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The Honorable G. Michael Witte, ’82, became the first Asian Pacific American to be elected to the bench in the state of Indiana. He was elected in 1984, two years after completing his legal education at IU McKinney.  

Witte is the Executive Director of the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission, a post he has held since 2010. His 25-year career on the bench included service as judge in Dearborn County Court from 1985 to 2000, judge in Dearborn Superior Court from 2000 to 2008, and judge in Wayne Superior Court in 2009. He became the first Asian American to serve as Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Judicial Division in 2010. The ABA’s National Conference of Specialized Court Judges honored him with its National Distinguished Judge of the Year honor in 2008.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association presented Witte with one of its Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Awards in 2017. The honor recognizes the outstanding achievements, commitment, and leadership of lawyers who have paved the way for the advancement of other Asian Pacific American attorneys. The people receiving these awards have demonstrated vision, courage, and tenacity, and made substantial and made lasting contributions to the Asian Pacific American legal profession, and the broader Asian Pacific American community.

A friend of the law school, Witte provides the Indiana Ethics Update during the Annual Fall Continuing Legal Education Program, which supports student scholarships at IU McKinney. He was a member of IU McKinney’s Alumni Board from 2003 to 2010, and served as President in 2009. Witte was honored by the Indiana University Alumni Association in 2008 as its Distinguished Asian Alumnus. In 2011, he received the IUPUI Maynard K. Hine Medal for significant contributions to the campus and alumni programs. He also received the 2012 Public Interest award from Equal Justice Works, a student group at the law school.