Wayne State University Law School

AIM HIGHER

John E. Mogk

Professor of Law
Office: Room 3399
Telephone: (313) 577-3955
E-mail: j.mogk@wayne.edu

Degrees and Certifications

B.B.A., University of Michigan
J.D., University of Michigan Law School
Dip. of Comp. Law, University of Stockholm


Courses Taught

Property
Energy
Land Use
Urban Development


Biography

Following graduation with distinction from The University of Michigan Law School in 1964, where he served on the law review and was elected a member of the Order of the Coif, Professor Mogk practiced law with Shearman & Sterling in New York City. His practice included providing legal counsel to the pioneering program revitalizing the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York

He joined the Wayne Law faculty in 1968, one year after Detroit's major civil disturbance, to focus upon critical issues facing America's distressed urban communities. His work has included research, teaching and engagement in the field of urban law and policy on such issues as economic development, neighborhood rehabilitation and intergovernmental cooperation. Professor Mogk frequently contributes editorial commentary on critical urban issues to the major media outlets.

Professor Mogk has assumed many public leadership positions, including his current position as Chair of the Michigan Council on Labor and Economic Growth and as past Chair of Habitat for Humanity Detroit from 1999 to 2006. He has been an adviser to the state, Wayne County and the City of Detroit on a variety of urban development initiatives, including the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and the City of Detroit Empowerment Zone program. He has also served on the Detroit Board of Education, Executive Committee of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and Michigan Construction Code Commission. From 1974-1994 he was Executive Director of the Michigan Energy and Resource Research Association, a nonprofit state, university and industry scientific partnership developing renewable energy policy and projects for Michigan.

He has received special commendations from the Michigan Legislature and Detroit Common Council and was selected Outstanding Professor by the law school student body in 1979, 1983 and 1994, 1997 and 2003 and by the alumni in 1993. Professor Mogk was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men in the Unites States (U.S. Jaycees) in 1973.

He teaches courses in Property, State and Local Government Law, Energy, Land Use Planning, and Urban Development. Professor Mogk was a visiting fellow at the University of Warwick in England during 1985-86, and the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands in 2001. He has served as Editor of the Michigan International Lawyer, published by the State Bar of Michigan, and a Member of the State Bar's Land Title Standards Committee.


Publications

Eminent Domain and the ‘Public Use’: Michigan Supreme Court Legislates An Unprecedented Overruling of Poletown in County of Wayne v. Hathcock, 51 WAYNE L. REV. (2005)

A Tribute to Professor Edward J. Littlejohn, 43 WAYNE L. REV. 1 (1997)

The Evolving Regulation of Combined Heat and Power in the United States, 1 UTILITIES L. REV 19 (1990)

PURPA and the Evolving Regulation of Cogeneration - A Guide for Prospective Cogenerators Focusing on the Greater Detroit Resource Recovery Facility, 35 WAYNE L. REV. 1051 (with F. Lepley Jr.) (1989)

Anglo-American Energy Policy: Combined Heat and Power in the United Kingdom and the United States, 8 URBAN LAW AND POLICY 131 (1986)

Urban Renewal After the 1974 Housing Act, 52 U. DET. L.J. 947 (1975)

Survey of the Law of Real Property [in Michigan], 16 WAYNE L. REV. 835 (with R. Bartke) (1970)
 


Recent Accomplishments
  • January 7, 2010
    John Mogk participated in an orientation symposium for the newly elected City Council Members of the City of Detroit. The topic addressed by Professor Mogk was the need to consolidate the City's declining population and assemble, clear and reuse its expanding inventory of vacant land.
  • November 17, 2009
    John Mogk chaired the Executive Committee of the state's Council on Labor and Economic Growth, a 70-member advisory body generating recommendations for new strategies to promote business and industry in Michigan and coordinated training of the state's workforce to spur economic expansion.
  • November 17, 2009
    John Mogk addressed the Grosse Pointe Chamber of Commerce on the current state of the economy in Southeast Michigan and prospects for its future recovery.
  • November 17, 2009
    John Mogk coordinated a student research group in preparing a report analyzing successful economic development zones within the United States and worldwide for the Engineering Society of Detroit in connection with the Society's engagement in an initiative to attract and expand Green (solar) and Blue (water) technology industries in Michigan.
  • March 11, 2009
    John Mogk has been appointed by Governor Granholm as Chair of the state's Council for Labor and Economic Growth. The Council is charged with helping the state meet the federal No Worker Left Behind Program goals and facilitating the diversification of the Michigan economy into the renewable energy and energy conservation fields.
  • December 23, 2008
    John Mogk provided the luncheon address at the university's "Shrinking Cities Conference" held at the McGregor Memorial Center on Nov, 17, 2008, and an address on the current housing crisis to the Wayne County annual conference on nuisance abatement on Nov. 20, 2008.
  • October 15, 2008
    John Mogk recently wrote an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press titled "City needs angels, and a better plan on abandoned houses." It is available online at http://www.freep.com/article/20081013/OPINION02/810130307 and is also featured in this month's Raising the Bar.
  • February 6, 2008
    John Mogk wrote a letter to the editor of the Michigan Bar Journal titled "Take a Closer Look at ‘Recent Changes in Eminent Domain Law'" that was published in the January 2008 edition of the Journal.
  • September 18, 2006
    John Mogk published Eminent Domain and the "Public Use": Michigan Supreme Court Legislates an Unprecedented Overruling of Poletown in County of Wayne v. Hathcock in Vol. 51, No. 4, Winter 2005 of the Wayne Law Review.

