By Steve Thorpe
Most attorneys like to talk. It’s one of the most important skills in their toolkit.
But new Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Edward J. Joseph confesses that a phone call from Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder rendered him temporarily speechless.
“I was humbled. For a while, I couldn’t talk,” he says. “I’m still really excited about it. When you think about how many people want to serve as judge, I’m glad he had that confidence in me.”
Gov. Snyder recently appointed four new judges to the Wayne County Circuit Court.
The new jurists are Joseph, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Thomas C. Cameron, of Northville Township, Alexis A. Glendening, of Grosse Pointe Farms and Catherine L. Heise, of Plymouth.
Joseph has been in private practice since 1991, where he focused on civil, probate, juvenile and criminal litigation. He fills the vacancy created by the removal of Judge Wade McCree.
“I grew up on the east side of Detroit,” he says. “I went to high school at De La Salle, near City Airport. The courses were tough, including advanced placement courses, which weren’t common back then. When I got to college, I certainly felt prepared.”
Already a thinker and serious student — he was a member of the National Honor Society — Joseph found outlets in school that suited his interests.
“I would definitely have been described as a nerd back then,” he says. “I was editor of the school paper. Although I played some sports, none of it was varsity.”
Joseph dabbled in journalism as a reporter and news director at WPAG radio in Ann Arbor and also spent a summer at Detroit’s WJR.
“I considered journalism in college, but started thinking about the law soon after I got there,” he says. “I went to business school at Michigan. I graduated with a finance and accounting degree, but was already thinking about law school as a graduate option.”
After his undergrad experience, he headed to Wayne State University for law school. While many lawyers tell horror stories about the travails of their law school years, Joseph found that he thrived and enjoyed the experience.
“Law school was pretty good for me,” he says. “I made a lot of friends there. When you’re at Michigan, it’s a really big place, especially the first couple years. Then business school was a smaller group of people, which I liked. When I got to law school, it was also a smaller setting, where it was easier to make friends. There are a lot of people from law school who I’m still in contact with today.”
Joseph originally worked at a law firm straight out of law school, but then had a private practice for more than 20 years. When he struck out on his own, he quickly realized that one of his biggest strengths was as a problem solver.
“If that’s what a pragmatist is, I guess that’s what I would call myself,” he says. “In many of life’s challenges, there isn’t an ideal solution. You’re faced with a situation and you’re asking yourself, ‘What can I do here?’ that would make the biggest improvement, even if I can’t completely fix it.”
Over the course of his legal career, Joseph has served as a special assistant attorney general and was also appointed by Attorney General Bill Schuette as a Wayne County public administrator for probate matters. He also served as case evaluator for Wayne County Probate Court.
Joseph’s community involvement has almost always involved young people and their issues.
“I was involved in groups like the Detroit Community Initiative on the east side,” he says. “They did things like computer education for kids.”
So it’s no surprise that his law career has been shaped by that same desire to help the young deal with their problems.
“I’ve worked in juvenile law for more than 20 years,” he says. “As juvenile law developed, I sort of developed with it. I was on their original board here, going back 10 or 15 years ago. I was on the Circuit Courts Committee when, 10 years or so ago, they wanted to change the representation of children. For me, being active on these issues as a lawyer, to be appointed to the bench was certainly a great blessing.”
Joseph is undaunted by the prospect of running this fall to keep his seat.
“I’ve kind of always been in politics,” he says. “I’ve been involved in party politics and my wife is on the Grosse Pointe Farms City Council. I ran unsuccessfully for circuit court in 2000. It’s difficult. It’s a big county and I learned a lot. I enjoy being out there meeting people.”
Now that he’s been appointed to the bench, Joseph says he thinks he’s got the best job in the world.
“A lot of people work just because they need to work,” he says. “But when you can come to work every day and be excited by what you’re going to do, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
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