Author’s note: In preparation for writing this article, I met with George Roumell on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. We were originally scheduled to meet the previous week, but George emailed me to say he was in an arbitration hearing that was running late. That was George — always booked to the hilt.
Sadly, not long after I learned of the publication date for this article and telling George when it would be coming out, I received a note from arbitrator Stan Dobry saying that George had died on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, at the age of 96. Not surprisingly, Dobry also indicated that at the time of his death, George was still in the midst of three undecided arbitration cases.
When he accepted the Detroit Bar Association Frank Murphy Award in 2009, George said, “When God asks at the pearly gates what I have to say for myself, I will proudly tell him I was a Detroit lawyer!” It was his way of paying tribute to the remarkable group of attorneys who practice law in Detroit. However, as I have tried to capture in my tribute, George was much more than that — he was a mentor, teacher, counselor to several generations of lawyers, and, most importantly, he was my friend.
For those of you who did not have the privilege of knowing him, here’s a glimpse into the life of one of Michigan’s preeminent lawyers.
— J.R.R. Jr.
Anyone who has ever practiced labor law in Michigan is familiar with George Roumell. Right up until his death the age of 96, Roumell was arbitrating labor disputes. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the State Bar of Michigan’s highest and most prestigious honor, the Roberts P. Hudson Award, which he received in 2003, and the SBM John W. Reed Michigan Lawyer Legacy Award, which he earned in 2016. Roumell was the recipient of the American Bar Association Whitney North Seymour Award in 1990 for his contributions to the field of labor arbitration, the Detroit Bar Association Frank Murphy Award in 2009, and the SBM Labor and Employment Law Section Distinguished Service Award in 1999.
George Roumell’s father was a Greek immigrant who began his career shining shoes before entering the restaurant business. His mother died when he was four years old. Roumell grew up at 1207 St. Clair Street on Detroit’s east side, just south of Jefferson Avenue near Water Works Park. One of his neighbors and classmates at Southeastern High School was Wallace D. Riley, who would later emerge as an important figure in his professional life.
Roumell earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and studied English literature at Oxford University. Following in the footsteps of two attorney-uncles — Stephen T. Roumell, a 1931 graduate of the Detroit College of Law, and Wayne County Circuit Judge Thomas Roumell — he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1954 and clerked for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Edward Sharpe and U.S. District Judge Theodore Levin. Roumell then joined the Detroit law firm of Armstrong, Helm and Marshall, where he was first introduced to labor law and became a partner 12 years later.
In 1968, Roumell’s old high school classmate, Riley, approached him about starting a law firm; the prominent Detroit law firm of Riley and Roumell was born. Shortly thereafter, Roumell began developing his labor arbitration practice. He arbitrated upwards of 6,000 cases and served as one of the Detroit Police Officers Association’s impartial umpires for more than 25 years. He also served in a similar capacity for Chicago's police force.
In addition to his arbitration and mediation work, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan appointed Roumell as a special master. He conducted more than 500 remedial hearings in two separate civil rights class action cases, Schaefer v. Tannian and Grace v. City of Detroit.
Roumell’s practice also included advocating on behalf of management in labor relations cases. In one of his cases, he successfully persuaded the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to hold the National Labor Relations Board in contempt because of its delay in issuing a decision in a jurisdictional dispute between millwrights and iron workers. After public employees earned the right to organize in 1965, he represented Detroit Public Schools for more than 30 years, including during the remedial phase of the Bradley v. Milliken school desegregation case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1957, Roumell was approached by Detroit College of Law Dean Charles King to take over for a departing labor law professor. Over the next six decades, he continued to teach a variety of labor relations classes and became the longest serving faculty member in the history of the institution now called the Michigan State University College of Law. More than 3,500 students have taken his courses. In recognition of his long and distinguished teaching career, the university established the Roumell Scholars Fund and in 1986, it awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree.
Roumell also taught at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School and the Wayne State University Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations.
An active member of the bar, Roumell served as president of the Detroit Bar Association in 1973-74 and was president of the State Bar of Michigan in 1985-1986. During his presidency, the State Bar established the Michigan Legal Milestones program, which denotes significant legal developments across the state with commemorative plaques across the state, including Bradley v. Milliken. Prior to stepping down to serve as SBM president, Roumell supervised publication of the Michigan Bar Journal, the State Bar’s flagship publication. He was instrumental in securing rights to feature well-known works of art on the Journal’s covers, including “The Scream” by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.