By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Sheldon Stark was drawn to law as a direct consequence of the Vietnam War.
It was the late 1960s – a turbulent time for this country, and especially for its young men. Stark, then a student of psychology at the University of Michigan, was part of the groundswell effort to end U.S. involvement in the war.
“In 1968, a large group of anti-war activists became active in the Democratic Party to convince Lyndon Johnson to bring the troops home or find someone who would,” he says. “For me that someone was Eugene McCarthy.
“It was quickly evident that the levers of power within the party were in the hands of lawyers. I decided to become a lawyer in order to operate those levers to bring the war to an end.”
Stark went on to earn his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, magna cum laude, in 1973.
“We didn’t end the war, of course, but I was hired by Goodman, Eden Millender & Bedrosian, Michigan’s first racially integrated law firm. Led by the late Ernie Goodman, the firm was a leader in representing the movement and advancing civil rights. I came to see that the law could be a tool for social, economic and racial justice and I was hooked!”
Stark is now a Distinguished Visiting Professor at his alma mater, teaching Pretrial Litigation and Advanced Pretrial Litigation in the Law Firm Program (LFP). Coincidentally, UDM sponsors a trial competition in Ernie Goodman’s name.
He came to teaching students over the course of several years. Frequently invited to present at CLE events or guest lecture law school classes, for more than 20 years he was part of the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School.
“I always enjoyed these experiences and looked forward to doing them,” he says. “As a result, I developed a desire to someday teach on a full time basis.
“After 27 years as a litigator and 11 more managing the courses department at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, working with lawyers to stay current and improve their practice, I’ve acquired great strategies, resources and approaches to share that should help my students litigate at the highest level.”
Stark especially enjoys teaching at UDM, his alma mater and that of his daughter Molly who graduated second in her class in 2007.
“I love walking the halls and seeing the pictures of prior classes on the walls,” he says. “Climbing the central staircase reminds me of my own time there.
“The UDM Law Firm program, which helps create ‘practice ready graduates,’ is precisely the kind of program with which I want to be associated. The leadership at UDM is forward thinking, innovative and principled. My colleagues have been wonderful and generous in sharing their ideas, their teaching tools and their passion. Every semester, I feel I’m getting better as a teacher as a result of this mentoring and sharing. Despite my lack of scholarly and academic credentials, I’ve been welcomed with open arms and made to feel part of a first-class team.
“Seeing students grow, watching them master the material and sharing in their excitement at learning how to represent clients ethically, civilly and professionally is totally gratifying.”
Stark brings a long and distinguished background to the classroom. He worked as an attorney and partner for Kelman, Loria, Downing, Schneider & Simpson in Detroit; as principal in his own law firm in Detroit; and as partner in the firm Stark & Gordon in Royal Oak, where for close to 20 years he specialized in employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, civil rights, and personal injury work.
“It always amazes me to discover the many and creative ways we discriminate and oppress one another based on considerations of race, sex, age, religion, national origin, and more,” he says
He tells of his father and grandfather, who were merchants in the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Although Caucasian, they belonged to the NAACP when white membership in small towns was unusual.
“They did so to communicate to the community that race would not be a factor in customer service at their stores,” Stark says. “My father in particular taught that every customer deserved the same fair treatment. ‘Black or white,’ he said, ‘Everyone’s money is green.’”
As a civil rights and employment discrimination lawyer, Stark loved the role of “private attorney general,” trying cases to establish a just, fair and non-discriminatory society.
“As a responsible plaintiff lawyer, I worked hard to select meritorious cases,” he says. “I wanted to be a champion for those who experienced injustice.”
In his first Title VII trial, he argued to the judge that countless cures for cancer have been lost because women were not receiving the same opportunities to grow and achieve their true potential as men.
As to wrongful discharge, most people spend more time on the job than with their families and their identities are caught up in what they do for a living, where they work and how they contribute to the economic well being of the country, he says.
