Judges, others honored at JBAM’s annual awards dinner

Two judges were celebrated by the Jewish Bar Association of Michigan at the group’s annual awards dinner.

Oakland County Circuit Court

received JBAM’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Champion of Justice Award, while of the Eastern District of Michigan was honored with the Avern Cohn Lifetime Achievement Award.



“My biggest strength, and weakness, is that I’m extremely motivated to do what’s best for families, especially when children are involved,” Savin said in a press release. “It’s overwhelmingly wonderful to be recognized for doing my job by such an excellent organization as JBAM.”

Savin, who was elected to the circuit court in 2020, currently serves in the Family Division. Previously, she served with the Oakland County Friend of the Court for 18 years.

She said advocating for the needs of children caught up in domestic disputes is her lifelong mission.

“My parents got divorced when I was very young,” Savin said in a release from the JBAM. “When we were in court, I was thinking that my dad had a lawyer who talked to the judge, and so did my mom. I wished I had a lawyer, too, to tell my side.”

That is when Savin decided she wanted to be a lawyer for children.

“My goal was to give kids a voice in the process,” she noted. “Over time, this expanded to also include not just kids, but those who are underrepresented, like minorities, the disadvantaged and those who need legal aid.”



JBAM said Goldsmith receiving the Avern Cohn Lifetime Achievement Award was well-earned.

Huntington Woods attorney Jeffrey Appel, a longtime friend of Goldsmith, said, “If you could build a Federal judge in a laboratory, it would look exactly like Mark Goldsmith.”

For two decades, Goldsmith has served as a judge, first with the Oakland County Circuit Court in 2004. He was appointed by then-President Barack Obama in 2010 to the federal bench.

Goldsmith, who grew up in Detroit, also was intrigued with the law at an early age and dreamed of becoming a judge. As a teen, he took the bus downtown so he could sit in the local and federal courthouses.

He was an Angell Scholar at the University of Michigan and went on to Harvard Law School. He then spent more than 16 years as an associate and then partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn in Detroit.

“Mark’s colleagues on the Federal bench respect his intellect, his judicial demeanor and his objectivity,” Appel added. “As a judge, his decisions are always clear, well-reasoned and written or stated in an elegant manner. Every litigant and attorney that appears before Mark knows, whether they won or lost, they had a full, fair and impartial hearing.”

Others being celebrated at the annual awards dinner include JBAM vice president Jordan Zuppke, who received the Volunteer of the Year Award.

Two law students of Michigan State University Law School and of University of Detroit Mercy School of Law received scholarships.







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on JBAM, visit www.jewishbar.org .

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