Partner
Mark Brewer
Mark Brewer of Goodman Acker, P.C., a proud public school graduate, received his J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1981 where he served on the Law Review, and his A.B. with honors from Harvard College in 1977. After clerking for a judge of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Charles Levin, he was admitted to practice in Michigan in 1983. From 1983 until 1995, Brewer was an associate, then a partner, in the firm formerly known as Sachs Waldman.
In 1995 he was elected Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party and served as MDP Chair or Executive Chair until 2013, the longest serving MDP Chair. From 1995 to 2013, Brewer was a member of the Democratic National Committee. From 2005–2009 he served as President of the Association of State Democratic Chairs during which time he worked with DNC Chair Howard Dean to implement his very successful “50-State Strategy” which helped elect President Obama in 2008. Brewer has been a delegate to 5 Democratic National Conventions, chairing the Michigan Delegation each time.
“Mark is a proud public school graduate from Mount Clemens High School and comes from a family of union members, farmers, and military veterans.” As a lawyer, Brewer’s principal areas of practice include union-side labor, election, campaign finance, and non-profit law. He has been involved in a wide variety of election cases since the 1980s including county, legislative and congressional redistricting, presidential primaries/caucuses, recalls, recounts, ballot access, voting rights, voter protection on Election Day, and protecting the right to vote a straight party ticket. He has brought and defended many federal and state campaign finance complaints. Brewer’s ballot question work ranges from city to county to statewide on topics from the minimum wage, earned sick leave and community benefits to straight party voting, tax reform, redistricting, campaign finance and ethics reform, and county charter government. In all of these areas he has drafted ordinances, statutes, and state constitutional amendments.
For decades Brewer has devoted substantial time to pro bono legal work for dozens of state and national organizations. Much of that work has been for the ACLU of Michigan and the League of Women Voters of Michigan. He has handled scores of ACLU cases in areas from free speech, religious liberty and separation of church and state to civil rights, employee drug testing, and FOIA/OMA. He is particularly proud of his First Amendment work and arguing and winning the first HIV/AIDS discrimination case in the Michigan Supreme Court. For the League of Women Voters his work has included redistricting, voting rights, and election protection.
He has received the Champion of Justice Award from the Michigan Association for Justice and the Distinguished Service Award from the Michigan Education Association. Brewer has been honored by the State Bar of Michigan and the ACLU of Michigan for his pro bono legal work.
PODCAST
Brewer has a podcast with former Executive Director of the Michigan Republican Party Jeff Timmer. With episodes released every week, “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” features an insider’s analysis of Michigan’s political and social climate as well as Michigan’s impact on national politics. You can also follow him on Twitter: @MarkBrewerDems
LISTEN TO PODCASTAwards & Memberships:
- Member, Michigan Bar, 1983
- Michigan Democratic Party, 1978–present
- Leaders in the Law 2017, Michigan Lawyers Weekly
Education:
- Stanford University Law School, J.D., 1981
- Harvard College, A.B., 1977