Ziemba

Carl Ziemba
1921 - 2006

Carl Ziemba, Class of 1948, bequeathed 3.1
million dollars to provide full scholarships to the
students of Wayne State University Law School.

Email us:

ZiembaScholars.org

The Carl Ziemba Scholarship
to the students of Wayne State University Law School

i nfo@ziembascholars.org

Wayne State
University

Detroit

For Wayne State University Law Students that also attended
Wayne State University for undergraduate school.

Ziemba Scholar, Sridevi Prevali, a Ziemba
Scholar for 2008, is shown here with committee
members William Kokas and Aynne Zazas.

Detroit
Institute of
Arts

Charles
Wright
Museum

Wayne State
University

Carl Ziemba was widely known as one of Michigan’s best appellate lawyers. He
represented defendants at every level from Detroit Recorder’s Court to the U.S.
Supreme Court. In a series of articles based on a study of criminal appeals published
in The Detroit News, Ziemba was singled out as an attorney who worked especially
zealously for his clients. He believed “the constitutional right of anyone, guilty or
innocent, has to be protected and that right must be buttressed by vigorous application
of the law---even if there’s little money in it for the attorney.”

Ziemba was fascinated by the law, and took cases because they offered “a challenging
issue.” He kept copies of every brief he had ever written and was meticulous in keeping
current with new rulings from various state appellate and supreme courts. In addition
to the lengthy briefs for which the courts knew him, he was an avid reader and author.
Ziemba wrote plays, novels, and poems. A theater group in Washington produced one
of his plays in the 1970s. Mr. Ziemba was also a painter. He specialized in oils, which
a friend described as “Picasso-like.”

His work took Mr. Ziemba far beyond the Michigan appellate system. He argued cases
in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Seventh Circuits and the U.S.
Supreme Court. His appearances in front of the Michigan Supreme Court covered a
time frame of 25 years. Carl Ziemba’s last appearance in front of that court was in
2002. When he retired from legal work in 2004, the Michigan Supreme Court called
him “an appellate institution in the State of Michigan. His expertise and vigorous
advocacy are legendary and the role he played in shaping this state’s criminal
jurisprudence is profound.” Among his landmark cases were Michigan v. Mosley
(1977), in which the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the admission of a defendant’s
custodial confession; People v. Aaron (1980) in which the Michigan Supreme Court
abolished the common-law felony murder rule; and People v. Konrad (1995) which
clarified the meaning of “constructive possession.”

Early in his career, Mr. Ziemba worked for the Prosecutor’s Office in Detroit and for
Michigan Senator Philip Hart in Washington, D.C. on refugee and immigration matters.

The only pastime that took him far from his work was travel. Carl Ziemba traveled
widely, including numerous visits to Europe and Asia. A favorite U.S. destination for
him was Santa Barbara, California. He had just returned from a trip to Germany,
Austria, and Sweden when he fell ill. Mr. Ziemba never married and did not have any
children. His legacy was in his work. His estate, valued at 3.1 million dollars, plus
numerous law books, has been bequeathed to his alma mater, Wayne State University
Law School.