LUNCH WITH HENRY MAHER, AND NICK SHAHEEN

On Monday, June 21, I met Henry Maher on the patio of the Moose Preserve on Woodward, for a COVID adjourned lunch.

Henry is retired from a brilliant career as a litigator and facilitator.  Henry was one of the first, and all time best, facilitators.  Though he was an insurance defense attorney, I never saw a man who could connect with a plaintiff better than Henry.  He thrived on the in person hearing, which I hope returns to mediation/facilitation practice, now that the light switch on the legal system is getting turned back on.  

Though many lawyers, self included, continue to make facilitation a second career, Henry is now "retired, retired", and intends to stay that way.  Since his second retirement, he has begun reading novels, specializing in non-cozy mysteries.  The count must be near 300 books now, and I am proud to say that I introduced him to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe back in 2019.  He has read 25 Wolfe's as of June 21, and maintains a tactical reserve of 3 unread Wolfe mysteries against the advent of a national emergency.

There was a lot of litigation experience at that table that afternoon.  And we did talk about many important things-our families, our shared Catholic educational experience, mystery novels, old acquaintances and the upcoming summer of 2021.   At some point we did get around to memories of practicing in Wayne County Circuit Court.  Earlier that morning, I  learned  that Nick Shaheen,  retired Wayne County Circuit Court Assignment Clerk, had died on May 22, 2021.  Nick was 96.  He served as Wayne County Circuit Court Assignment Clerk from 1969-1989.  In 1994 he and his wife moved permanently to Orlando, Florida.

 Nick retired before Wayne Circuit moved to judges having individual dockets.  Really seems odd to recall the  way the court was "organized" back when I started practicing.  Firstly, Recorders' Court was restricted to hearing criminal matters originating in the City of Detroit.  All other Wayne County felonies were heard by Wayne County Circuit judges in their courtrooms in the City County Building (now the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center), the Wayne County Building (then referred to as the Old County Building) and the Lafayette Building (forever demolished as of 2009).  All Wayne Circuit judges heard civil, criminal and family law cases.  

When a civil case was filed, a judge was assigned.  This judge would have the case through mediation (now called case evaluation).  There were no discovery tracks--all civil cases were given discovery for 26 months!! You read that correctly.  Admittedly, the number 26 seemed a bit more shocking before March of 2020. Before the COVID shutdown, certain Circuit judges announced the policy that all auto-related cases were to be resolved (which would include trial if necessary) within 12 months from the date of filing.

Cases would be set for mediation after the 26 months, but how long after I don't remember.  Some time after Mediation (again I don't remember how long after), attorneys would get a Settlement Conference notice.  The Settlement Conference would be set before a randomly selected judge, not the judge assigned when the case was filed.

Adjournment requests, of any type, were made exclusively by motion filed with the Chief Judge.  A forlorn hope, generally.

At the Settlement Conference the system got really interesting.  If you didn't resolve your case with the settlement judge (who had no particular motivation to help you settle), you could go to trial that very day.

Enter Nick Shaheen and the 17th floor Assignment Clerk's office.