2025 Alumni Medalist Award

Back in 1979, no one knew attorney Erin Moriarty’s name.

Fresh out of the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State, Moriarty ’73, ’77 JD was working for a small, local law firm as one of the few female attorneys in Columbus at the time. She wanted to try cases, but clients were reluctant to hire a woman. She needed to find a way to stand out.

That’s why, when Moriarty heard that a local television station was seeking a host for a new show, she was quick to apply. “I had this hairbrained idea that I’d audition and do the job for a year,” she says. “People would know who I was. They'd recognize my name. And then I’d return to practicing law.”

Instead, that one-year “detour” launched Moriarty into a 40-year career as an acclaimed journalist known to millions of people. A CBS Correspondent, she contributes to CBS Sunday Morning and 48 Hours, which investigates crime and justice stories. She has covered some of the nation’s biggest legal stories, including the trial of O.J. Simpson, the death of Jon Benet Ramsey and the wrongful conviction of Ryan Ferguson, who spent 10 years in prison for a crime he was later cleared of. She has earned nine Emmy awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation.

Moriarty’s journey did not come easy. She moved from city to city to develop her skills and almost got fired for inexperience. But she persisted by carving out a specialty as a legal reporter.

Each day, Moriarty is motivated by a sense of purpose. “I can, along with my colleagues, make a difference in my work. Our work can change people’s lives. It can change public policy, and it can change people’s attitudes.”

Moriarty says her most rewarding stories have focused on wrongful convictions. She is tenacious, covering cases over decades as new twists emerge. Her work has contributed to the exoneration of 12 people, including Ryan Ferguson.

“There is no greater feeling, no more excitement that you can feel as a journalist than to watch somebody walk out of prison.,” she says.

Though her work takes her all over the globe, Moriarty stays in close touch with the Moritz Law School, which she values greatly. “It gave me my law degree, which I use every single day of my life, and the law school has stayed in my life as a support system for over 40 years. It did not just prepare me for my career; it has stood next to me.”

Moriarty serves on the Moritz College of Law National Council and funds an annual internship for an Ohio State law student in the Ohio Public Defender’s Wrongful Conviction Project.