Wayne State University Law School and the Federal Bar Association are pleased to welcome Judge Bernard Friedman of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, to Wayne Law in celebration of Motion Day 2013, on Thursday, March 7. The event, during which the judge will hear several motions, begins at 8:45 a.m. in the Law School’s Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium.

Motion Day provides an opportunity for students to spend a day in federal court without leaving the Law School. Experienced counsel will argue actual pretrial motions before Judge Friedman, who will then rule or take the matters under advisement. Students are able to observe a variety of oral argument styles, as well as the procedures of the federal district court.

Motion Day is sponsored by the Legal Research and Writing faculty and helps first-year students hone their writing and speaking skills in legal advocacy. As part of that program, first-year law students research and write an appellate brief for the federal court of appeals. They then argue the positions taken in their brief before three-judge panels consisting of local attorneys and judges.

“We are honored to welcome Judge Friedman to the Law School,” said Professor Anne M. Burr, director of Wayne Law’s Legal Research and Writing Program. “This event allows our students to experience the practice of law before one of Michigan’s most highly regarded judges.”

Judge Friedman was appointed to the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, by President Ronald Reagan on April 20, 1988, and became chief judge in 2004. He served in that capacity until 2009, when he passed the gavel to Chief Judge Gerald Rosen. Prior to 1988, Friedman was judge for the State of Michigan, 48th District Court, for six years.

Judge Friedman began his law career in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office before venturing into private practice and serving as the Inkster city attorney. He was a U.S. Army lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps from 1967 to 1968 on active duty and continued for five more years as a U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant in the JAG Corps.

A native of Detroit, Judge Friedman earned his law degree from the Detroit College of Law in 1968. He is a member of both the Michigan Bar Association and the Oakland County Bar Association.