Judge Steven R. Servaas
The Police Officers Association of Michigan is proud to announce Judge Steven R. Servaas, 63rd District Court Judge, as their 2012 Jurist of the Year.
Judge Servaas is a graduate of Grand Rapids Union High School, a 1967 graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and a 1969 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School.
Judge Servaas was a very active athlete while in school. At Union High School he was a three-time Class A singles tennis champion and a two-time letter winner in football and wrestling. At Trinity University he was a three-year letterman and a member of the 1964 No. 1 nationally ranked collegiate tennis team. In 1969 while at Michigan Law School he was voted the most valuable intramural athlete for the graduate school and won third place in the first-ever all-campus power-lifting contest.
The judge still today is an athlete. He plays tennis, racquetball and golf on a regular basis.
After law school, Judge Servaas served as an adjunct professor at Grand Valley State University, teaching criminal law and business law in undergraduate school and administrative law in the graduate school. He was also on faculty at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) in Chicago.
Judge Servaas spent two years working as an assistant Kent County prosecuting attorney. In 1972 at the age of 27 he was elected District Court Judge in the 63rd District Court and at that time he was the youngest ever elected district court judge in the state of Michigan and may still hold that record today.
Judge Servaas has just completed his 40th year as a district court judge. During his 40 years on the bench, he has mentored many attorneys and police officers who have passed through his courtroom. His community gathers around him for support and he is the longest serving judge in Michigan history.
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