Clients and friends, we’re so excited to share with you the great life story of Kevin and Kristen Braig. They have a wonderful family and do so much to make their Logan County community better. Kevin recently lived a movie star’s life after being part of a film about substance abuse recovery. The film, shot in various Logan County locations was accepted for screening at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which Kevin and family had the opportunity to attend. Enjoy their story!
Matt: Kevin and Kristen – share with our readers a bit about your own backgrounds – where you grew up; college; law/med school; your current jobs; and a bit about Ryan and Annie.
Annie & Kristen skiing in Park City
We both grew up in Cincinnati. Kristen was a cheerleader at Northwestern University and graduated in 1990. I majored in journalism at Ohio University with the goal of becoming a newspaper or magazine sportswriter and graduated in 1989. Instead of going into journalism, I pivoted and went to law school. I graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1993 and began to work at a small, boutique environmental law firm in Cincinnati called Altman & Calardo, LLP. In 1995, we got married and Kristen started medical school at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. After she graduated, we moved to Columbus where Kristen completed a residency in family medicine at Grant Hospital, and I worked for Dinsmore & Shohl and coached youth football in Upper Arlington where I met Mark Palmer. In 2019, after 26 years in private practice, Governor Mike DeWine appointed me as the judge of the Logan County Court of Common Pleas General Division. In 2003, our son, Ryan, was born, Kristen took a job with Maple Leaf Family & Sports Medicine in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and we built a house on Indian Lake. In 2006, our daughter, Annie, was born. Then, in the blink of an eye, 20 years passed by. Ryan just graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in international business administration. Annie is a sophomore at the University of Findlay double majoring in pre-vet animal science and biology and plans to become a veterinarian. We have been quite blessed.
Matt: You’re a busy family! What are each of you enjoying about your respective careers right now?
I think we both enjoy contributing to making our community a better place. Logan County is a fairly small community. As a family doctor and a judge, we interact on a constant basis with many members of the community. They count on both of us to show up every day of the week at work and on Sunday at church and to do the best we can. I think knowing that people in the community know that, whether they know us personally or not, they can count on us to be punctual, efficient, caring, and professional, is probably what we enjoy most. We see people on what are some of the toughest days of their lives when they are struggling with medical or legal concerns or crises. We cannot change that and make those days easy, but I think we do our best to make the days easier or at least not any harder than they already are.
Matt: As you look ahead to your retirement, what do you want those years to look like? Any particular goals or plans?
Mark Palmer asked me this question when I was in private practice and I told him, “Never get up before 7 AM.” But lately, as I have gotten older, I have found that I need less sleep. Mostly, we want to be in a position to be there for our children as they become adults and encounter the challenges and responsibilities adulthood presents to everyone. Beyond that, we want to stay physically and mentally healthy, strong, and active. Kristen likes to cycle and hike. She is the medical director for the Great Ohio Bike Adventure. Last year, she hiked the 343-mile Sheltowee Trace Trail in Kentucky and Tennessee. She would like to do more of that. She also teaches spin class at the YMCA. I exercise at least three days a week at the Y and join her for spin on Saturday. Currently, my cycling is limited to pedaling 5.5 miles to the Indian Lake Brewing Company and back, but I am looking at buying a road bike to perhaps join her on some of her longer rides such as the Bourbon Burn in Kentucky, which is a tour of the distilleries and horse farms in the rolling hills of the Blue Grass. I wrote and published a book, Bookmakers vs Ball Owners: Behind the Demolition of the U.S. Ban on Honorable Sports Betting and Bookmaking. The book details my personal experience while I was in private practice in the expansion of the profession of state-licensed bookmaking and betting on sports beyond Nevada. It also talks about the history of professional sports and the profession of bookmaking from the founding of the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869 and the National League in 1876 to the present day. Not many people know this, but professional sports were, in fact, invented by the gamblers. They were the risk takers and in the 19th century professional sports was a very risky investment. Since Ohio authorized licensed bookmaking on January 1, 2023, I make one $11 bet per week on an NFL game in the fall. I have finished in the black every year. Maybe one day I will write another book that teaches everyone how to beat the bookies on the NFL. Ten years ago, we bought a very small share of a thoroughbred racehorse, Catch My Drift, who turned out to be the half-sister of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and a very good brood mare. One of her foals, Catching Freedom, finished fourth in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. One day I might dip my toe back into another thoroughbred partnership. But a word of caution. As I always say, “Remember, it’s called gambling for a reason.”
