7/25/2019 City Attorney Catherine Mish Resigns Position

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MEDI RELE SE

For Immediate Release

February 12, 2016

Contact:  Steve Guitar

Communications Director

616-456-3773 • sguitar@grcity.us

City Attorney Catherine Mish Resigns Position; Joins Grand Rapids Office of Dickinson Wright Law Firm 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Catherine Mish has announced her resignation from her position as

Grand Rapids City Attorney. Catherine has accepted an “Of Counsel” position with the Grand

Rapids office of the Dickinson Wright law firm. She will transition from City employment to private

practice in April.

 Appointed to the position of Grand Rapids City Attorney on May 6, 2008 by vote of the Grand

Rapids City Commission, Mish has served as an attorney in the City’s Department of Law since

October 7, 2002.

 Among her numerous career highlights with the City, Mish is proud that she successfully defended

the legality of the voter-initiated City Charter amendment to decriminalize marijuana in the City of

Grand Rapids. The Kent County Prosecutor filed a lawsuit against the City in 2012, challenging the

legality of the City Charter amendment. Mish and her team successfully argued the City’s case in

the Kent County Circuit Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals, and in 2015, the Michigan

Supreme Court finally ended the lawsuit by declining to take up the County Prosecutor’s appeal.

Grand Rapids citizens now receive civil infraction tickets when found in possession of small

amounts of marijuana for personal use.

Under her leadership, the City Attorney’s office successfully won dismissal of a lawsuit brought by

an “open carry” advocate who was briefly stopped by Grand Rapids Police Officers. The plaintiff,

Johann Deffert, was walking down Michigan Street on a Sunday, near a Christian Reformed church

then conducting Sunday services, singing “Akuna Matata” from the Lion King. GRPD officers briefly

detained him because his behavior suggested that he was mentally unstable. Deffert sued in

federal court and the City Attorney’s office successfully defended the GRPD officers involved.

7/25/2019 City Attorney Catherine Mish Resigns Position

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“It has been a privilege to serve with the able staff in the City of Grand Rapids Department of Law

for the past 13-1/2 years, and to serve as City Attorney for the past eight years,” Mish said. “At the

same time, I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life and career, and to the exciting

possibilities offered by joining a prestigious law firm such as Dickinson Wright.”

Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said she appreciated Mish’s counsel, adding it would be missed. She also

wished Mish all the best in her new role.

“Catherine has been a tireless advocate and defender of the City of Grand Rapids,” Bliss said. “We

appreciate her professional advice, diligent work and strong belief in the City and its people.”

Mish is a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Hillsdale College with a Bachelor of Arts in History and

Political Science. She obtained her Juris Doctor at Wayne State University Law School, where she

graduated Magna Cum Laude and Order of the Coif.

Mish began her legal career in Grand Rapids with the law firm of Miller, Johnson, Snell &

Cummiskey in the area of civil litigation. She then spent several years working in the Michigan

appellate court system, serving as a law clerk for a Michigan Supreme Court Justice and a

Michigan Court of Appeals Judge. Mish then joined the Grand Rapids City Attorney’s office, where

she spent more than five years as an Assistant City Attorney assigned to civil litigation, prior to her

appointment to the position of City Attorney.

She currently serves on the boards of the following organizations and professional associations:

•  Michigan Municipal League / Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys (MAMA)

•  Michigan Municipal League / Legal Defense Fund (LDF)

•  State Bar of Michigan / Public Corporations Law Section Council (Past President)

•  Legal Assistance Center

The Grand Rapids City Commission will soon address the procedure for appointing a new top

lawyer to serve in the position of City Attorney.

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