Newest Michigan Supreme Court Justice

Justice Joan L. Larsen, Michigan’s newest Supreme Court Justice, will address the Eastside Republican Club Forum at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 16.

BREAKING: Joining Justice Larsen at the Forum will be Justice David Viviano.

The event will be held at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial located at 32 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Farms.

Commenting in advance of the meeting, ERC chairman Ken Chadwell said, “Justice Larsen has distinguished herself as an accomplished attorney with experience working in the highest levels of government, private practice, and academia.”

“Next week we look forward to hearing about Justice Larsen’s work at the U.S. Supreme Court, at the Justice Department and on the Michigan Supreme Court.”

He added, “The Forum is open to the public at no charge, so we invite anyone interested in the Constitution, the balance of power and the role of the judiciary to attend.”

Justice Larsen was appointed to Michigan’s highest court by Gov. Rick Snyder in September 2015 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Justice Mary Beth Kelly.

Thus her name will now be on the November 2016 General Election ballot for election to complete the final two years of Kelly’s term. She could run in 2018 for a full eight-year term.

Before assuming office, Justice Larsen served on the faculty of the University of Michigan Law School where she was also special counsel to the dean.

Justice Larsen graduated first in her class from Northwestern University School of Law, where she served as articles editor of the Northwestern University Law Review.

After graduation, Justice Larsen clerked for the Hon. David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. Following her clerkships, she joined Sidley & Austin’s Washington, D.C., office, where she was a member of the constitutional, criminal, and civil litigation section.

Before coming to Michigan in 1998, she was a visiting assistant professor at Northwestern. She later served as deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, where she provided advice to the White House, the attorney general, and government agencies.

Justice Viviano, appointed by Gov. Snyder in 2013, previously served as a judge of the Macomb County Circuit Court, to which he was elected in 2006 for a six-year term, and served in that court’s criminal/civil division.

In 2011, the Supreme Court appointed him to serve as chief judge of the circuit court and of the Macomb County Probate Court.

Before becoming a judge, Justice Viviano worked at two nationally recognized law firms, Dickinson Wright PLLC in Detroit and Jenner & Block LLC in Chicago. He then founded his own firm in Mt. Clemens. He also served as city attorney for the city of Center Line.

Justice Viviano graduated in 1994 from Hillsdale College with highest honors and from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996.