Come hear one of the area's most respected legal experts discuss the legal status of same-sex couples in Michigan, and how the current cases working through the courts will impact couples in Michigan and across the country. Robert A. Sedler, a distinguished professor at Wayne State University Law School, is also a valued consultant to the attorneys in the DeBoer v Snyder lawsuit. He has worked with them since the case was first filed three years ago and now as they prepare to go before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has extensive first-hand knowledge of the case and its ramifications.
Professor Sedler has litigated a large number of civil rights and civil liberties cases in Michigan, Kentucky and elsewhere, mostly as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. Cases he has litigated in Michigan include the Dearborn Parks case, the racial discrimination in adoption and foster care case and a challenge to the suspicionless drug testing of welfare recipients. He served as a member of the Social Action Commission of the Union for Reform Judaism from 2003 to 2009 and is a member of its Amicus Brief Committee.
Professor Sedler was the chairperson of the Michigan State Bar Constitutional Law Committee from 1981 to 1987 and of the Legal Education Committee from 1988 to 1994. In 2012, he was awarded the State Bar of Michigan John W. Reed Michigan Lawyer Legacy Award, which is presented periodically to an educator from a Michigan law school whose influence on lawyers has elevated the quality of legal practice in the state.