A collage of photos of Judge Timothy P. Connors over the years, including with his treasured Peace Pipe; 2025 Lifetime Judicial Excellence Award from the State Bar Negligence Law Section; and May 2026 Judicial Excellence Award from the SBM Litigation Section, flanked by former SBM President Joseph McGill (left) and Ann Arbor attorney Chad Engelhardt.
(Photo credit Michelle Kregar)
The legal community lost a hero with the passing of Judge Timothy Patrick Connors on Oct. 8 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He died on the same day the Alternative Dispute Section of the State Bar of Michigan honored him with its “Hero of ADR” Award, and one day after his 72nd birthday.
“Judge Timothy P. Connors was a visionary in ADR, a pioneer in bringing together tribal peacemaking and traditional dispute resolution, and a cherished teacher, mentor, and friend,” State Bar Past President Joseph McGill, Honorary Consul of Ireland to the State of Michigan, and an attorney with Foley, Baron, Metzger & Juip, PLLC, wrote to the Legal News. “He embodied the Irish concept of Anam Cara—a soul friend—through the bridges he built, the lives he touched, and the peace he helped create. His legacy will endure in the countless people he inspired to listen, understand, and do justice.”
Judge Connors received his B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1977 and J.D. degree from the Wayne State University Law School in 1980. He began his career at Conlin, Conlin, McKenney & Philbrick, before joining Logeman, Connors & Bredell, P.C., where he became Vice-President.
In 1991, he was appointed to the 15th District Court, serving until his appointment to the circuit court in 1997. Over his career he sat as a circuit, district, and probate court judge, and a tribal court judge, served 11 years as a State Court Chief Judge, served as Presiding Judge for the Business Court and handled civil and ICWA cases. He retired on Dec. 31, 2024, after 34 years on the bench but remained active as a mediator/facilitator, educator, and author.
In 2013, with support from a Michigan Supreme Court Performance Innovation Fund grant, Judge Connors founded the Washtenaw County Peace-making Court, 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 called “collective responsibility.”
The model is taught in law schools and has been studied and adapted by state court systems across the country.
Judge Connors 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. He also served by appointment as Judge Pro Tem for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.
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.
Judge Connors taught Civil Trial Advocacy and/or Peacemaking and Restorative Justice at the University of Michigan Law School since 2008; an endowment fund is being set up in his name.
He was an adjunct professor at Wayne Law School since 1993; served as faculty for the Institute of Continuing Legal Edu-cation; as a guest lecturer for Cooley Law School and Eastern Michigan University; and taught at Vermont Law and Graduate School. His advocacy helped bring Peacemaking curricula to Columbia, Yale, the University of New Mexico, and the University of Washington.
The author of foundational articles on Peace-making, including “Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Why Peacemaking Makes Sense in State Court Justice Systems” (ABA Judges’ Journal, 2016) and “Rights, Relationships, Responsibil-ities” (ABA Human Rights Journal, 2023), Judge Connors trained hundreds of judges, mediators, and court staff nationwide and taught internationally, including at King’s Inns in Dublin, Ireland.
A slew of awards included the Michigan Supreme Court’s Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award; 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the SBM Negligence Law Section; the Hilda Gage Judicial Excellence Award from the Michigan Judges Association; the Reverend Thomas H. Smith Humanitarian Service Award from the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church; the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Innovator of the Year Award for Implementing Tribal Peacemaking Practices in a State Court System – The Washtenaw County Peace-making Court; lifetime judicial excellence awards from the Washtenaw County Bar Association, and the Washtenaw Association for Justice, and Judicial Excellence Award from the SBM Litigation Section in May 2026, to name just a few.
In one of his many articles, Judge Connors wrote the following inspiring words:
“We need to love and to be loved. We need to give and to be given to. We need to laugh and cry and laugh again. We need to see each other as human beings, desperately needing each other as we hurtle through time and space in this ship called Mother Earth. We need to see and feel the goodness and decency that exist within us and around us on this earth. We need to live in the nourishing light of dignity, see it, and acknowledge it. We need peace.”
Visitation will be held 4-6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at Muehlig Funeral Chapel, 403 S. 4th Ave, Ann Arbor, with a rosary said at 6 p.m. A Memorial Mass will be offered at 11 a.m., on Saturday, Oct. 24, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 530 Elizabeth St., Ann Arbor.
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