Contact information:
E-mail: scheduling@mijadr.com
Phone: (734) 744-9822
Personal E-mail: JudgeJulieNicholson@gmail.com
Cell Phone: 248-227-5763
Judge Julie Nicholson (retired) obtained her certification as a civil case mediator from the National Judicial College in 2024. Judge Nicholson is a former 52/3 District Court Judge with more than 27 years of judicial experience and 10 years of civil litigation experience in private practice. As a judge she presided over thousands of civil cases, jury and non-jury trials in one of Oakland County’s largest and busiest district courts. Judge Nicholson was also appointed as a Visiting Judge to the Oakland County Circuit Court – Civil division.
Judge Nicholson was appointed Chief Judge of the 52nd District Court by the Michigan Supreme Court multiple times for a total of 10 years. She was responsible for the oversight of court operations with a $15 plus million-dollar budget and managing 4 of Oakland County’s largest district courts with more than 300 employees, 10 judges and 10 magistrates. She was also appointed by the MSC to the Collections Advisory Committee, Local Intergovernmental Advisory Council and the ADR Workgroup Committee.
Prior to her election in 1996 Judge Nicholson was a partner in large and mid-sized law firms. Her civil litigation practice was focused on employment liability, premises liability, business and commercial liability, product liability, highway liability, personal injury and environmental liability cases. She litigated civil cases in multiple trial courts in the State of Michigan, Federal district courts and Michigan Court of Appeals. She also served as a neutral case evaluator for the Oakland County Bar Association.
As a faculty member of the Michigan Judicial Institute Judge Nicholson taught classes involving Alternative Dispute Resolution, Jury Trial Management, Collections and Court Management. Judge Nicholson also was an Adjunct Professor for Cooley Law School where she taught Pretrial Skills to law school students. She was a guest lecturer for various law firms and multiple colleges, high schools and middle schools and presented lectures at multiple legal education related conferences.
Throughout her career Judge Nicholson has volunteered her time to various community based and charitable organizations including North Oakland Community Coalition, Rochester Women’s Foundation, Mayor’s Advisory Council for Van Hoosen Museum, and Oakland County Coordinating Council Against Domestic Violence. She also served on multiple Boards of Directors for Detroit Zoological Society, Oakland County Zoological Authority (Secretary), Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce (Chair), Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital, Rainbow Connection, Notre Dame Prep/Marist Academy, and YMCA – North Oakland.
Judge Nicholson was a contributing legal columnist for several years for the Observer & Eccentric and has authored several law related articles for various publications. Martindale-Hubbell rated Judge Nicholson AV Preeminent. She also has received awards from various organizations including MSU College of Law, Oakland County Bar Association, Oakland Mediation Center, and Rochester Board of Education.
Judge Nicholson obtained her Juris Doctor, Cum Laude from Detroit College of Law where she was on Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration/Pre-Law from Michigan State University.
Judge Nicholson CV: http://mijadr.com/julie-nicholson-cv-2024/