Paul David Borman (born January 7, 1939) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, having been appointed in 1994. Borman was earlier an assistant United States attorney, and Special Counsel to the Mayor of Detroit. For 15 years thereafter, he was chief federal defender of the Legal Aid & Defender Association of Detroit from 1979 to 1994. When he was appointed to be a federal judge, he became the first federal defender to be appointed to the federal bench. He was also a Professor and Assistant Dean at Wayne State University Law School, and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School.
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 4/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 20/year
Michigan Eastern District Court · 1994–
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Legal Aid & Defender Association of Detroit, MichiganChief federal defender · 1979–1994
Adjunct lecturer · 1981–1994
Professor · 1968–1979- Wayne County, MichiganAssistant prosecutor · 1974–1975
- Assistant dean · 1968–1973
- Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, Detroit, MichiganSpecial counsel · 1967–1968
- Borman Food Stores, Inc.Vice-president/house counsel · 1965–1967
- Mayor's Development Team, Detroit, MichiganSpecial counsel · 1967
Eastern District of MichiganAssistant U.S. attorney · 1964–1965- U.S. Commission on Civil RightsStaff attorney · 1962–1963
Appointments
1994–2023 · Appointed by William J. Clinton (Democratic)
Education
LL.M. · 1964- J.D. · 1962
- University of MichiganB.A. · 1959