By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
A University of Michigan Memorial Fund has been established to honor the peacemaking teachings of Judge Timothy P. Connors, who died October 8 from pancreatic cancer.
“Timothy adored teaching—he felt so very honored to be teaching at the University of Michigan Law School, asked back year after year,” Judge Connors’ wife, Margaret Kruse Connors, wrote to The Legal News.
Ann Arbor attorney and mediator Chad Engelhardt served as classroom assistant during the judge’s health struggles.
“He was most alive when sharing his wisdom and inspiring a new generation of lawyers,” Engelhardt said of Connors.
Founder and presiding judge of the Michigan courts’ first Peacemaking Court in 2013, Connors was a Washtenaw County Circuit judge from 1997 to his retirement in December 2025. He then continued as a facilitator, and taught Trial Practice and Peacemaking in State Court Justice Systems at Michigan Law, at his alma mater Wayne Law, and at Vermont Law School, and brought peacemaking concepts to curricula at several law schools nationwide.
Connors had a profound effect on students he taught.
“He taught us far more than how to be effective advocates. He showed us the importance of compassion, humanity, and using our voices to make a difference,’” wrote MLaw student Kristen Lewis. “What made him so special was his ability to see something in his students that we sometimes struggled to see in ourselves. He helped me envision the kind of lawyer I could become. He became not only a professor and mentor, but also a dear friend and part of my chosen family here in Michigan. I will carry his lessons, his encouragement, and his belief in me into every courtroom and every opportunity I have to advocate for others.”
Michigan Law grad and Native American Rights Fund Law Fellow Andrew Druart called Connors a phenomenal mentor and inspiration, who learned from his Anishinaabe friends the principles of the seven grandfathers: Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom, and applied these principles to mentoring, teaching, and his judicial service.
“Judge Connors showed us all how to be better advocates by considering new perspectives, why we need to build relationships with one another, and how to listen to and understand each other,” Druart wrote to The Legal News. “His shining legacy shows us all how we can strive to be better students, educators, lawyers, and most importantly, people. The passion he had serving in his community and working for others was infectious and inspired everyone around him. In his honor, we should fulfill the hope that he had for each of his students to ‘be the light’ and live a life of ‘síochána.’”
Jackson County Assistant Public Defender Cheyann Scutt took the Wayne Law Trial Advocacy class, and Peacekeeping in the Courts.
“Not only did I find the courage to become a defense attorney because I discovered different values in his peacekeeping course, but I felt confident enough to wade through the ‘imposter syndrome’,” she wrote in an email. “I have never learned so much from any other individual, and I hope that I can find a way to carry on his legacy and teachings.”
Michigan Law Professor Len Niehoff guest lectured to the judge’s Trial Practice students, and Connors spoke to Niehoff’s Civil Procedure class.
“Some lives have an almost magically outsized impact and Tim’s was among them,” Niehoff said in an email. “By his keen intellect, his limitless curiosity, his contagious energy, and above all else his kindness and grace and courage he taught us all not only how to be better lawyers and legal scholars but how to be better human beings.”
Michigan Law Child Welfare Appellate Clinic Director Vivek Sankaran co-taught a litigation skills class with Connors for five years.
“Judge Connors was an inspirational leader, guiding students and lawyers on how to be a compassionate lawyer,” Sankaran said in an email. “He was a mentor and dear friend and I will miss him so much. But his spirit will live on in those whose lives he touched.”
To donate to the memorial fund, visit https://giving.umich.edu/um/w/judge-timothy-p.-connors, or mail a check to 2301 Commonwealth Blvd Ste 100, Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2967.
Legal News
A University of Michigan Memorial Fund has been established to honor the peacemaking teachings of Judge Timothy P. Connors, who died October 8 from pancreatic cancer.
“Timothy adored teaching—he felt so very honored to be teaching at the University of Michigan Law School, asked back year after year,” Judge Connors’ wife, Margaret Kruse Connors, wrote to The Legal News.
Ann Arbor attorney and mediator Chad Engelhardt served as classroom assistant during the judge’s health struggles.
“He was most alive when sharing his wisdom and inspiring a new generation of lawyers,” Engelhardt said of Connors.
Founder and presiding judge of the Michigan courts’ first Peacemaking Court in 2013, Connors was a Washtenaw County Circuit judge from 1997 to his retirement in December 2025. He then continued as a facilitator, and taught Trial Practice and Peacemaking in State Court Justice Systems at Michigan Law, at his alma mater Wayne Law, and at Vermont Law School, and brought peacemaking concepts to curricula at several law schools nationwide.
Connors had a profound effect on students he taught.
“He taught us far more than how to be effective advocates. He showed us the importance of compassion, humanity, and using our voices to make a difference,’” wrote MLaw student Kristen Lewis. “What made him so special was his ability to see something in his students that we sometimes struggled to see in ourselves. He helped me envision the kind of lawyer I could become. He became not only a professor and mentor, but also a dear friend and part of my chosen family here in Michigan. I will carry his lessons, his encouragement, and his belief in me into every courtroom and every opportunity I have to advocate for others.”
Michigan Law grad and Native American Rights Fund Law Fellow Andrew Druart called Connors a phenomenal mentor and inspiration, who learned from his Anishinaabe friends the principles of the seven grandfathers: Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty, Humility, and Wisdom, and applied these principles to mentoring, teaching, and his judicial service.
“Judge Connors showed us all how to be better advocates by considering new perspectives, why we need to build relationships with one another, and how to listen to and understand each other,” Druart wrote to The Legal News. “His shining legacy shows us all how we can strive to be better students, educators, lawyers, and most importantly, people. The passion he had serving in his community and working for others was infectious and inspired everyone around him. In his honor, we should fulfill the hope that he had for each of his students to ‘be the light’ and live a life of ‘síochána.’”
Jackson County Assistant Public Defender Cheyann Scutt took the Wayne Law Trial Advocacy class, and Peacekeeping in the Courts.
“Not only did I find the courage to become a defense attorney because I discovered different values in his peacekeeping course, but I felt confident enough to wade through the ‘imposter syndrome’,” she wrote in an email. “I have never learned so much from any other individual, and I hope that I can find a way to carry on his legacy and teachings.”
Michigan Law Professor Len Niehoff guest lectured to the judge’s Trial Practice students, and Connors spoke to Niehoff’s Civil Procedure class.
“Some lives have an almost magically outsized impact and Tim’s was among them,” Niehoff said in an email. “By his keen intellect, his limitless curiosity, his contagious energy, and above all else his kindness and grace and courage he taught us all not only how to be better lawyers and legal scholars but how to be better human beings.”
Michigan Law Child Welfare Appellate Clinic Director Vivek Sankaran co-taught a litigation skills class with Connors for five years.
“Judge Connors was an inspirational leader, guiding students and lawyers on how to be a compassionate lawyer,” Sankaran said in an email. “He was a mentor and dear friend and I will miss him so much. But his spirit will live on in those whose lives he touched.”
To donate to the memorial fund, visit https://giving.umich.edu/um/w/judge-timothy-p.-connors, or mail a check to 2301 Commonwealth Blvd Ste 100, Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2967.
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