Founder of the Washtenaw County Peacemaking Court to be honored for three decades advancing restorative justice in Michigan courts
Judge Timothy Connors founded the Washtenaw County Peacemaking Court in 2013.
The Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Michigan will present its Hero of ADR Award to Washtenaw Co. Circuirt Court Judge Timothy P. Connors, Ret.. This prestigious award will be presented on October 8, 2026, at a ceremony in Livonia.
The award recognizes individuals who have provided exemplary assistance to the field of conflict resolution through leadership, scholarship, teaching, and service in bringing about resolution.
Judge Connors served on the Michigan bench for 34 years, from 1991 until his retirement in 2025, including 11 years as Chief Judge of the 22nd Circuit Court in Washtenaw County. Over his career he sat as a circuit, district, and probate court judge, and was also appointed a tribal court judge.
In 2013, with support from a Michigan Supreme Court Performance Innovation Fund grant, he founded the Washtenaw County Peacemaking Court. This was the first state-court Peacemaking program of its kind in the nation. Built in close partnership with the Honorable Michael Petoskey of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in partnership with the late Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, the program brings litigants and trained peacemakers together in circle to resolve disputes including custody, guardianship, estate, and child welfare matters through what Judge Connors has called “collective responsibility.” The model is now taught in law schools and has been studied and adapted by state court systems across the country.
Judge Connors’ influence extends well beyond his own courtroom. He has served for years as co-chair of the Michigan Tribal-State-Federal Judicial Forum, whose work was instrumental in drafting the Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act, a landmark statute protecting Native children and families that other states have since studied and adapted.
In 2017, the Native American Rights Fund appointed him to its Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges named him its Innovator of the Year for bringing tribal peacemaking practices into a state court system.
A prolific scholar and teacher, Judge Connors is the author of foundational articles on Peacemaking, including “Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Why Peacemaking Makes Sense in State Court Justice Systems” (ABA Judges’ Journal, 2016) and “Rights, Relationships, Responsibilities” (ABA Human Rights Journal, 2023).
He has taught at the University of Michigan Law School, Wayne State University Law School, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, and Vermont Law and Graduate School. His advocacy helped bring Peacemaking curricula to Columbia, Yale, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Washington. He has trained hundreds of judges, mediators, and court staff nationwide and has taught
internationally, including at King’s Inns in Dublin, Ireland.
“For close to twenty years, I appeared before Judge Connors in child welfare cases — among the hardest a trial court hears, where parents faced the possible loss of their children and children the possible loss of their families,” said Vivek S. Sankaran, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and Director of the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic. “He listened to parents who had been spoken about more than spoken to for most of their lives, and he treated every voice in the room as worth hearing. The model he built in Michigan is now the national reference point for state court peacemaking. I can’t think of a more deserving recipient of this award.”
“Judge Connors satisfies every one of the Section’s criteria for this award, many times over,” added Ann Arbor attorney, mediator and law professor Chad D. Engelhardt. “He has given this field its shape, as a judge, a scholar, and a teacher who showed lawyers and litigants alike that conflict can be an opportunity for restoration rather than escalation. Even now, while battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, he continues to teach these principles, mediate cases and help people find a path forward, sometimes from a hospital bed. That is who he is, and it is why this award belongs to him.”
Judge Connors’ recognition by the SBM ADR Section adds to a long list of honors, including the Michigan Supreme Court’s Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award (2021), the NAACP Ypsilanti-Willow Run Branch’s Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Award (2018), the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Innovator of the Year Award (2017), and the Michigan Judges Association’s Hilda Gage Judicial Excellence Award (2015), among many, many others.
The award recognizes individuals who have provided exemplary assistance to the field of conflict resolution through leadership, scholarship, teaching, and service in bringing about resolution.
Judge Connors served on the Michigan bench for 34 years, from 1991 until his retirement in 2025, including 11 years as Chief Judge of the 22nd Circuit Court in Washtenaw County. Over his career he sat as a circuit, district, and probate court judge, and was also appointed a tribal court judge.
In 2013, with support from a Michigan Supreme Court Performance Innovation Fund grant, he founded the Washtenaw County Peacemaking Court. This was the first state-court Peacemaking program of its kind in the nation. Built in close partnership with the Honorable Michael Petoskey of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in partnership with the late Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael F. Cavanagh, the program brings litigants and trained peacemakers together in circle to resolve disputes including custody, guardianship, estate, and child welfare matters through what Judge Connors has called “collective responsibility.” The model is now taught in law schools and has been studied and adapted by state court systems across the country.
Judge Connors’ influence extends well beyond his own courtroom. He has served for years as co-chair of the Michigan Tribal-State-Federal Judicial Forum, whose work was instrumental in drafting the Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act, a landmark statute protecting Native children and families that other states have since studied and adapted.
In 2017, the Native American Rights Fund appointed him to its Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges named him its Innovator of the Year for bringing tribal peacemaking practices into a state court system.
A prolific scholar and teacher, Judge Connors is the author of foundational articles on Peacemaking, including “Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Why Peacemaking Makes Sense in State Court Justice Systems” (ABA Judges’ Journal, 2016) and “Rights, Relationships, Responsibilities” (ABA Human Rights Journal, 2023).
He has taught at the University of Michigan Law School, Wayne State University Law School, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, and Vermont Law and Graduate School. His advocacy helped bring Peacemaking curricula to Columbia, Yale, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Washington. He has trained hundreds of judges, mediators, and court staff nationwide and has taught
internationally, including at King’s Inns in Dublin, Ireland.
“For close to twenty years, I appeared before Judge Connors in child welfare cases — among the hardest a trial court hears, where parents faced the possible loss of their children and children the possible loss of their families,” said Vivek S. Sankaran, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and Director of the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic. “He listened to parents who had been spoken about more than spoken to for most of their lives, and he treated every voice in the room as worth hearing. The model he built in Michigan is now the national reference point for state court peacemaking. I can’t think of a more deserving recipient of this award.”
“Judge Connors satisfies every one of the Section’s criteria for this award, many times over,” added Ann Arbor attorney, mediator and law professor Chad D. Engelhardt. “He has given this field its shape, as a judge, a scholar, and a teacher who showed lawyers and litigants alike that conflict can be an opportunity for restoration rather than escalation. Even now, while battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, he continues to teach these principles, mediate cases and help people find a path forward, sometimes from a hospital bed. That is who he is, and it is why this award belongs to him.”
Judge Connors’ recognition by the SBM ADR Section adds to a long list of honors, including the Michigan Supreme Court’s Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award (2021), the NAACP Ypsilanti-Willow Run Branch’s Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Award (2018), the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Innovator of the Year Award (2017), and the Michigan Judges Association’s Hilda Gage Judicial Excellence Award (2015), among many, many others.
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