On Wednesday, Nov. 6, Judge Harold Hood will receive the ninth annual Dennis W. Archer Award for Public Service, presented by the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation.
The award will be presented during a gala reception at the newly-renovated Cobo Center in downtown Detroit.
“Frankly, Judge Hood is honoring us as much by accepting this award as we are honoring him in giving it,” said Foundation Co-Chair E. Christopher Johnson, Jr. “When it comes to public service and excellence in the practice of law, Judge Hood has done it all — as a soldier, attorney, educator, judge and volunteer, his dedication and contributions to the community are immeasurable.”
“We’re also gratified by the response of Michigan’s legal community to our selection of Judge Hood,” Johnson added. “With General Motors and Conway McKenzie leading the way, we are on our way to our $70,000 fundraising goal for this event.”
“I am honored and overwhelmed to receive this award,” Hood said in response to the announcement. “To be honored for doing what I have loved doing for these many years is both gratifying and humbling.”
Proceeds from the annual Archer Award event fund the DMBAF’s Access to Justice and social service programs including For The Seventh Generation, a foster children’s charity. The event will begin at 6 pm; tickets are $125 per person and include a gourmet strolling supper and open bar. Tickets are available online at the Foundation’s website: www.detroitlawyer.org/dmbafoundation.html
A lifelong Michigander, Hood has spent his adult life serving the community as a soldier, attorney, public servant, educator, and as Chief Judge Pro Tem of the Michigan Court of Appeals.
After serving in the Korean War, Hood graduated from Wayne State University and its law school. His first role as a public servant was as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Detroit, a position be began in 1961. Eight years later he was appointed to serve as Chief Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, the first person of color to occupy that position.
In 1973, Hood was appointed to his first judicial position on the Common Pleas Court for the City of Detroit. His years of service on the bench include tenures with Detroit’s Recorders Court, the 3rd Judicial Circuit Court of Wayne County, and ultimately the Michigan Court of Appeals, to which he was first appointed by then Governor William Milliken in 1982.
In addition to his professional success, Hood has been a long-time, dedicated volunteer and educator in both the legal and wider communities. His professional activities include the American Bar Association, the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association, the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan, the American Judicature Society, the Michigan Judges Association, and the Association of Black Judges of Michigan, of which he was the founding Chairperson.
In his personal life, Hood served for several years as a board member and as chair of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary. He is also a member and past president of the Old Newsboys Goodfellows Fund of Detroit. In addition to these activities, Hood serves in the graduate division of Central Michigan University and has also been a faculty member at the Michigan Judicial Institute, the National Judicial College, and an adjunct professor at Cooley Law School in Lansing and Auburn Hills.
“Judge Hood exemplifies everything the Archer Award was created to signify,” said DMBA Foundation Executive Director Lorraine H. Weber. “He has been a trailblazer not only in the metro Detroit community but also throughout the state and nation - the legal profession is indeed fortunate to call him one of our own.”
In addition to this year’s Archer Award, in 2003, the Association of Black Judges in Michigan established the Judge Harold Hood Award for judges who have rendered outstanding service to the legal community. Most recently, in 2011 Hood received the Founders’ Award from the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness.
Legal Community Rallies to Sponsor Archer Award
As of Oct. 9, the DMBA Foundation is more than halfway to its $70,000 goal for the Archer Award event. So far the following firms and companies have stepped forward to help the Foundation honor Judge Hood and to raise the funds necessary to continue its legal and social service work:
General Motors; Conway McKenzie; Plunkett Cooney; Kerr Russell; Garan Lucow; Dykema; Comerica; Miller Canfield; Dickinson Wright; Foley & Lardner; First American Title Insurance; Crawford & Winiarski; Bodman; Barris Sott Denn & Driker; Maddin Hauser; and Schiff Hardin.
“We’re excited and grateful to the firms and individuals who are coming together to make this event a huge success,” said Weber. “Thanks to them we’ll be able to do phenomenal work in the community through 2014.”
The Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation has been presenting the Dennis W. Archer Public Service Award since 2004. In addition to former Mayor Archer, Senator Carl Levin, former Governor Jennifer Granholm, and the Honorable Damon J. Keith are among past honorees. In 2012, the Archer Award was presented to Judge Victoria A. Roberts.
For more information about the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association and its Foundation visit: www.detroitlawyer.org. To inquire about sponsorship opportunities contact Lorraine Weber at lweber@detroitlawyer.org or 313-961-6120, ext. 206.
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