Mark J. Plawecki (born April 25, 1961) is a district judge in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

of Michigan. His district (the 20th) comprises the city of

Dearborn Heights Dearborn Heights is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 63,292 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census., Dearborn Heights is part of the Detroit metropolitan area, and is consid ...

in Wayne County, located in suburban

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. He was first elected to the seat in 1994, and is currently in his sixth term as

chief judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

for that court.

Early life

Plawecki attended

Detroit Catholic Central Detroit Catholic Central High School, commonly known as Catholic Central (CC), is a private, Catholic, all-male, college preparatory high school in Novi, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1928 in Detroit, Michigan by the Archdiocese of Detroi ...

and graduated from Dearborn Heights Riverside High school, where he was All-League in tennis, in 1979. He graduated from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in 1983 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Business Administration, and earned his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1987. Plawecki then practiced general law, eventually becoming president of the firm Rombach, Plawecki, and Viggiani. During that time he was also prosecutor for the city of

Hazel Park Hazel Park is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As a part of Metro Detroit, the city shares its southern border with the city of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the population was 16,422. Hazel Park was incorporated as a c ...

Judicial career

Elected to the bench in 1994 at age 33, Plawecki became the youngest judge in Dearborn Heights history. He has been re-elected, without opposition, in 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020. He is a past president of both the Wayne County District Judges Association and the Polish American Legal Society (PALS) for Michigan. On March 30, 2016, Plawecki announced he was running for the

Michigan Supreme Court The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the state ...

seat vacated by Justice

Mary Beth Kelly Mary Beth Kelly is a lawyer and former justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. She was elected on November 2, 2010 and took office on January 1, 2011 for an eight-year term that ended on January 1, 2019.Michigan Association for Justice The Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ), formerly the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association (MTLA) is a professional association of over 1,400 plaintiff's attorneys and staff, with offices in Lansing, Michigan. MAJ provides members with professio ...

, a trade group of 1600 attorneys "dedicated to the preservation of justice." Plawecki withdrew from the race in June 2016, following the death of his wife.

Personal life

Plawecki is the author of ''How Could You Trade

Billy Pierce Walter William Pierce (April 2, 1927 – July 31, 2015) was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball between 1945 and 1964 who played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox. He was the team's star pitcher in the decade from 19 ...

?'', which introduced his

sabermetric Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...

formula for rating

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitchers, and ''Notes from Outside the Truman Show'', which offers his views of the current crisis of U.S. democracy. He was married to Julie Plawecki, who held

Michigan's 11th House of Representatives district Michigan's 11th House of Representatives district (also referred to as Michigan's 11th House district) is a legislative district within the Michigan House of Representatives located in parts of Macomb and Wayne counties. The district was creat ...

seat from January 2015 until her death in June 2016.Michigan state Rep. Plawecki dies at age 54
/ref> They had three daughters: Rachel,

Lauren Lauren may be a given name or surname.The name's meaning may be "laurel tree", "sweet of honor", or "wisdom". It is derived from the French name Laurence, a feminine version of Laurent, which is in turn derived from the Roman surname Laurentius. ...

, and Monica. Plawecki remarried in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plawecki, Mark 1961 births Living people Michigan lawyers Michigan state court judges Michigan State University alumni Western Michigan University Cooley Law School alumni People from Dearborn Heights, Michigan Writers from Michigan People from Hazel Park, Michigan