Michael J. Talbot, chief judge of the Michigan Court of Appeals and Court of Claims, has announced his retirement, effective April 25, after four decades on the bench.
Talbot’s retirement takes effect almost exactly 40 years after his appointment to the Detroit Common Pleas Court by then-Gov. William Milliken.
Plans are underway to honor Talbot, 72, during a ceremony April 13 at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law at which time a scholarship will be established in his name.
He is “an extraordinarily talented jurist, and unlike most judges he has superior administrative abilities,” said retired Michigan Chief Justice Robert P. Young Jr. who selected Talbot to set up the Court of Claims and to reforms at Detroit’s 36th District Court.
Talbot said his career was shaped by willingness to “say ‘yes’ to opportunities, to new experiences, and the chances to learn and grow. Say ‘yes’ to the invitation.”
Talbot grew up in Livonia where his father Joseph, an automotive purchasing agent, served on the charter commission and his mother Betty, was district court administrator.
He said his goal was the priesthood, but failure at second year Latin derailed those plans.
He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and worked in the U.S. Senate office of Phil Hart and at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh — an altar boy at his parents’ wedding — convinced him his future was at University of Detroit School of Law and in local service.
In 1978 he was appointed to Detroit Common Pleas Court, predecessor to 36th District Court, and later to Recorder’s Court, then one of the busiest criminal courts in the country.
His courtroom in Recorder’s Court ran at rigorous pace and to exacting standards: Two court reporters worked fulltime keeping pace with 60 jury trials a year. He kept a similar standard after being named to Wayne County Circuit Court.
Talbot said he learned courts and judges aren’t cure-alls.
“People bring big problems into court. And I got anxious because there are some problems you can’t solve.”
Years later, some cases still shadow him: “And maybe that should stick with you.”
Talbot was named to the Michigan Court of Appeals in 1998. Though the workload was still substantial, the appellate court was eerily quiet and nearly monastic after 20 years of trial courts’ rush and tumble.
In 2013, Chief Justice Young called with a job in mind.
“The city of Detroit was in turmoil,” Young recalled. “And 36th District Court was out of control and its budget was unrestrained.”
Cases were stalled, attorneys and the public felt abused by the chaos just entering the building. The court was disorganized and indifferent.
“My way was paved, though, by a report from the National Center for State Courts,” he said. “It was very clear the house was burning down.”
The court dockets were streamlined, cases were tracked, job classifications rationalized, airport-style information boards directed attorneys and the public to proper courtrooms and payment kiosks cut backlogs at service windows. Felony preliminary examinations moved to the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.
“He took 36th District Court and turned it around,” said Lillian Diallo, a Detroit attorney. “Moving the exams to Frank Murphy was a stroke of genius. He was all about the business of making it a better experience for the public, the witnesses, and the lawyers.”
Talbot balanced “elephantine skin and finesse” to get the court on track while navigating politics and personalities, Young said.
Young said he looked to the same qualities when Talbot was charged with starting the new Court of Claims. “It was essentially a start-up court, a trial court, with the Court of Appeals,” Young said. “He had the skills to do it.”
Talbot also put those skills to work after the Catholic Church was roiled with accusations of clergy abuse and misbehavior when he was asked to chair the Archdiocese Review Board to receive and investigate complaints and make recommendations to the archbishop.
Now Talbot says travel, education, and more opportunities for service will open to him. “It’s a great luxury to be useful,” he said.
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