Shelia R. Johnson

Professional career

• Also a 2012 Democratic Party nominee for Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
• Elected to the 46th District Court in November 2002, becoming the first African American to serve on this court and the first African American female District Judge in Oakland County
• She held the role of a law clerk to the Honorable Benjamin F. Gibson of the U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan, and practiced law privately in Southfield, specializing in civil and criminal litigation

Education

Additional information

• She currently serves as Chief Judge and was re-elected for an unopposed third term in 2014.
• Judge Johnson has been deeply involved in community service.
• She presides over civil cases up to $25,000, misdemeanors, felony preliminary examinations, landlord-tenant disputes, traffic cases, and small claims
• She has been a resident of Southfield for over three decades and continues to contribute to both the legal profession and her community
• Born in Detroit, Judge Johnson comes from a family with a strong educational legacy, including grandparents who were educators in the segregated South.
• She has held the role of President of the Association of Black Judges of Michigan, Past President of the Michigan District Judges Association, and currently serves as Recording Secretary of the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association
• She has also held the role of a charter member and board member of the Oakland County Chapter of the National Congress of Black Women and is active in her church, Hope United Methodist Church, where she has chaired ministries and hosted a local cable program
• Judge Johnson is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the State Bar of Michigan, Michigan District Judges Association, Association of Black Judges of Michigan, Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, and the National Bar Association.
• Her election and leadership roles mark significant milestones in the representation of African American women in the judiciary of Oakland County and Michigan at large
• She has held leadership roles in the Southern Oakland Chapter of the NAACP, the Southfield Community Foundation Women’s Fund, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.