Judge Michael A. Wolff
Supreme Court of Missouri
Dates of judicial service:
- Appointed to the Supreme Court in August 1998; retired effective August 2011
- Retained in office at the November 2000 general election
- Served as chief justice for the term of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2007
Education:
- Juris Doctor, cum laude, University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis
- Bachelor of Arts, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1967
- Lourdes High School, Rochester, Minnesota
Employment:
- Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law
- Professor, 1980 to 1998
- Associate professor (with tenure), 1977 to 1980
- Assistant professor, 1975 to 1977
- Secondary academic appointments:
- Faculty appointment in the Department of Community Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1980-1998
- Faculty appointment in the School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, 1990-1998
- Chief Counsel, Governor Mel Carnahan, Jefferson City, January 1993 to August 1994 (during leave from Saint Louis University)
- Transition Director, Governor-Elect Mel Carnahan, November 1992 to January 1993
- Visiting Professor, Sichuan University, Peoples Republic of China, May and June 1989
- Private practice, St. Louis, 1981 to 1982 (while on leave from Saint Louis University). Continued to maintain limited trial practice during teaching career in the 1980s, primarily in cases involving health care law, constitutional issues and employment law.
- Director, Black Hills Legal Services, Rapid City, South Dakota, 1973 to 1975
- Attorney, Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver, 1972 to 1973 ( VISTA); served briefly as director of research and litigation
- Attorney, Legal Assistance of Ramsey County, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1971 to 1972
- Law clerk, U.S. District Judge Miles W. Lord, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1970 to 1971
- General assignment reporter and copy editor, The Minneapolis Star, (now The Star Tribune), 1967-1970 (while attending law school full-time)
Professional memberships and activities:
- Member: The Missouri Bar; American Bar Association; Lawyers Association of St. Louis; Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis;The American Law Institute
- Also admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
- Previously admitted to practice before the state and federal courts in Minnesota, South Dakota and Colorado but allowed those bar memberships to lapse
- Member, Supreme Court of Missouri Civil Rules Committee, 1989 to 1992 and 1995 to 1998
- Served on various other bar committees, including co-chair of the Jury Instructions Committee of the Labor Law Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
- Lectured in continuing legal education, bar exam preparation (before 1998) and law school preparatory courses
- Chair and member, Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission, 2004 to August 2011
- Distinguished visiting professor, Saint Louis University School of Law, 2007 to present
Community activities:
- Chairman, board of trustees, Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan, 1993 to August 1998
- Active in various other civic, charitable, educational boards, committees and activities
Awards and honors:
- Lecturer, 14th Annual Justice Brennan Lecture on State Courts & Social Justice, "Evidence-Based Judicial Discretion: Promoting Public Safety through State Sentencing Reform," New York University School of Law, February 2008
- Named "Lawyer of the Year" by Missouri Lawyers' Weekly, 2007
- Recipient, The Missouri Bar's Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award, 2007
- Recipient, Distinguished Non-Alumnus Award from University of Missouri Law School, 2007
- Recipient, James C. Kirkpatrick Award from Northwest Missouri Press Association, 2007
- Recipient, Joseph E. Stevens "Aspire to Excellence" Award from Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, 2006
- Recipient, President's Award from the Missouri Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges, 2006
- Commencement speaker, St. Louis University School of Law, 2006, 2011; Southern Illinois University School of Law, 2011
- Restorative Justice Award, Center for Women in Transition, St. Louis, 2005
- Distinguished alumni speaker, Lourdes High School, Rochester, Minnesota, 2005
- Recipient, Clarence Darrow Award, Saint Louis University School of Law Public Interest Group, 2004
- In college, served as editor-in-chief and chairman of the board of the student daily newspaper, The Dartmouth; was a member of the junior and senior honorary societies; and attended college on full scholarship. In law school, received the award for the highest grade-point average in class during his final year and received American Jurisprudence awards for highest performance in three courses
Additional Information:
- Publications: As Chief Justice, Judge Wolff wrote a monthly "Law Matters" column for publication in Missouri newspapers. These columns are available online by clicking here and are available for re-publication.
- Speeches:
- Keynote lecture, Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services Conference Commemorating 100 Years of Legal Services for Indigents in St. Paul, "Civil Rights and Wrongs: The Persistence of Inequality and Unequal Opportunity, 1970-2010," William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minn., June 2010
- Law Day speech to Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, "From Lincoln the Lawyer to Lincoln the President: Dred Scott and the Lincoln-Douglas Elections," May 2009
- Evidence-Based Sentencing, West Virigina Symposium on the Effective Administration of Justice, sponsored by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Pew Charitable Trusts, November 2008
- Dr. Edwin I. Megargee Honorary Lecture, International Community Corrections Association Research Conference, October 2008
- Keynote Speaker, Missouri Re-Entry Process: Celebrating Success and Planning for Future Training, June 2008
- Thomas D. Fulbright Lecture in American History, which was the keynote speech at the Dred Scott Conference at Washington University, "Race, Law and the Struggle for Equality: Missouri Law, Politics and the Dred Scott Case," St. Louis, March 2007
- 2007 State of the Judiciary Address to the Missouri General Assembly, January 2007, 63 J. Mo. B. 64 (2007).
