Stephen J. Markman, Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and former U.S. Justice Department official, has been elected to a four-year term 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. In that role he headed the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy, which develops departmental policy and coordinates the federal judicial selection process. Prior to that, 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.
Also elected for a four-year term was James C. Morton, noted Canadian lawyer, bar leader and scholar. 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 widely, including authoring chapters in a number of books, and has also been a contributing editor of National Review magazine. 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. 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 University of Western Ontario, an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall School of Law and an LL.M. degree from the University of Leicester. Morton 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. Since 2001, he has been a Cooley lecturer and co-director of Cooley’s study abroad program in Toronto and more recently a teacher in Canadian law subjects at the Auburn Hills campus.
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