PHOTO COURTESY OF MIICHIGAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE
by Cynthia Price
Legal News
At its 70th anniversary celebration banquet held May 16, the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ) honored all of its past presidents, but chose one in particular to receive the prestigious Judicial Excellence Award.
Court of Appeals Judge William Murphy was “recognized for his hard work on the bench” according to MAJ.
Judge Murphy comments, “Frankly it was a real honor to be recognized in my judicial capacity by a lawyers’ association that’s really intimately familiar with the judiciary.”
The mission of MAJ, a plaintiff’s lawyer organization, is “to promote a fair and effective justice system” by supporting “the work of attorneys in their efforts to ensure that any person who is injured by the misconduct or negligence of others can obtain justice in Michigan’s courtrooms...”
Another MAJ past president, Norman Tucker of Sommers Schwartz, sang Judge Murphy’s praises while presenting him with the award. Murphy called the presentation, held at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit, “very nice.” His wife Paula was in attendance.
Murphy has been a Court of Appeals judge since his appointment in 1988, serving as Chief Judge Pro Tem from 1992-1996 and as Chief Judge from 2009 through 2014. Since he is past the age of 70, he will not be able to run again, but he still has three and a half years on his current term. “They’re not kicking me out yet,” he jokes.
After his term ends on Jan. 1, 2019, he will assume the presidency of the national Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeals, capping decades of service to the local community, the local legal profession, and the national legal community.
Having received his law degree cum laude from Wayne State University School of Law, Judge Murphy often lectures and speaks before students, and is an Adjunct Professor at WMU-Cooley Law School.
He had previously worked as a law clerk for the COA, as well as in private practice for 17 years, before his appointment.
As many will remember, Judge Murphy made an unsuccessful run for the state Supreme Court in 2014. He says that during his acceptance speech in front of the several hundred people in attendance at the MAJ banquet, “I told them that as disappointing as it was, I’m glad that I ran. I reminded them of a quote from J.K. Rowling, ‘It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.’
“I do feel that with the extreme partisanship and unbelievable amounts of money going in to these elections, we really need to re-evaluate the whole thing.”
Murphy said he was additionally honored to be recognized at the same time as attorney Sherwin Schreier, who was given the MAJ Champion of Justice Award posthumously.
The celebration also welcomed Ven Johnson as incoming president.
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