- Address to The Missouri Bar, Judicial Conference in St. Louis, September 2006, 62 J. Mo. B. 362 (2006)
- Address to The Missouri Bar, Annual Spring Meeting in Jefferson City, May 2006, 20 M.L.W. 505 (2006)
- 2006 State of the Judiciary Address to the Missouri General Assembly, January 2006, 62 J. Mo. B. 56 (2006)
- Address to The Missouri Bar, Judicial Conference in Kansas City, September 2005, 61 J. Mo. B. 308 (2005)
- Tributes:
- Introduction, by Dean Jeffrey Lewis
- Tribute to Chief Justice Michael Wolff, by the Hon. Richard B. Teitelman
- Mike Wolff: Chief of Collegiality, by the Hon. Duane Benton
- Mike Wolff: From Champion Law Clerk to Chief Justice, by Miles W. Lord
- Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff: A Reflection, by Peter W. Salsich Jr.
- A Tribute to the Honorable Michael A. Wolff, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, by Susan A. FitzGibbon
- Tribute to Chief Justice Michael Wolff: Reminiscences of a Faculty Colleague, by Roger L. Goldman
- Tribute to Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff, by the Hon. Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr.
- Michael A. Wolff, Chief Justice, Professor and Scholar, by Joseph J. Simeone
- Selected legal writings – Law reviews, books:
- Stories of Civil Rights Progress and the Persistence of Inequality and Unequal Opportunity, 1970-2010 (Sept. 25, 2010). William Mitchell Law Review (forthcoming).
- What Is Changing? "The Future Is Not What It Used to Be," Federal Sentencing Reporter (forthcoming fall 2010).
- Missouri Law, Politics and the Dred Scott Case, in The Dred Scott Case: Historical and Contemporary Perspective on Race and Law, 212-226 (David Thomas Konig et al. eds. 2010).
- Mainstream sentencing - The urgent need for dramatic reform (Devil's Advocate Column, co-author: Paul J. DeMuniz, chief justice of Oregon Supreme Court) JUDICATURE Volume 92, Number 4 January-February 2009 (forthcoming).
- Evidence-Based Judicial Discretion: Promoting Public Safety Through State Sentencing Reform (Annual William J. Brennan Lecture), 83 N.Y.U. Law Review 1389 (2008).
- Cutting Recividism by Analyzing Sentencing Outcomes, 20 Fed. Sentencing Rptr. 320 (June 2008).
- Charles B. Blackmar: Professor, Judge, Chief Justice and Charlie, 72 Missouri Law Review 220 (Winter 2007).
- Building Support for Strong, Fair and Impartial Courts, 82 Indiana Law Journal 1257 (2007).
- Missouri's Information-Based Discretionary Sentencing System, 4 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 95 (Fall 2006).
- Tinkering with the Machinery of Death in Mental Capacity, Ability and Eligibility for the Death Penalty, St. Louis University Public Law Review 279 (Fall 2006).
- The Most Important Course in Law School? Introduction to symposium issue on teaching Civil Procedure, 47 St. Louis University Law Journal 1 (2003).
- From the Mouth of a Fish: An Appellate Judge Reflects on Oral Argument, 45 St. Louis University Law Journal 1097 (2001).
- Exploring Judicial Behaviors in the Laboratories of Democracy, 83 Judicature 267 (March-April 2000).
- Ted McMillian: The Happy Coincidence of Timing, Talent, and Persistence, 43 St. Louis University Law Journal 1297 (1999).
- Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, (with Devitt, Blackmar and O'Malley) (West Pub. 4th ed.) 1987 (Volume 3) and 1992 (Volume 1); also, Supplement, and Cumulative Supplement, for 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.
- Health Reform in Missouri (co-author), St. Louis Bar Journal, Fall 1993, at 32.
- Nursing Homes and the Law: State Regulation and Private Litigation, with Johnson and Terry, (Harrison Pub. Co. 1985).
- Personal Property Damages and Remittur and Additur, in Damages, Missouri Bar Continuing Legal Education, editorial committee (1988).
- Court Upholds Expanded Practice Role for Nurses, 12 Law, Medicine & Health Care 26 (1984).
- Discoverability of Hospitals' "Incident Reports," St. Louis Bar Journal, Winter 1983, at 34.
- Charity Means Business: Medicare Reimbursement for Hospitals' "Free Care" Obligations, 15 St. Louis University Law Journal 389 (1981), reprinted in Specialty Law Digest – Health Care (Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.).
- Problems of Proof, Missouri Bar Continuing Legal Education, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, Chapter supplements: Wrongful Death and Derivative Actions.
- Attitudes and Health Promoting Behavior of Medical and Law Students, (Coe, Miller, Wolff, Prendergast and Pepper), 72 Amer. Journal of Public Health 725 (July 1982).
- Law and Tactics in Juvenile Cases, (ALI-ABA 3d ed. 1977). Piersma, et al. Chapter: Federal Court Litigation.
- Protecting the Disabled Minority: Rights and Remedies Under Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 22 St. Louis University Law Journal 25 (1978).