PATRICIA MORRIS and her late

Patricia Morris

The late Hon. Donna T. Morris (Graves Class, 1977) was adamant that her daughter, the Hon. Patricia T. Morris (Turner Class, 1991), would enjoy law school just as she had. Thirty-one years later, Patricia is glad she followed her mother’s advice – despite initially resisting the notion.

Donna Morris

“As wise as she was, she probably knew I was going to like it and thought if I could just get her in there for a semester, I’ll have her hooked,” Patricia said of her mother. “And she did – well, WMU-Cooley did. She was right – I loved it.”

From that moment on, Patricia and Donna’s bond matured beyond their mother-daughter relationship, sharing each other’s thoughts and ideas about law school, federal and state statutes, and the judicial system. While in law school and later on as judge, Patricia would call her mom daily, asking her for advice on how to bring up difficult topics without sounding harsh or critical.

“I used her a lot for that kind of advice – not necessarily legal advice – but rather how to address issues,” said Patricia. “I tend to be a little too candid, and she would soften me, which was good, I needed that.”

FAMILY OF LAWYERS

The youngest of five siblings, Patricia was the only one to follow their parents’ and relatives’ footsteps in law. In addition to Donna, the Morris side of the family has a long history of lawyers: father, John C. Morris, was a district court judge in Midland; grandfather, Chester Earl Morris, was a lawyer and city attorney in Midland; and aunt, Mary Jane Morris, and uncle, Robert Thomas Morris, were also lawyers. Patricia and her brother, John, were the last siblings who were still at home when their mother decided to enroll in law school. As a widow, Donna found that WMU-Cooley was the only option at the time that offered a flexible schedule, which allowed her to attend class and raise her children. In the event where Donna couldn’t get a babysitter, she would tote a young Patricia with her to WMU-Cooley’s campus in Lansing where Patricia would sit quietly in class with her mom.

“It was a challenging situation of course,” she said, noting some of those same professors she saw in her mom’s classes as a child, also taught her more than a decade later.

LAW SCHOOL LEGACY

Patricia, who graduated from the University of Michigan with a classical studies degree, worked as a governess for a family in Manhattan during and after college. However, being a governess wasn’t the long-term career path she envisioned, and her degree was not useful in terms of job opportunities.

“I was not a person who said, ‘I want to be a lawyer,’” said Patricia, who considered enrolling in various graduate school programs that would better help her in the job arena. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do.”

Still, her mother was persistent in urging her to try law school.

“She always got me by saying, ‘You say you’re open minded, but if you’re really open minded then you should try this. I’ll pay for the first semester to see what you think,’” Patricia remembers her mom saying to her. “When it came time for me to attend law school, I didn’t even apply anywhere else. We were WMU-Cooley fans, and had a loyalty to Cooley. It was a good fit for my mom and a good fit for me.”

Before attending WMU-Cooley, Patricia admits she was a slacker in school and was not a good student. But wise words from her mother helped prepare her for what was to come in her law school journey.

“She said to me, ‘You haven’t really been challenged. This will be good for you because you really will be challenged and it’s an intensive study,” recalled Patricia. “Her advice to me was ‘this is going to be different, so you’ll need to treat things differently.’”

And she did. Fourteen years after her mother graduated from WMU-Cooley, Patricia graduated cum laude in two years.

“It was a very happy day with my family there,” she said. “She had that ‘I was right, I told you so’ glow about her – but in a good and nice way. She was thrilled.”

LEGACY ON THE BENCH

Patricia and Donna’s legacy in the legal profession continued beyond their years at WMU-Cooley.

Donna was elected Probate Court judge in Midland, serving 22 years, and was appointed to sit on the first Judicial Council of Michigan. But her most cherished work was serving as chair of the Probate Judge’s mental health committee, where she worked for six years to enact a new mental health code for Michigan, her daughter said.

“My mom’s choice in career was perfect for her, but not for me,” Patricia said. “She did a good job, she was popular and always won her elections handily. But we’re different, and I could see the differences. Why the job fit her showed me why it wouldn’t fit me.”

Patricia began her career in the judicial system serving as a clerk for Midland County’s 42nd Circuit Court Judge Paul J. Clulo and U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland. She also worked for the Michigan Court of Appeals, was a solo practitioner in Midland, and served as clerk for former U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles E. Binder in Bay City.

During those years where they both worked in Midland, Patricia found respite in between hearings in her mother’s courthouse office.

“That was always my hangout. It was nice to be in the same building as my mom, and have a place to rest and wait,” said Patricia. “We weren’t working together or driving each other crazy – and I didn’t practice before her.”

In 2014, Patricia was named Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Northern Division, where she continues to serve today.

“I’m so glad she was still alive and able to come to the investiture,” Patricia said of her mom, who died at 84 in 2016. “I feel very blessed to be where I am. I work hard and try to do a good job. I’m grateful.”

LASTING LEGACY

One of her mother’s aspirations that Patricia continues to live up to was the way she approached people – regardless of the circumstances.

“She was always polite and treated people with dignity. She always put a smile on, and dealt with people the same every day,” said Patricia. “One of her lines was, ‘there’s never an excuse for rudeness,’ and she’s right, there isn’t. No matter what’s going on in your life on that day, you still have to treat people fairly and not get short with them, which goes with judicial demeanor – you just have to maintain that, no matter what happened five minutes before you took the bench. I have tried to live up to that.”

Donna was also a person who found excitement in nature’s simple beauty that’s been around for hundreds of years. She would “ooh” and “ahh” over Michigan’s bright red, orange and yellow leaves, as if she had never seen them year after year.

“I loved that about her, and I have that now and hope I keep that forever,” Patricia said. “I love that passion of hers to appreciate beauty – and she kept it fresh until the end and I hope I do too.”