David Lawson
| David Lawson | |
| Current Court Information: | |
| United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan | |
| Title: | Judge |
| Position: | Seat #12 |
| Service: | |
| Appointed by: | Bill Clinton |
| Active: | 6/2/2000 - Present |
| Preceded by: | Avern Cohn |
| Personal History | |
| Born: | 1951 |
| Home State: | Detroit, MI |
| Bachelors: | U. of Notre Dame, B.A., 1973 |
| Law School: | Wayne State U., J.D., 1976 |
Contents |
David M. Lawson is an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He joined the court in 2000 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton.
Early life and education
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Lawson graduated from Notre Dame University with a Bachelor's degree in 1973 and later obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Wayne State University in 1976. [1]
Professional career
Lawson was a law clerk for Michigan Supreme Court Justice James Ryan from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1985, Lawson was a private practice attorney in Detroit, Michigan. Lawson served as a Special Assistant Attorney General and Special Prosecutor for an Oakland County, Michigan One-Man Grand Jury Trial from 1978 to 1980. Lawson was a private practice attorney in Michigan from 1980 to 1994. Lawson also served as a Special Prosecutor for Livingston County, Michigan from 1991 to 1993. Lawson entered private practice in Birmingham, Michigan from 1994 to 2000. [1]
Lawson has served as a faculty member of the Michigan Judicial Institute since its inception in 1977. Lawson is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Lawson has also lectured at the Detroit Mercy Law School; at the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE); the Wayne County Clinical Advocacy Program; and at several Michigan State and Civic Bar Association seminars. [2]
Judicial career
Eastern District of Michigan
On the recommendation of Michigan Senator Carl Levin, Lawson was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by President Bill Clinton on August 5, 1999 to a seat vacated by Avern Cohn. Lawson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 24, 2000 on a Senate vote and received commission on June 2, 2000. [1][3]
Notable cases
A notable case on this page needs to be updated.
The notable case section on this page needs to be reformatted.
Dogfight case
On March 9, 2010, Judge Lawson allowed 40 dogs that were involved in a dogfighting operation to be placed for adoption. Despite the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. Attorney's Office demanded that the dogs be euthanized, the judge overruled the prosecution's recommendation. The judge said in his ruling that there is no reason the dogs cannot be adopted[4].
Court reporter college case
Judge Lawson presided in a lawsuit filed against the Academy of Court Reporting by former students. The students sued the college over a Michigan law prohibiting the issuance of associate's degrees for court reporting programs. As part of the settlement, 1,281 students in Michigan will receive a share of $7.8 million (with $2.5 million going to attorney's fees). [5]
Michigan Oil Drilling Case
Lawson presided over a case involving oil drilling in the northern part of Michigan. The case debated the legality of a permit the US Forest Service gave to Savoy Energy LP of Traverse City to drill an exploratory well near the Au Sable River's south branch. The site of the proposed wellhead would be located in the Huron-Manistee National Forest about three-tenths of a mile from the Mason Tract, a 4,679-acre wilderness area prized by anglers and other outdoor recreationists.
Forest supervisor Leanne Marten said when approving Savoy's application that the project wouldn't significantly harm the environment and the company would be required to keep noise to a minimum. However, Lawson ruled the Forest Service didn't consider how degrading the area could harm tourism, and said the agency did a "woefully inadequate" job of evaluating how the drilling might affect the Kirtland's warbler, an endangered songbird that nests in the area.
Two environmental groups, the Sierra Club and Anglers of the Au Sable, sued the government to halt the drilling. Joining the suit was Tim Mason, whose grandfather, auto executive George Mason, donated the original 1,200 acres to the state upon his death in 1954 and asked that it be maintained as wilderness.
The plan by Savoy Energy was to clear about 3.5 acres of forest for a well site on federal land, then drill beneath the Mason Tract at an angle. If enough gas or oil was found, the company intended to install a pipeline and build a production facility about a mile east of the well as it was consider by Savoy Energy a source to increase domestic supply of oil and natural gas. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management approved the project shortly after the Forest Service granted the permit. But it has been on hold since Lawson issued an order in December 2005 blocking the company from clearing land to get started. [6]
See also
External links
- Judge Lawson's Webpage
- The Robing Room- Rate Judge Lawson
- Judge Lawson's Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Judge Lawson's Biography from the Federal Judicial Center.
- ↑ Judge David Lawson EDMI Court Biography
- ↑ "THOMAS" David Lawson USDC, EDMI confirmation: PN488-106
- ↑ Detroit News "Judge spares dogs rescued in fight probe", March 10, 2010
- ↑ "Chicago Tribune" Training school settles federal lawsuit for $7.8M, October 6, 2009
- ↑ Fox News "Federal Judge Blocks Oil Drilling in Michigan Forest" July 14, 2008
| Federal judicial offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Avern Cohn |
Eastern District of Michigan 2000–Current Seat #12 |
Succeeded by: NA |
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Active judges |
Chief Judge: Gerald Rosen • Victoria Roberts • Paul Borman • Robert Cleland • Sean Cox • Denise Hood • David Lawson • Thomas Ludington • George Steeh • Gershwin Drain • Mark Goldsmith • Stephen Murphy • Terrence Berg | ||
| Senior judges |
Bernard Friedman • Marianne Battani • Anna Taylor • Avern Cohn • Julian Cook • Patrick Duggan • Nancy Edmunds • Paul Gadola • John O'Meara • Arthur Tarnow • Lawrence Zatkoff • Stewart Newblatt • Charles Joiner • James Harvey • James Churchill • | ||
| Magistrate judges | Mark Randon • Steven Whalen • Charles Binder • Michael Hluchaniuk • Paul Komives • Mona Majzoub • David Grand • Laurie Michelson • | ||
| Former Article III judges |
Damon Keith • John Feikens • Cornelia Kennedy • Ralph Guy • Richard Suhrheinrich • Horace Gilmore • Ross Wilkins • Barbara Hackett • George La Plata • Henry Billings Brown • John Wesley Longyear • Henry Harrison Swan • Alexis Caswell Angell • Arthur Tuttle • Charles Casper Simons • Edward Julien Moinet • Ernest Aloysius O'Brien • Arthur Lederle • Frank Picard • Wade Hampton McCree, Jr. • Patricia Boyle • Robert DeMascio • Ralph Freeman • Lawrence Gubow • Frederick Kaess • Arthur Koscinski • Theodore Levin • Thaddeus Machrowicz • Clifford O'Sullivan • Philip Pratt • Stephen Roth • Talbot Smith • Thomas Thornton • George Woods • | ||
| Former Chief judges |
Damon Keith • Bernard Friedman • Anna Taylor • Julian Cook • John Feikens • Lawrence Zatkoff • Cornelia Kennedy • Arthur Lederle • Frank Picard • James Churchill • Ralph Freeman • Frederick Kaess • Theodore Levin • Philip Pratt • | ||
