FEDERAL Court JUDGES (left to right) Avern Cohn and George Caram Steeh addressed law students at the Federal Bar Association’s luncheon for summer associates and clerks.
By Taryn Hartman
Legal News
“I just got blindsided, because the words I was going to give you were supposed to be of wisdom,” joked U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn as he took the podium recently before a room filled with black, gray and navy blue suits at the Levin Courthouse downtown.
Cohn and colleague U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh were on hand to address those attending the Federal Bar Association’s annual luncheon for summer associates and law clerks, now in its eighth year.
Brian Figot, executive director for the Eastern District of Michigan chapter, said 153 associates and clerks had registered for the event.
He estimated about half were interns from the U.S. Attorney’s office, the district court and other local federal offices while the other half represented law firms.
Attendance was so good that Au Bon Pain had to deliver additional sandwiches, fruit and desserts halfway through the program.
“I think it’s invaluable to law students to have something to do where they actually get to hear real judges speak,” said Samantha Smith, one of the program’s co-chairs.
Smith remembered her own experiences as a young lawyer and how “awesome” it was to be able to listen to some of the judges with whom she may never have gotten the opportunity to meet or speak.
In addition to providing summer associates and law clerks with some advice on practicing in federal court from Cohn and Steeh, the luncheon also gave those in attendance some time to network with one another before the program started.
Cohn shared some of the ins and outs of trying cases in federal court, drawing from his 31 years on the bench.
He warned attendees of individual judges’ idiosyncrasies — “there are a lot of them” — and advised them to spend some time sitting and listening in the courtrooms of the judges who are scheduled to handle their cases in order to get an idea of a judge’s personal tendencies, preferences, temperament and values.
Near the conclusion of the afternoon event, new FBA President Laurie Michelson noted its fortuitous timing and said she intended to take Cohn’s advice, as she and some of her Butzel Long colleagues have a case scheduled to go before Cohn within the next few months.
“It was only one year, and it’s one of those jobs where just as you’re getting good at it, just as you can pull briefs off the shelf and know that you can write a good bench memo in no time, it’s time to go,” she says.
She became active in the local FBA as her practice shifted into more white-collar criminal defense work, over which the federal court system has primary jurisdiction, and served as a co-chair for the organization’s annual dinner for five years before starting on the leadership track.
“I’m glad my timing fell the way it did,” Michelson says of following McQuade and Angeli-Palizzi, who now serves on the FBA board as its immediate past president.
“For me, it’s an added bonus to know you’ve got that kind of a resource who’s still a member of the officer ranks. We all get along, but there is something special about the sisterhood.”
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