Wayne County Executive Warren Evans Names Second-In-Command

Former Wayne County Circuit Court chief judge Richard Kaufman has been named second-in command to Wayne County Executive Warren Evans.

The Wayne County Commission unanimously approved Kaufman’s appointment Thursday. He will begin his duties April 1.

“As second-in-command, Mr. Kaufman is a key addition to my administration and I am confident that his wealth of knowledge and experience is vital as we face the County’s financial crisis,” Evans said in a statement.

Kaufman is a partner in the Farmington Hills-based law firm of Zausmer, Kaufman, August and Caldwell.

Interested in challenges that also allowed him to serve the community; he previously served as general manager and general counsel of metro Detroit’s SMART transportation system.

Kaufman graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 1973, and from the Wayne State University School of Law in 1977.

Kaufman’s accomplishments have been recognized in several publications, including local news and various legal and business trade journals that cited his accomplishments on the bench.

“Wayne County judge leaves top post after making court ‘best in country,’” one of many headlines in local newspapers commending Kaufman’s improvements made in one of the country’s busiest courts.

In the event of a vacancy in the office of the county executive, Kaufman will temporarily assume the role of leadership.

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Photo via Zausmer, Kaufman, August and Caldwell