Kurtis T. Wilder, a former justice for the Michigan Supreme Court, has rejoined Detroit’s Butzel Long as of counsel. He practiced with the firm early in his career.
Wilder was appointed the 112th justice for the Michigan Supreme Court by former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on May 9, 2017. Before that, he was a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals from December 1998-May 2017 and a judge of the Washtenaw County Trial Court from March 1992-December 1998.
Before earning his juris doctor degree in 1984 from the University of Michigan Law School, Wilder completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan.
Wilder is a member of the Fellows of the Michigan State Bar Foundation; the Federalist Society, board of advisors, lawyers division-Michigan Chapter; and the Wolverine Bar Association. He has served as a member of the Model Criminal Jury Instruction Committee, the Family Division Joint Rules Committee, and the Family Court Implementation Task Force. He is a former president of the Michigan Judges Association, past chairman of the State Bar Judicial Conference, a former Supreme Court liaison for courthouse security.
Wilder’s civic and philanthropic endeavors include serving as chair of the State of Michigan Community Corrections Advisory Board; former board chair of the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan and Nonprofit Enterprise at Work; former board member of The Sphinx Organization; Rotary Club of Ann Arbor; Ann Arbor Symphony; and American Red Cross, Washtenaw County Chapter.
Currently serving on the boards of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation, and Interlochen Center for the Arts, Wilder is also an elder and chancel choir member at First Presbyterian Church of Plymouth.
“We are pleased and honored to welcome Justice Wilder to the Firm. In many respects, this is a homecoming for him,” says Justin G. Klimko, president and CEO of Butzel Long. “Justice Wilder was a highly regarded and respected jurist and is an important addition to our legal talent at Butzel Long.”
Butzel Long was founded in Detroit in 1854, and its law offices are located in Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, Lansing, Ann Arbor, New York, and Washington, D.C. The firm has alliance offices in Beijing and Shanghai.
