LEGAL NEWS PHOTOS BY CYNTHIA PRCE
Photo 1: Former 61st District Court Judge Benjamin Logan prepares to administer the oath of office to new 61st District Court Judge Christina Elmore. In the background are, left to right, Court Administrative Assistant Amy Young, Elmore’s son Shane Harris, and Judicial Clerk Vanessa Busch.
Photo 2: Erica and Shane Harris help their mother don the judicial robe. At right, Judge Michael Distel and Chief Judge Jeanine LaVille look on.
Photo 3: The close-harmony quartet Chapter X sang of justice and hope.
Photo 4: Dr. Carol A. Foster, mother of Judge Christina Elmore.
Photo 5: Judge Elmore takes her seat on the bench. Congratulating her are, from left to right, are Chief Judge Jeanine LaVille, Judge Jennifer Faber, Judge David Buter, and Judge Michael Distel.
by Cynthia Price
Legal News
Retired 61st District Court Judge Benjamin Logan swore in Christina Elmore last Friday, in a ceremony that left few dry eyes in the courtroom.
As many will recall, Judge Logan retired in 2014 after suffering a heart attack a year earlier. He now gets around in a wheelchair with the help of his wife, but that did not prevent him from administering the oath of office to the new judge.
Elmore, whose solo practice in civil, criminal and family law frequently took her before the 61st District bench, says she has known Judge Logan for about ten years, but adds, “He and my father go even further back than that.”
The simple investiture ceremony was a family affair in many ways, not least of which was the professional job done by Elmore’s teenaged son, Shane Harris, as Master of Ceremonies.
Pastor Anthony L. Elmore, Christina’s husband, gave the invocation, and her mother, Dr. Carol A. Foster, was the sole speaker. A gospel quartet with connections to her husband, Chapter X, performed two selections, including a song with the lyrics, “You’ve got to do it right.”
All of this amounted to a moving though brief court session, presided over by 61st district Court Chief Judge Jeanine LaVille and attended by a couple dozen local judges.
The attendees included Judge Jennifer Faber and Judge Michael Distel, both of whom are new on the 61st District Court. Rounding out the 61st bench are Magistrate Steven Brunink, Judge David Buter and Judge Kimberly A. Schaefer. (Schaefer was unable to attend.)
With the addition of Elmore, the court has its full contingent of judges, after losing Logan, Donald Passenger, and Michael Christensen to retirement in rapid succession.
Foster, a staff development specialist and consultant who now lives in Las Vegas but formerly worked for the Kent Intermediate School District, talked about her daughter’s lifetime commitment to fairness.
“Christina would pout if other children got a wrong deal. I would see her crying and ask her ‘What’s wrong?’ She’d say, ‘These kids took away Kelvin’s ball, and he’s much smaller than them. He was crying so I gave him my ball.’
“Then of course, she’d ask me to go out and buy her a new one,” Foster added. “But we could see that law was the perfect fit for her.”
She also noted the new judge’s modesty. “She’s not pretentious or braggadocious. Even with the LSAT — her score was in the 96th percentile, but all I knew was that she’d passed.
“My daughter the judge. What a dream come true,” Foster said proudly.
Elmore did her undergraduate study at the University of Michigan, and received her J.D. from Tulane Law School. She then became a member of the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps.
Following that, she was an assistant attorney general in the Kent County Prosecutor’s office, working in the child support area. In addition to her solo practice, she taught military law as an adjunct at WMU-Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Upon appointing her (she must run in 2016 for a full six-year term), Gov.. Rick Snyder said, “Christina Elmore has broad and extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, positioning her well for a smooth transition to the bench.”
When it came time for her to speak at the investiture, she thanked Judge Logan profusely.
“Judge Logan was an inspiration when I was practicing, his door was always open. I really thank you, Judge, and I’m so glad you could make it.
“I’m not going to talk long because I get very emotional,” she said.
Elmore started Feb. 22, about which she comments, “I’m just kind of learning the ropes around here, shadowing judges to see how different judges do things, to help me find my own style. I think I’m the type to learn it more by doing it, though.”
She adds, “I’m excited to serve this community in a different capacity. I’ve served the public in other ways in the past, but I’m really looking forward to this new opportunity.”
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