Attorney Discipline Board executive director to retire; deputy director to replace him

The executive director of the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board is retiring later this year, and the current deputy director is replacing him.

Executive Director Mark Armitage announced his retirement this week. He's been on the board since 1994 and has been executive director since October 2013.

Replacing him is Wendy Neeley, who is the current deputy director of the Attorney Discipline Board. The ADB supervises and disciplines attorneys who the Attorney Grievance Commission found to have committed misconduct.

“It has been a tremendous privilege to find the field of legal ethics in the first place, and to serve the public, the courts, and the profession along with our wonderful Board and panel members, the Court, the staff of the ADB, and many other colleagues,” Armitage said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that the Board appointed Deputy Director Wendy A. Neeley to serve as its next Executive Director and General Counsel; she has the experience, judgment, and temperament to excel in this position.”

Neeley has been working with the Attorney Discipline Board since September 2013. Before that, she was counsel for the Attorney Grievance Commission, which investigates and prosecutes attorney misconduct, and she was the president of the National Council of Lawyer Disciplinary Boards.

“I look forward to my new role at the ADB with excitement and with the hope of continuing the exceptional leadership provided by Mark Armitage during his tenure as Executive Director," Neeley said. "Mark will be sorely missed by our entire staff and by the panel and Board members he has served over his entire tenure at the ADB.” 

The board has nine members, including three nonlawyers, who are appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court. They serve two, three-year terms. The board appoints staff and attorneys to serve on hearing panels to decide discipline and if an attorney should be reinstated after committing misconduct.

Alan Gershel, the current chairperson of the board, said it is in "capable hands" with Neeley.

"The Board has worked with Wendy, and we are confident she will continue in the long tradition of outstanding leadership at the ADB," Gershel said.