The State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) announced Tuesday the promotion of Michael L. Mittlestat to the position of SADO deputy director and the hiring of Brad Hall as administrator of the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System (MAACS).
The SADO deputy position will become vacant at the end of January, 2015, when Jonathan Sacks assumes the leadership of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission (MIDC), as its executive director. Sacks served for seven years as SADO’s deputy, managing numerous innovative projects and a legal staff of approximately two dozen staff attorneys. The MIDC oversees Michigan’s county-funded system for delivery of trial-level criminal defense services.
“Jonathan Sacks leaves a legacy of passion and excellence,” said SADO’s director, Dawn Van Hoek. “We look forward to working with him as the IDC tackles the difficult issues ahead, and are confident that he will excel in this arena as well,” she adds.
Mittlestat has served as an assistant defender at SADO since 2005, following federal court clerkships and seven years at the Washington Appellate Project. Recently, he has taught SADO’s Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic at Wayne State University Law School. He is a co-author of SADO’s Defender Trial Book, and frequent lecturer for the Criminal Defense Resource Center. Mittlestat received the 2013 Outstanding SADO Advocate Award, presented by the Appellate Defender Commission, recognizing his work in several landmark appellate cases. That work included outstanding legal advocacy on behalf of clients Rayfield Clary, Denzel Hardy, Ashanti Locket, Anthony Brooks, DeCarlos Hureskin, and Anthony Little, as well as his inspired writing of a position supporting retroactivity of the U. S. Supreme Court’s Miller v Alabama decision.
“Michael enjoys the respect of all, and will be a terrific leader in his new role,” Van Hoek said.
Hall has been hired as Administrator of the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System (MAACS), and began work on January 5. MAACS oversees the private assigned counsel roster providing approximately 70 percent of appellate representation, as a counterpart to the cases assigned to the State Appellate Defender Office (SADO). Hall will work with MAACS staff from an office in Lansing. MAACS was recently consolidated with SADO for management purposes, pursuant to Michigan Supreme Court Administrative Order 2014-18.
Hall is an accomplished appellate attorney who brings a wealth of experience to the job. A graduate of Northwestern University School of Law, he clerked for the Cook County Public Defender Office, Southern Center for Human Rights, and following graduation, Judge Nancy G. Edmunds on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. For eight years, Hall has worked as a staff attorney at the Detroit Federal Defender Office, handling trials, appeals, and habeas corpus cases in federal court. An acknowledged habeas expert, he has written the Defender Habeas Book for several years. As an amicus author for the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan (CDAM), he has briefed and argued two cases in the Michigan Supreme Court.
Hall recently received Cooley Law School’s Distinguished Brief Award, and he has trained Michigan lawyers on many criminal law topics, presenting at numerous CDAM conferences.
Significantly, Hall’s interest in justice has included law reform efforts, including advocacy to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of custodial interrogations. He is committed to seeking reforms in the appellate assigned counsel system, through an inclusive process.
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