of the city, county and federal courthouses over the summer, I kept getting asked whether I was his son,” Hanusz said. “It was very emotional to discover how many members of Toledo’s legal community still remembered and respected him after all this time.”
Set to graduate in May, Hanusz said he hopes to pursue a career in criminal law, an area that, prior to his externship, he had never considered.
He said that his experience with the externship has been pivotal in his professional development.
“I think a court externship is one of the most important experiences you can have as a law student,” Hanusz said. “You can actually see how the theory we learn in class plays out in real life.”
