Stephen J. Markman, justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and former U.S. Justice Department official, and James C. Morton, noted Canadian lawyer, bar leader and scholar, have been elected to four-year terms on the board of directors of Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Markman was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor and Cooley graduate John Engler in 1999 and was elected to that bench by Michigan’s voters in 2000, 2004, and 2012. Before that, Markman was judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals and practiced law with the firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone in Detroit. Before joining the firm, he was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and previously was the U.S. Assistant Attorney General, where he headed the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy, which develops departmental policy and coordinates the federal judicial selection process. Before serving in that role, he was Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution and Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Morton is head of the litigation group of the Canadian law firm Steinberg, Morton, Hope and Israel LLP and a long-standing adjunct professor at Cooley. He is past president of the Ontario Bar Association. His practice focuses on commercial, criminal and constitutional litigation in all levels of court, from tribunals to the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a certified specialist of the Law Society of Upper Canada in the area of civil litigation. Before joining his current firm, he practiced with the law firms of Solman Rothbart Goodman and Tory, Tory, DesLauriers & Binnington. He also was clerk to the Honourable Mr. Justice Howland, Chief Justice of Ontario.
“I could not be more proud to welcome Justice Markman and Professor Morton to the Cooley board,” said Cooley Law School President and Dean Don LeDuc. “These distinguished gentlemen bring intellect, character, academic excellence, professional expertise, and decades of public service to Cooley. They understand how providing high quality, practical legal education is important to both the legal profession and to society as a whole. They will set a fine example for Cooley’s students, who will benefit greatly from the perspectives they will bring to our school.”
Markman is a B.A. graduate of Duke University and earned his J.D. degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He has published articles in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, the Stanford Law Review, and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, to name just a few. He has also been a contributing editor of National Review magazine and has authored chapters in a number of books. For two decades, Markman has taught constitutional law at Hillsdale College. He is a Fellow of the Michigan Bar Foundation, is a Master of the Bench of the Inns of Court, and twice has been sent to Ukraine by the U.S. Department of State to assist in developing that country’s post-Soviet constitution. Markman is the seventh member of the Michigan Supreme Court to serve on Cooley’s board of directors, following Justices Thomas E. Brennan, John W. Fitzgerald, James L. Ryan, James H. Brickley, Michael F. Cavanagh, and Dorothy Comstock Riley.
Morton, who brings an international perspective to Cooley, holds a B.Sc. degree from the University of Western Ontario, an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall School of Law and an LL.M. degree from the University of Leicester. He is past president of the Ontario Bar Association, is a member of the Law Societies of Upper Canada and Nunavut, and has served the organized bar in many other capacities. He has written dozens of books, chapters and scholarly articles in areas as far ranging as constitutional law and civil rights, evidence, civil and criminal law and procedure, commercial law, litigation skills, and ethics. He has taught evidence at Osgoode Hall School of Law, and, since 2001, he has been lecturer in constitutional law and evidence and co-director of Cooley’s study abroad program in Toronto and more recently a teacher in Canadian law subjects at Cooley’s Auburn Hills, Michigan campus. Morton received Cooley’s Frederick J. Griffith III Adjunct Faculty Award as the outstanding adjunct professor of the year in 2012.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
