Michael A. Wolff

Michael A. Wolff is an attorney, former Missouri Supreme Court judge and chief justice, and professor and dean emeritus of Saint Louis University Law School. He has worked as a mediator, settlement administrator, and special master since his retirements; he also consults on cases and criminal justice reform, and occasionally teaches at St. Louis University School of Law.

Wolff served for 13 years on the Supreme Court of Missouri from his appointment in 1998, including two years as chief justice. He returned to the Saint Louis University faculty in 2011 and became dean of the law school in 2013, serving until 2017.

His honors include Lawyer of the Year (Missouri Lawyers Weekly), the Missouri Bar’s Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award; the William J. Brennan Jr. Memorial Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice, New York University; Benjamin N. Cardozo Award for Judicial Courage and Excellence (Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers), the Donald P. Lay Champion for Justice Award from the National Employment Lawyers Association, Eighth Circuit; the Saint Louis University School of Law Hall of Fame, and the Missouri Lawyers Weekly 2025 Influential Appellate Advocates.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Wolff worked during law school as a reporter and copy editor for The Minneapolis Star and began his legal career after being graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota Law School. He served as a law clerk in the United States District Court in Minneapolis, as a legal services lawyer in Saint Paul, Denver and Rapid City SD (where he served as director) before joining the Saint Louis University law faculty.

Wolff ran unsuccessfully for attorney general and served as research director of Mel Carnahan’s campaign for governor in 1992. He served as transition director and as chief counsel for Gov. Carnahan for two years, and as special counsel until his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1998. While on the Court he served several years as chair of the Missouri Sentencing Advisory
Commission.

Wolff has been active in the American Law Institute, serving as an advisor on the Model Penal Code Sentencing Project. He has served on the board of the National Courts and Science Institute (NCSI), which provides science education to judges. He was senior advisor and transition director for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell after the 2018 election until
January 2020. He is a trustee of the Missouri Historical Society. He is the author and co-author of numerous publications, including Missouri Law, Politics and the Dred Scott Case, in THE DRED SCOTT CASE: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE ON RACE AND LAW, 212-226 (David Thomas Konig et al. eds. 2010), which was the Thomas D. Fulbright Lecture in American History at the 2007 Dred Scott Conference at Washington University. He serves on the editorial board of The St. Louis American newspaper.