By Teresa Killeen
Washtenaw County Bar Association
Attorney Jennifer Sullivan was born and raised in St. Clair Shores in Macomb County. Retirement from public service in September of 2021 was not part of her plan but she had promised her mother, recently deceased, that she would “hang up my own shingle.” Thus, she opened Sullivan Family Law, PLLC in October 2021 to offer her services as a mediator, facilitator, arbitrator, and trained peacemaker.
Sullivan’s practice includes taking clients in the Collaborative Divorce Process.
What jobs did you have before you became an attorney? Since I went to law school later in life, my work history is diverse and confusing at times. I started my work history in a Chinese restaurant when I was still a teen. The confusion came when I discovered that I didn’t like Chinese food.
After that illustrious beginning, I spent several years working at various odd jobs for odd reasons: a dispatch operator for an appliance repair service, an administrative assistant at an Army Education Center in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, and a contract inventory worker for a beer and wine distributor. I also took the postal worker exam, got my real estate license, and had several stints as a legal secretary. Then in 1989, I saw an ad in the local paper in Standish (Arenac County, Mich.) for a deputy clerk/deputy magistrate position. That is when it happened—the law entered my life.
After a promotion to court administrator and magistrate of the 81st District, I spent the next nine years discovering how much I love the law (not always the lawyers) and what the law meant. I learned it wasn’t all good or all bad, but it could be used to help others. I eventually found it could also be used to hurt the defenseless, the marginalized, and the “forgotten.” Those nine years also got me started on the path to law school.
I moved to Ann Arbor after taking a job with the Trial Court at the 14th District Court as the court administrator, and I began my law school adventure at Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, in the weekend program.
After moving to the Washtenaw County Circuit Court, I have served in several capacities: Interim court administrator of the 22nd Circuit Court, budget director for the Trial Court, Probate Register/Referee, and judicial attorney.
Tell us a little about your family. I have nine siblings with whom I have experienced all the stereotypical joys and pains of growing up in a big family. We have lost my father, my oldest sibling, and most recently my mother. It is the loss of my mother that has impacted me deeply. The whole feeling of being an “orphan” is no joke. My mother was the one and only person who knew me from the start. Her presence in my life stabilized me, gave me direction, gave me rules, and taught me generosity. My mother’s faith was the one thing that helped her make sense out of everything around her. Of course, as a child and a very defiant teenager, I gave my parents grief and pain. The last forty years or so have been spent in an attempt to apologize for all that. My promise to my mother on her deathbed was, “to live a life that will do justice to all the sacrifices that she made.”
I have one daughter, three grandsons ages 20, 16, and 11, twin stepdaughters, age 21, and a husband who supports me in so many ways.
What is the biggest challenge facing you as an attorney today? The biggest challenge for me now is beginning again. After 24 years with the court, I am now on my own trying to figure it all out. I can say that the Washtenaw County Bar Association has been absolutely fantastic to me. I have gotten calls, breakfasts, lunches, visits, etc., from so many from our community and frankly it surprised the hell out of me. To see and feel the generosity, empathy and compassion is the most comforting thing. I am so grateful that I work with so many great lawyers who really want to help.
What is your favorite movie or book? I don’t know if I am supposed to write that my favorite book is some highbrow, dense classic novel or some highly technical legal journal or tome, but honestly, my favorite book of all time (so far) is “The Diary of Anne Frank.” I’ve read it many times. I read it first when I was very young, and I remember how I felt that first time. I read it cover to cover in one sitting and since I was so young, I was not sure what I was feeling but I knew that feeling meant something. This wasn’t a Nancy Drew mystery; this was a real story about a girl my age going through the most horrific thing I could imagine. Her bravery and insight made a huge impression on me.
What do you like to do in your spare time? I like running. Everything gets better when I run. From the things that are making me anxious, to ideas about how to market myself, it all gets better when I run. Since my flexible time has expanded a great deal, I am now dabbling in many activities to see what fits. I’m trying my hand at the ukulele and learning French.
Any words of wisdom to pass on to new lawyers? These words remain in my head and in my heart, and they are for new lawyers and lawyers like me who have been out there fighting the good fight: Work for a cause, not for applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt.
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Reprinted with permission from the WCBA newsletter, Res Ipsa Loquitor.
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