In Memory of our Founder Rodger D. Young

“Rodger was a legal giant.  His deep intelligence and commanding presence were felt from the boardroom to the courtroom. He is deeply missed, but both his memory and legacy live on.” Jaye Quadrozzi

Rodger D. Young was born in Montana and graduated from the University of Montana with honors. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota. He then joined the law firm of Moll, Desenberg & Bayer, which had been founded in 1846 and was Detroit’s oldest law firm. He became the firm’s youngest partner in 60 years.

In 1991, he left that firm to focus more intensively on antitrust and business jury trial practice and shortly thereafter founded the civil litigation boutique that he presently heads.

Mr. Young was admitted to the following courts: United States Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 9th and Federal Circuits, in addition to numerous District Courts throughout the United States. It was common for clients and law firms from around the country to retain Mr. Young as trial counsel in large and high-profile commercial cases.

Mr. Young had extensive experience in complex commercial litigation including antitrust, patent, high technology, telecommunications, trade secret, automotive, shareholder/partner disputes, and construction matters. Mr. Young won forty-seven of fifty-two jury trials in federal and state courts during his illustrious career.

He was appointed by the Governor of the State of Michigan to serve on the Michigan Environmental Review Board, an agency charged with reviewing all matters of environmental significance in the State of Michigan. In 1979, he was appointed by the Governor to the Michigan Transportation Commission, assuming his post as the youngest commissioner in history.

In 1982, he became Vice Chairman of the Michigan Transportation Commission, also serving as Chairman of the Commission’s powerful Budget Subcommittee until concluding his service in 1990.

Mr. Young’s honors in the legal profession included being appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to the State Bar Board of Commissioners. The Supreme Court has five such appointments to this governing body of the legal profession in Michigan. Further, Mr. Young was elected to the Michigan Bar Foundation, a State Bar of Michigan organization for attorneys showing outstanding legal ability and dedication to public service, and inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, the leading organization for trial lawyers in the United States.

In 2001, Mr. Young was named Chairman of the Bush Administration’s Federal Judge and U.S. Attorney Qualification Committee by Governor John Engler and Michigan’s Republican Congressional Delegation.

From 2006 through 2021, Mr. Young was honored with his inclusion in Best Lawyers in America; named in Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; named a Michigan “Super Lawyer,” and named as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers” in Michigan by the Detroit News. He was also named by The New York Times and The American Lawyer as one of the top commercial trial lawyers in the United States.

In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Mr. Young to be United States Representative to the United Nations General Assembly along with Governor George Pataki, the former three term Republican Governor of New York. Mr. Young and Governor Pataki served in New York until their term expired in 2008. The post carried Ambassadorial Rank.

Mr. Young had also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Grubb & Ellis Company (NYSE), a worldwide real estate firm, and the Detroit Medical Center.

In 2011, Mr. Young was named a Global Ambassador to the Susan G Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation. In 2012, Mr. Young was named one of the twenty-five Leaders in the Law in Michigan by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.