What year did you graduate from law school and which law school?
Well, that’s more complicated than you might think. Short answer: University of Michigan; Class of 1982. Longer answer: I was in a 4-year joint degree program. J.D. plus M.A.E. (Master of Applied Economics). The fourth year was mostly economics, but I did take my senior seminar (in the law school) during the 4th year. So, technically, I received both degrees in 1983. I was honored that my Class of 1982 included such future distinguished MCPS lawyers as Mike McGee, Mike Coakley, and Steve Stankewicz (as well as another classmate no one seems to remember from those days: Richard B. “Rick” Snyder).
What year did you start at MCPS? What practice group were you in and what projects/cases did you particularly enjoy?
Again, a bit complicated. I first worked at MCPS in the summer of 1982, as a summer associate. I then worked part-time for MCPS during my fourth year of law/grad school, principally working with Greg Curtner, all kindly coordinated (all through the mail in those days) by Greg’s then-assistant, Irene Jensen. After clerking in the federal court for two years, I then returned to MCPS full-time as an associate in the Litigation group in 1985.
Over the next 27 years, there were so many memorable cases, working with Greg Curtner, Carl von Ende, Larry Saylor, and so many others. One that I fondly remember was my very first assignment, on behalf of Continental Insurance Company, where we obtained summary judgment from the federal court in D.C. based on what was then a brand-new antitrust principle (that an intra-corporate “conspiracy” was not a “conspiracy” under the antitrust laws). Then there was the podiatry antitrust class action (which went on for 8 years and included, as I recall, another D.C. connection – when I argued a discovery motion in the D.C. federal district court that enabled Greg, who was waiting in New York, to depose former Secretary of the then-Department of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano that very day in New York); the Rospatch securities litigation; the Nutro Products dog food litigation; the Eastern Michigan/Julia Ward litigation; and on and on and on...
Did you come to MCPS directly from law school? If not, where did you go first and what did you do there?
As mentioned, I first completed my master’s degree and then worked in the federal court as a law clerk to Hon. Ralph B. Guy, Jr., then a federal district court judge (in the Eastern District of Michigan), and later a 6th Circuit judge (and still, at the age of 90+, a senior judge on the 6th Circuit).
Describe a challenging/exciting/significant experience that you had while at MCPS.
I met my wife Martha when she was a summer associate in 2004! Years later, we reconnected at an MCPS holiday party, started dating, and the rest is history!
What is your fondest memory of your time at MCPS?
Pitching a one-hit (some would say a no-hitter with one error on our side) shut-out at Softball City on behalf of the MCPS Blue Bombers softball team. Snagging seven line-shots back to the pitching mound. And perfecting my “sun ball” on Diamond #11, just as that glowing orange ball dropped into the eyes of those facing me from the batter’s box.
If you could have dinner with one person you know from your Miller Canfield days, who would that be and why?
Dick Gushée. Dick was head of the corporate group at MCPS. Smart as a whip. Erudite. Intimidating at first blush. Yet very human and down-to-earth. A great smile and laugh. A gentleman and a scholar. A true class act.
When did you leave Miller Canfield and where did you go?
On March 16, 2012 (a Friday), then-Gov. Snyder called with an offer to join the Michigan Court of Appeals. I accepted. But under the then-existing legislation, the position would have been eliminated if the appointee were not sworn in by the following Friday (and I was scheduled to be out of town the latter part of that next week). So, over the next few days, I somehow managed to do everything required to transition all of my files to other MCPS attorneys and to wrap up 27 years of practice. I was sworn in to start a new chapter on the COA on March 20, 2012. I then won election (it’s nice to run unopposed!) to a partial term in 2012 and to full terms in 2014 and 2020.
Where do you work now?
Still at the COA, and just elected for another six years!
How would you describe your work day?
