LEGAL CAREER

In 1930 the economy was in fast decline. Clarence gave his brother advice that proved providential. With the onset of the Great Depression, the building market was quickly fading. Additionally, legal cases were abundant for the firm of May and May. However fee payments were increasingly difficult to collect.

Clarence's advise to Dean: run for the vacant Summit County Probate Judge seat. Dean was the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party organization, and endorsed by the Akron Beacon Journal, when he ran for the office of probate judge in the campaign year 1932.

Judge Dean F. May's reputation for fairness in the ensuing four years won him the support of many Republican attorneys. In two of his reelections he ran unopposed. He was reelected by comfortable margins in 1936, 1940, 1944 and 1948. His death on February 6, 1949 occurred on the date for his 5th -term installation.