Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice

Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack joined the Michigan Supreme Court in January 2013, and became Chief Justice in January 2019.

Before her election to the Court in November 2012, she was a law professor and dean at the University of Michigan Law School.  Since joining the Court, Chief Justice McCormack continues to teach at the Law School.

Chief Justice McCormack is a graduate of the New York University Law School, where she was a Root-Tilden scholar and won the Anne Petluck Poses Prize in Clinical Advocacy.  She spent the first five years of her legal career in New York, first with the Legal Aid Society and then at the Office of the Appellate Defender.  In 1996, she became a faculty fellow at the Yale Law School.

In 1998, she joined the University of Michigan Law School faculty.  At Michigan Law, she taught criminal law, legal ethics, and various clinical courses.  Her scholarship focused on the professional benefits of clinical legal education.  She also created new clinics at the law school, including a Domestic Violence Clinic and a Pediatric Health Advocacy Clinic.

In 2002, she was named Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs.  Responsible for the continuing development of the law school’s practical education, she continued to expand the clinical offerings at Michigan Law School, launching a Mediation Clinic, a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, an International Transactions Clinic, a Human Trafficking Clinic, a Juvenile Justice Clinic, and an Entrepreneurship Clinic.  In her capacity as professor and associate dean, she conducted and supervised many types of civil and criminal litigation at all levels of the state and federal courts.  The University of Michigan Law School’s clinical programs are now recognized nationally as one of the best places to be trained as a lawyer.