“When employees lose their jobs – especially those fired without good cause – they become depressed, guilt-ridden and lost,” he says. “Years ago, the American Medical Association filed an Amicus Brief in the Supreme Court noting the immediate impact on health and life expectancy resulting from mandatory retirement. My role as trial counsel was to help them redress that wrong, regain their self confidence and get back on their feet.”
“Now, as a mediator and arbitrator, I like being in a position to ensure that victims are made whole for the losses and the emotional damage experienced, but also to serve as a gate keeper, barring the door to those attempting to take advantage of the system without a legitimate basis.”
In mediation, Stark tries to understand the human beings behind the litigation, with the goal of uncovering the basis of their disputes, their resistance to resolution, and what is driving the conflict.
“Once I understand the dynamics of their conflict, I derive great satisfaction from the search for a solution that will work for both sides, meeting each of their needs,” he says. “Some would call this ‘peace making.’”
Arbitration is an opportunity to decide what is the truth, to determine who is right and who is wrong, he says.
“The general public thinks arbitrators try to be Solomonic ‘cutting the baby in half,’ and compromising the final result. In arbitration, I prefer reaching the just or correct result.
“If mediation is a dispute resolution process, arbitration is a justice process. I like them both.”
In 1999, Stark became Education Director – and later Director of Specialty Programs – at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) in Ann Arbor, where he worked for 11 years, during which the courses department won seven international ACLEA Best Awards for programs.
“I had some of the best experiences as a lawyer while working there,” he says. “I like lawyers and I like working with lawyers. The lawyers with whom I worked at ICLE were the best, most dedicated and principled, in practice.”
ICLE selected the best of the best to plan and present its seminars. Lawyers practicing at the peak of their skills are civil, professional and accomplished, Stark says.
“I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and learning from them. Through skills training and programming, we improved the quality of representation for clients across Michigan.
“During those years, I formed relationships with wonderful, generous people who cared equally about raising the bar and improving the legal climate in this state. The people who manage and staff ICLE are a wonderful group of hard-working, dedicated and thoughtful individuals who are consistently providing the tools, the leadership and the substantive resources lawyers need to practice successfully.”
Stark, who was honored in 2010 with the Michael Franck Award presented by the Representative Assembly of the State Bar of Michigan for his outstanding contribution to the improvement of the legal profession, has long been active in the American Civil Liberties Union and currently serves as a Vice-President of the State Board of Michigan.
A native of Detroit, Stark has also lived in Chicago, Flint and Port Huron.
“I consider myself a Port Huronite, as I graduated from Port Huron High and continue to own a cottage on Lake Huron just north of town.”
He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife Rita, a former schoolteacher and now a talented quilter, who serves on the board of a non-profit that sponsors a weekly reading program at the Washtenaw County Jail and the Federal Correctional Institute in Milan. She helps prisoners select award-winning children’s books, record them and send the recording and the book home to their children.
The couple enjoys hiking and backpacking and hiked twice across Isle Royale, and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Stark and his son Julian, have hiked a stretch of the Appalachian Trail and the Big Island of Hawaii. Julian, an artist in San Francisco where he works at the DeYoung Museum, recently married Whitney Huston Stark, a class action lawyer. The Stark’s daughter Molly is a corporate lawyer in Manhattan, and mother of the couple’s first grandchild, 18-month-old Louie, with a second child due in October. Molly’s partner, Uri Narinesingh, is a steel drum musician in New York City and a welder.
An amateur astronomer, Stark is also an avid reader, and especially enjoys history and biographies, with a keen interest in the American Civil War, the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, ancient Rome, Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire and the origins of World Wars I and II.
As a boy, Stark dreamed of being a writer, and loved writing short stories.
“Ironically, a lawyer IS a professional writer – I achieved my early ambition without realizing it,” he says with a smile. “I love writing trial memoranda, mediation summaries, appellate briefs, etc. Written advocacy is almost as much fun as trying cases before a jury.
“In college, I wanted to be a clinical psychologist and worked for several years at the Neuro-Psychiatric Institute at U-M Hospital. Understanding people, their needs, and litigation goals is central to every lawyer and counselor who seeks to serve their clients well. Being a lawyer has been the best job I’ve ever had.”
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