Ode to Mike Hendershot

Last week, the United States Senate confirmed Michael J. Hendershot to be a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio. He fills the seat that opened when Judge Patricia Gaughan took senior status in 2023.

With Mr. Hendershot’s addition, the Sixth Circuit’s trial bench is gaining one of Ohio’s – indeed, the country’s – best lawyers. Mr. Hendershot has been the Chief Deputy Solicitor General of Ohio since July 2011, when Mike DeWine, then the Attorney General, appointed him. During that time, Ohio has had five solicitors general: Alexandra Schimmer, Eric Murphy, Benjamin Flowers, Elliot Gaiser, and now Mathura Sridharan. Mr. Hendershot has served as chief deputy to every one of them. Through it all, he has played a central role in carrying forward the office’s institutional memory, keeping its standards, and ensuring the briefs went out the door — on time and excellent.

Managing an appellate shop is hard and largely invisible work: assigning cases, reviewing other people’s writing, conducting moot courts, training new arrivals, and staying on top of a docket that never empties. Mr. Hendershot did all of that while helping each solicitor general realize his or her own vision for the office. He taught the craft too, spending years as an adjunct professor of appellate advocacy at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law and untold hours mentoring other lawyers, myself included.

But it would be a mistake to think of Mr. Hendershot as solely a dependable manager. He is, on the page and at the lectern, every bit the equal of the solicitors general he served alongside, and they’d all tell you so. Mr. Hendershot could always be counted on to brief and argue any case that came along, no matter how hard.

The same qualities that made Mr. Hendershot invaluable to the Ohio Solicitor General’s Office will help make him a great district-court judge. Along with an exceptional legal mind, he has the practical wisdom necessary to keep cases moving and lawyers honest.

So here’s to Mike Hendershot. The Sixth Circuit is fortunate to have you in it.