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The Honorable G. Michael Witte, ’82, will retire in February from the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission.

Witte has been executive director of the commission since 2010. Prior to leading the Disciplinary Commission, 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 was the first Asian Pacific American to be elected to the bench in the state of Indiana in 1984, two years after completing his legal education at IU McKinney. In 2010, he became the first Asian American to serve as Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Judicial Division.

The ABA’s National Conference of Specialized Court Judges honored him with its National Distinguished Judge of the Year honor in 2008. He was presented with the Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award in 2017 by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, an honor that recognizes the outstanding achievements, commitment, and leadership of lawyers who have paved the way for the advancement of other Asian Pacific American attorneys.

A friend of the law school, Witte has provided 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.