Champion of Justice Award

Not more than five Champion of Justice Awards will be given to practicing lawyers and judges each year by the State Bar of Michigan. Criteria to be considered in making the award are:

  • State Bar of Michigan membership for at least 10 years
  • Integrity and adherence to the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession
  • Superior professional competence
  • An extraordinary professional accomplishment that benefits the nation, the state, or the local community in which the lawyer or judge lives

Application Form: Apply online. If a paper application is required for a nomination, please email sbmawards@michbar.org.

Previous Winners

2024 Marilena David
Andrew Densemo
Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio
Erika Riggs
2023 Veronica T. Thronson
2022 Margaret “Peggy” Costello
Robin L. McCoy
2021 No award
2020 Thomas P. Boyd
Hon. Susan L. Dobrich
James H. Fisher
2019 Julie A. Gafkay
Robert F. Gillett
Marla R. McCowan
2018 Miriam J. Aukerman
Robert J. Heimbuch
2017 Michael C. McDaniel
Hon. Kelly Ramsey
2016 Hon. Ulysses W. Boykin
Hon. Nanci J. Grant
Roland Hwang
Marla L. Mitchell-Cichon
H. Rhett Pinsky
2015 David W. Christensen
Stephanie Dawkins Davis
Nora M. Hudson
Alicia J. Skillman
2014 Bridgette A. Carr
Kenneth M. Mogill
Dana M. Nessel
Robert A. Sedler
Carole M. Stanyar
Brian L. Morrow
Michael L. Pitt
Dawn A Van Hoek
2013 Eugene Dricker
Valerie R. Newman
Michelle L. Halloran
Ann L. Routt
A. Kay Stanfield Spinks (posthumously)
2012 Kathleen L. Bogas
Hon. Karen Fort Hood
Frederick W. Lauck
L. R. "Bud" Roegge
Thomas K. Thornburg
2011 Jacqueline Doig
Barry L. Howard & Edward H. Pappas
Kary L. Moss
Hon. M.T. Thompson Jr. & Monica Nuckolls
Rebecca Shiemke
2010 Charles W. Borgsdorf
John J. Conway
Gerard Mantese
John R. Nussbaumer
James M. Olson
Hon. Wendy L. Potts
2009 Hon. Robert A. Benson
E. Christopher Johnson
Hon. Leonia J. Lloyd
Paul D. Reingold
2008 David A. Hoort
Michael Lavoie
Mary DuFour Morrow
Joan Vestrand
Lorraine H. Weber
2007 Sue Ellen Eisenberg
Hon. Amy Krause
Hon. Denise Langford Morris
Jeffrey G. Nutt
2006 Jon T. Ferrier
Elliott S. Hall
Daniel Malone
Hon. Fred M. Mester
Gail Pamukov
2005 Janet E. Findlater
Jean Ledwith King
Hon. William Schma
Hon. Craig S. Strong
Eugene G. Wanger
2004 Hon. Terrance K. Boyle
Sandra L. Bailiff Girard
Michael V. Morgan
Richard C. Kupferschmidt
Richard S. Victor
2003 Stephen R. Drew
Robert E. Gilbert
William M. Saxton
2002 Henry Baskin
Hon. Robert Holmes Bell
Ann M. Cooper
James R. Neuhard
Theodore J. St. Antoine
2001 Godfrey J. Dillard
Martin M. Doctoroff
Elizabeth Gleicher;
Daniel M. Morley
2000 Harold D. Pope
Justin C. Ravitz
1999 Hon. Victoria A. Roberts
Linda D. Bernard
Albert R. Dilley
Saul Green
Deborah A. LaBelle
1998 Hon. Patricia J. Boyle
Hon. David F. Breck
Milton R. Henry
Nancy A. Wonch
Hon. Kenneth N. Sanborn
Charles C. Lockwood
1997 Raymond T. MacNeil
Stuart D. Hubbell
J. Bruce Donaldson
Myzell Sowell
Donald L. Reisig
Hon. Dorothy Comstock Riley
1996 Hon. Claudia House Morcom
Richard B. Baxter
Theodore Sachs
George W. Crockett Jr.
James T. Corden
1995 Ben Marcus
Edward Littlejohn
1994 Hon. Julian Abele Cook
Hon. Cornelia Kennedy
Hon. Edward Sosnick
James Robb
1993 Hon. William Peterson
Hon. Stuart Hoffius
Hon. Benjamin Gibson
Hon. Marcy Coleman
Leon Cohan
1992 Stuart Dunnings
Ernest Goodman
William Gossett
Hon. James Lincoln
Hon. Otis Smith
1991 Jason Honigman
Emelia Schaub
Hon. Damon J. Keith
Richard Van Dusen
Harold Norris
1990 Doug Hillman
Hon. Harold Hood
Thomas McNamara (posthumously)
1989 Hon. Fred J. Borchard
Anne Davidow
Frank Kelley
1988 G. Mennen Williams (posthumously)
1987 Carole Chiamp
Charlene Snow