LANSING, Mich. — Governor Rick Snyder appointed Joan L. Larsen, a law professor at the University of Michigan, to the Michigan Supreme Court Wednesday morning.
Larsen is coming into the position as a law professor and special counsel to the Dean at the University of Michigan Law School.
She will be filling the seat left vacant when Justice Mary Beth Kelly resigned earlier this year to return to private law practice. Larsen will have to seek election in 2016 in order to serve the full remainder of former Justice Kelly’s term, which will expire at the end of 2018. She will also be eligible to run in 2018 for a full 8-year term.
Snyder introduced Larsen to the public Thursday morning as a qualified candidate with experience with both the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Justice Department.
“She was deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. She has also taught at Northwestern University School of Law. Larsen began her career as a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She then served as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for two years. She followed her clerkship into private practice with the law firm Sidley & Austin in Washington, D.C.”
Larsen lives in Scio Township with her husband and 2 kids.