Well, even before COVID, Martha would joke that I was always wearing a robe, either a black one or a pink one [just kidding]. But it is true that it didn’t take long for me to figure out how to work from home. Most of what I do involves reading, writing, thinking, and researching, most of which can be done from anywhere. Each month, I have a new set of cases, for 1/3 of which I am the assigned author. All of the briefs, exhibits, etc., are downloaded onto my iPad, which is where I do most of my reading, annotating, etc. With the assistance of my law clerk (and the court has a pool of mostly newer attorneys who also assist in the necessary research), we prepare opinions on the cases assigned to me. I also study and reach my own conclusions about each of the other cases that are assigned to the two colleagues on my panel for that month. Over the course of two days each month, the three judges then get together (although in the COVID era even that has been by Zoom) for oral argument on all of the cases on our docket for that month. The judges then conference on all of the cases heard, and we then issue our opinion(s) accordingly. We also have a separate motion docket, in which we review and decide applications for leave to appeal and motions of various kinds. The phone doesn’t ring much, and there isn’t a whole lot of social interaction, but for me it works.
What is the most interesting/challenging part of your job?
Solving the puzzles presented by the cases. Doing justice under the law, but within the confines of my role (as a judge, not a policymaker). Writing well, clearly, rationally, and in a way that contributes in a positive way to our jurisprudence.
What do you miss most about your routine at MCPS that you don’t experience at your current job? Or, alternatively, how is your life/workday/routine different from your time at MCPS?
Gotta be the billable hours. Or the client demands. Or maybe the billable credit issues. Or figuring out how to spend my bonus. LOL. Seriously, as much as I enjoyed the role of an advocate (which is so fundamental to our system of justice), and as much as the experience of performing that role was critical in preparing me to do my current job well, I am now in some sense free do what, and only what, the law requires. My positions on cases and legal issues are not dictated by circumstances; instead, my fealty is only to the law. So my approach now is simply: What are the facts? What is the law? How does the law apply here? What is the right result under the law? How do I explain it, clearly and succinctly?
Would you mind telling us about your personal life (spouse, children, travels, hobbies, etc.)?
We together have four grown children, a dietician-turned mom-of-four (married to a lawyer), a PR executive, a chef, and a cardiac sonographer. Four grandchildren. Thirteen horses (mostly Friesians), a Great Pyrenees and a cocker spaniel, some chickens and (sometimes) ducks.
Travel? Not as frequently as we’d like, but we did somehow manage two trips in 2019 (just before COVID): one to the Canadian Rockies that included a Friesian horse event in Ponoka, Alberta, a visit to the Calgary Stampede, a stop in beautiful Lake Louise, and a train ride from Jasper to Vancouver; the other to Hawaii, including a week in Honolulu (for a conference) and a week on the Big Island.
Yes, and then there’s the side venture: Check out www.boonstrafriesians.com. Or the Facebook page linked to my personal Facebook page. We were introduced to the Friesian breed around 2007, I think. Martha first bought Friso, a gelding, as her riding horse. Then came Dirk (another gelding). Then Jealkje, our first mare. Then the breeding started (entirely my fault). Jealkje has now had 3 foals (Marije, Betje, and Dena). Her first foal, Marije, has now had three of her own (Anna, Frederik, and Janneke). And Lotte (who came to us at the age of eight months) has now had four beautiful foals: Easter, Hendrik, Lisabet, and our newest, Marissa. [Yes, Dutch names, mostly taken from my family tree.]
Please describe anything else about your life and/or career/and/or your Miller Canfield days that has not been captured by these questions and that you think folks might find interesting.
I will be forever grateful to MCPS for the opportunities it provided to me and for giving me the foundation to do what I am doing now. As part of the first generation of my family even to attend college, I knew little about the law or about what lawyers did. MCPS gave me an opportunity to learn, to prove myself, to grow as a lawyer, and to achieve things that my parents could not have dreamt. Without all of that, I would not be where I am today, and I would not be in a position to make positive (I hope) contributions of a different sort from the bench.
Please extend my very best regards to all of my friends at MCPS and to all of those who, since I have left, have begun their MCPS adventure!
Please extend my very best regards to all of my friends at MCPS and to all of those who, since I have left, have begun their MCPS adventure!
