[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 11, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1490-E1491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNITION OF THE HONORABLE JO ANN C. STEVENSON'S RETIREMENT AS 
   CHIEF UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY JUDGE FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF 
                                MICHIGAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. VERNON J. EHLERS

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 11, 2007

  Mr. EHLERS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to offer recognition of the 
Honorable Jo Ann C. Stevenson's retirement as Chief U.S. Bankruptcy 
Judge for the Western District of Michigan. Judge Stevenson was the 
first woman in the Western District of Michigan to be appointed to the 
Federal bench.
  Judge Stevenson graduated cum laude from the Detroit College of Law 
in 1979. Upon graduation, Judge Stevenson clerked for the Honorable 
Vincent J. Brennan in the Michigan Court of Appeals and later for the 
Honorable Cornelia G. Kennedy in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of 
Appeals. While employed in the corporate insolvency practice group at 
the firm of Hertzberg, Jacob, and Weingarten in Detroit, MI, she was 
appointed a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge on December 23, 1987. In the course 
of her career, Judge Stevenson has authored several hundred opinions, 
of which approximately 95 percent have been affirmed on appeal.
  During the time Judge Stevenson was on the bench, she also taught 
Bankruptcy Reorganization and Debtor/Creditor Relations at her alma 
mater. She has given numerous presentations and speeches and 
participated in many panels, including conferences for the Federal Bar 
Association Bankruptcy Seminar, the Conference for Chief Bankruptcy 
Judges, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Grand Rapids Bar 
Association, the University of Michigan Institute of Public Policy 
Studies and the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference.
  Judge Stevenson has also been an active member of the Women Lawyer's 
Association of Michigan, the National Association of Women Judges, the 
Grand Rapids Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the American 
Inns of Court, the Joint Steering Committee for the Gender Fairness 
Task Force

[[Page E1491]]

and a Racial/Ethnic Task Force in the Sixth Circuit, and the Standing 
Local Rules Committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western 
District of Michigan.
  Judge Stevenson's departure from the bench will certainly mark a new 
chapter in her life, which will surely be as successful as her legal 
career. Though she plans to remain active in the Grand Rapids area, she 
plans to enjoy spending more time with her husband, Marshall Grate, and 
her many grandchildren.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking her for her service and in 
wishing her a long, happy retirement.

                          ____________________