45th District Court

HONORABLE MICHELLE FRIEDMAN APPEL, Chief Judge, took the bench in 2003 and was re-elected in 2008. Judge Friedman Appel is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Detroit Law School and was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 1981. She was a practicing attorney for over 20 years, regularly appearing in the Circuit and Probate Courts in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Livingston Counties.

Prior to her election to the bench, from 1999-2002 Judge Friedman Appel also served as an Oakland County Commissioner representing Oak Park, Huntington Woods, and Pleasant Ridge. Currently Judge Friedman Appel is a member of and is past president of Oakland County District Judges Association, she serves on the Board of Directors Oak Park Business Education Alliance, is a Junior Achievement Volunteer for Oak Park School District, she participates with the Tri-Community Coalition, the drug prevention coalition serving the cities of Oak Park, Huntington Woods and Berkley, is a member of the Michigan District Judges Association Legislative and Judicial Response Committee, and maintains a membership in NAACP, South Oakland Chapter and the Oak Park/ROT Optimist Club. Included in the programs that have been established at the 45th District Court, since her election, is the Domestic Violence Court, the Volunteer Probation Officers Program, the Teen Court Program that is run in partnership with the school districts and the Oakland County Prosecutor's office and the University of Detroit Mercy Law School.