Judge Joan L. Larsen is judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She was nominated by the President on May 8, 2017 and confirmed by the Senate on November 1, 2017. Before her appointment to the federal bench, Judge Larsen served two terms as a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, where she was the court’s liaison to Michigan’s drug, sobriety, mental health and veteran’s courts.
Before becoming a judge, Judge Larsen was a faculty member at the University of Michigan Law School, where she was also Special Counsel to the Dean and received the L. Hart Wright Award for Excellence in Teaching. Judge Larsen's research and teaching interests included constitutional law, criminal procedure, statutory interpretation, and presidential power. Judge Larsen continues to assist the law school as the adviser to the Henry M. Campbell Moot Court Competition.
Judge Larsen began her legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court of the United States. Following her clerkships, she joined the law firm of Sidley Austin, where she was a member of the Constitutional, Criminal, and Civil Litigation Section. She later served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel.
Judge Larsen graduated first in her class from Northwestern University School of Law, where she served as articles editor of the Northwestern University Law Review and earned the John Paul Stevens Award for Academic Excellence. She received her B.A., with highest honors, from the University of Northern Iowa.
2019 Thomas M. Cooley Judicial Lecture
Georgetown University Law Center, Hart Auditorium600 New Jersey Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001
Revisiting the Community Reinvestment Act
2018 National Lawyers Convention
The Mayflower Hotel - Chinese Room1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
2016 National Lawyers Convention
The Jurisprudence and Legacy of Justice Scalia
The Mayflower Hotel1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Remembering Justice Antonin Scalia
Dykema Gossett, PLLC 201 Townsend Street, Suite 900Lansing, Michigan 48933
2015 National Lawyers Convention
The Role of Congress
The Mayflower Hotel1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Revisiting the Community Reinvestment Act
2018 National Lawyers Convention
It is difficult to find anyone today who is satisfied with how CRA currently works....
Revisiting the Community Reinvestment Act
2018 National Lawyers Convention
It is difficult to find anyone today who is satisfied with how CRA currently works....
How Justice Scalia's Writing Style Affected American Jurisprudence - Audio/Video
2016 National Lawyers Convention
In addition to being a brilliant legal thinker, Justice Scalia was widely regarded as a...
80th Anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act & Congressional Action - Event Audio/Video
2015 National Lawyers Convention
Our nation's private sector labor law is a product of the New Deal and the...
Tradition and the People's Constitution - Event Audio/Video
2008 Annual Student Symposium
The Federalist Society's Student Division presented this panel at the 2008 Annual Student Symposium on...