East Cleveland Judge Gains Huge TikTok Following For His Courtroom Videos

TikTok is making a Northeast Ohio judge famous.

William Dawson is the Presiding and Administrative Judge at East Cleveland Municipal Court, as well as an author and motivational speaker. The born, raised and educated East Cleveland man credits his experiences growing up in the city for leading him “to (become) a lawyer and ultimately a Judge with a mission to help as many people as possible,” his bio on the East Cleveland Municipal Court website reads. Adding to his achievements, Dawson has built a TikTok following by sharing video from his hearings. He has more than 331,100 followers as of Wednesday afternoon (August 25).

Judge Dawson aims to change “the Narrative of Justice” by using “Correction with Compassion," he captioned a video as he gets ready for court. Dawson's goal is to “be a judge who understands.”

“Through social media, I can reach even more people and let them know that ‘hey, the justice system can work for you. It doesn’t always have to be negative,’” he told News 5 Cleveland, adding: “…TikTok is all about fun dances and challenges and I’m totally different, but this is an audience that wants to see this positive information.”

Find Judge Dawson on TikTok here: