Birmingham Attorney to Run for Oakland County Judge Position

A Birmingham attorney will be throwing her hat into the ring to fill a soon-to-be empty seat in Oakland County's 6th Circuit Court.

Family law attorney Karen McDonald is a partner at the law firm Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss P.C., based in Southfield and Detroit. She's running to fill the position in the court's family division that will be left vacant by the retirement of Judge Edward Sosnick this fall.

"My professional passion has always been children and their families," McDonald said in a press release Thursday. "While working for the Oakland County prosecutor's office, I often handled cases that dealt with child sexual assault. It was there I saw the critical role that the justice system plays in protecting families and I knew that my life's position had found a home in the law."

McDonald has been a litigator for more than 20 years and attained a 100 percent jury trial conviction rate as a prosecutor when she handled felony crimes, child sexual assault cases and juvenile matters.

McDonald has a bachelor's degree in English from Alma College and a J.D. from Wayne State University. After college, McDonald first worked as a high school English teacher but then moved into law, as a research attorney for the Michigan Court of Appeals. In 1999, she joined the Oakland County prosecutor's office.

McDonald then joined Bodman LLP as a general commercial litigation associate in 2004, and soon after moved into family law at Jaffe Raitt Heurer & Weiss.

McDonald also serves a board member for Starfish, a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged children and families in southwest Wayne County. Married to Jeffrey Weiss, McDonald has five children.

"My experience as both a prosecutor and family law attorney has given me a unique perspective on the issues facing our families as they navigate our judicial system," McDonald said. "This experience has also given me the critical skills we need in our next family court judge."