Kevin with actor Will Poulter
Matt: Kevin, your involvement with a movie coming out soon would interest our readers. Share a bit about the movie and your time out at the Sundance Film Festival.
Movie stardom found me–I did not seek or find it. The year before I took the bench, a young filmmaker named Adam Meeks and a member of my staff, Annette Deao, got together and made a short, 20-minute movie about recovery from substance abuse disorder. Mrs. Deao is the program director of the Logan County Adult Recovery Court or “ARC,” which is a specialized, very intense form of probation that I oversee. There are about 20-30 participants in the ARC at a time. It is at least a 14-month program. The participants meet with me, Mrs. Deao, and the rest of the ARC team every Monday afternoon so that we can encourage them to keep up with their recovery program by attending treatment and sober support meetings, finding housing and employment, and building pro-social and sober personal relationships. After Adam Meeks made the short, the Sundance Institute accepted him into its developmental program for aspiring filmmakers.
The heart of the “Union County” movie (from left): Movie star Will Poulter, Me, Director Adam Meeks, ARC Program Director Annette Deao, movie star Noah Centineo
At the end of 2024, Will Poulter—a real-life movie star—agreed to play the lead role in a feature-length version of the movie called “Union County.” The movie is a fictional story about two foster brothers played by Will and Noah Centineo who are in substance abuse recovery in a court-ordered program. ARC participants and Mrs. Deao played themselves in the movie and I played myself as the judge. Most of the financial backing was provided by Ley Line Entertainment, which also produced Everything Everywhere All At Once—winner of eight Oscars including Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards—and the hit Broadway musical & Juliet—which was nominated for nine Tony Awards in 2022. Adam and his production team shot the movie last May in the courthouse, the Logan County Jail, and other locations in Logan County. It was a lot of fun.
Annie, Will Poulter, Kevin, and Ryan at the after-party
Then, in November, as I came down from the bench after a hearing my phone rang, and I looked at it and saw it was Adam calling. I thought, “I bet this is good news.” After I answered, he told me Sundance had just accepted the picture for screening at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The Sundance Film Festival was founded by the legendary actor Robert Redford. Adam told me it was “thrill of a lifetime” to have the picture accepted at Sundance. We were very excited too. In January, we flew to Park City, saw the movie, and fully participated in the festival. All the screenings at the festival sold out and the audiences gave the picture standing ovations. Film critics also were positive in their reviews, calling it grounded and authentic and heaping praise on the performances of both Will Poulter and the ARC participants who appeared in the movie. Kristen, Ryan, and Annie travelled to the festival too and they also went skiing. I do not ski anymore, but I did join Kristen and Ryan for a run on Utah Olympic Park bobsled run. I now understand why people want to be movie stars. It is a lot of fun. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I will never forget it. Currently, the movie has not yet been bought for distribution, but it is expected to be screened in the spring in Bellefontaine and at the Cleveland Film Festival in April. Also, I am hopeful that it will be bought for distribution this year so that it becomes available to a wider audience. There are approximately 40 million people in the United States who struggle with some form or level of substance abuse disorder, and they all have families and friends. When I do the math, it seems to me that there should be a profitable audience for a positive, grounded, authentic picture on this topic.
Ryan, Kristen, and Kevin bobsledding in Park City
Matt: Later on, when you look back on your lives, what is the impact you’d like to have made?
Well, I often tell my kids, “My legacy is what is in the will.” But that sounds a little short-sighted. At a minimum, I want to know that I did all I could to be a good parent and to make our children’s path in this world a little smoother, and that I was a person who others could count on in good times and bad. I often tell people in the ARC that you should want to be AND you should try to surround yourself with those people that country music star Tracy Lawrence sings about in the song, “You Find Out Who Your Friends Are.” The refrain goes like this:
You find out who your friends are
Somebody’s gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think “What’s in it for me?”
Or “It’s way too far”
They just show on up
With their big old heart
You find out who your friends are
I hope that when people talk about the impact we made, they say, “They really were two of the people Tracy Lawrence was singing about.”