Corbin Davis retires after 43 years of service as clerk to the Michigan Supreme Court

The Michigan Supreme Court announced Oct. 7 that Corbin Davis is retiring after 43 years of service. Davis served for 40 years as Clerk of the Court and for the past three years as Reporter of Decisions. The Reporter of Decisions publishes Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions and court rules.

“Corbin’s dedication to the Supreme Court is truly legendary,” said Chief Justice Robert P. Young, Jr. “At the Hall of Justice, we were in awe of the time when roads were impassable because of a massive snowstorm, and he actually walked to work. Thanks to Corbin, the clerk’s window opened on time. His 43 years of service to our court is a career unlikely to be matched. We all wish Corbin well as he tends to his garden instead of our opinions and orders.”

After stepping down as Clerk of the Supreme Court, Davis received the Frank J. Kelley Distinguished Public Service Award from the State Bar of Michigan in 2014.  In nominating him, attorney John Jacobs wrote that Davis had “an indefatigable sense of dedication punctuated by his brilliance, honesty, integrity, and understated evenhandedness, all while retaining his inherent ‘niceness’ and demonstrating a puckish sense of humor so dry he would make the British appear to be rollicking comedians.”

Highlights of Corbin Davis’s service to the Court include:

• 108 Michigan Reports were published during his tenure.

• 113,944 orders were issued.  If laid end to end, that is 19 miles of orders.

• And 5,130 Supreme Court opinions were processed, written by 30 Justices.