While Carl may be more readily known for his service as a Michigan attorney, retiring from Honigman in 2019 after more than forty years, the Society knows him as a dedicated and gifted historian, writer, and researcher.
Carl joined the Society Board in 2004 and was elected president in 2018. With his steady presence, he led the Society through the difficult period of the global pandemic and a later staff change.
Carl has authored numerous articles for the Society’s newsletter, including “Isaac P. Christiancy: Notes On His Celebrated Divorce,” “Justices From the North: Michigan Supreme Court Justices with Ties to Northern Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula,” and “Thomas McIntyre Cooley.”. He also wrote extensively for the Wayne Law Review, starting with an article on Michigan Usury Law, and continuing with a series of seven Real Property Survey articles, and an article comparing the Court of Justice Cooley with that of the Engler governorship.
Carl has written a book on Dorothy Comstock Riley on the Michigan Supreme Court highlighting a controversial period in the Court’s history that has yet to be written about in full. He also writes for various publications in the popular press from time to time.