In the News
  • John Mogk was featured on The Time's Detroit Blog in an article titled "The Tale of Three Cities." Mogk, a renowned urban planning expert, provides more information on the revitalization of Detroit and his theory that the City is really made up of three distinct areas.
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  • John Mogk wrote an op-ed in The Detroit News titled "Downsize Detroit: Strengthen city by phasing out depleted neighborhoods." In it, he states that "Downsizing Detroit is no longer a question of if but when." Mogk is a nationally-known urban planning expert.
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  • John Mogk was consulted for an editorial in a Nov. 1 Detroit Free Press editorial titled "Saving the most salvageable neighborhoods: Detroit must address blight in its healthiest neighborhoods first." The editorial advised Detroiters and their leaders to plan now for a much smaller city. Mogk commented: "The city's master plan has always been out of touch with reality. The 2010 census will bring shock and awe."
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  • John Mogk commented in a Detroit Free Press article titled "Deal saves Cobo, Detroit auto show in victory for cooperation" on July 29, 2009. Mogk, an urban planning expert, stated that the process took far too long.
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  • John Mogk was mentioned for his role as an urban planning expert in a Detroit Free Press article addressing the importance of Mayor David Bing downsizing the city of Detroit.  
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  • John Mogk was quoted in a Detroit Free Press article on a Youngstown, Ohio master plan to strengthen the city. Mogk, an urban planning expert, sees the plan as a good start for the city.    
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  • John Mogk commented on the hurdles facing Detroit mayors looking to "right-size" Detroit in an article in the Detroit Free Press on July 19, 2009.
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  • John Mogk was quoted in a Model D article titled "Charter Reform Spells Change for Detroit." Mogk said that while there is reason to be excited for change, the success of the city will ultimately fall on the elected officials.
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  • John Mogk wrote an op-ed piece in Crain's Detroit Business titled "OTHER VOICES: Wall Street greed brought down Detroit."
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  • John Mogk commented in the Detroit Free Press about the challenges ahead for the future mayor of Detroit.
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  • John Mogk was quoted in Time in a story about Detroit's economic decline and its road to renewal. Mogk originally made the comment in a piece that appeared in the Detroit Free Press.
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  • John Mogk wrote an op-ed in the Detroit News on Feb. 25, 2009, that the city of Detroit needs a "visionary 20-year plan to downsize significantly." In the piece, he urges Detroit's next mayor to act decisively to meet the city's economic challenges.
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  • John Mogk was quoted in The Manchester Guardian (U.K.) in an article about Detroit's economic woes. Mogk says the problem is more than a $300m budget shortfall. "A thousand people are leaving the city every month and the city does not have the financial resources and the economic base to solve its own problems."
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  • John Mogk commented in an editorial column in the Detroit Free Press regarding the possibility of downsizing the city of Detroit to accommodate a dwindling population. The column, which ran on Sept. 26, 2008, was titled "Downsize for healthier, more attractive city."
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  • John Mogk was quoted by Tim Jones on Chicagotribune.com in an article titled "Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigns" on Sept. 5, 2008.
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  • John Mogk wrote a letter to the editor of Crain's Business Detroit. The letter, Give thanks for Poletown, was published on June 2, 2008 and brings attention to a recently published Crain's article that "perpetuates the misguided notion that building the Poletown plant in the early 1980s was bad for Detroit and Hamtramck."
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  • John Mogk wrote an article featured in Crain's Detroit Business titled "Let universities help our high schools" on May 19, 2008.
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  • John Mogk was quoted by Stephen Henderson in the Detroit Free Press in an article titled "Smaller, Better; To Survive, Improve, City Must Find Ways To Condense Population" on April 20, 2008.
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  • John Mogk was quoted by Stephen Henderson in the Detroit Free Press in an article titled "OPINION: Smaller, better" on April 20, 2008.
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  • John Mogk wrote an op-ed piece discussing "cash flow" housing investors and the possible adverse effect they may have on Detroit's mortgage foreclosure crisis. It appeared in the Detroit Free Press on April 14, 2008.
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  • John Mogk wrote a letter to the editor of the Michigan Bar Journal titled "Take a Closer Look at ‘Recent Changes in Eminent Domain Law'" that was published in the January 2008 edition of the Journal.
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  • John Mogk was quoted by Christine MacDonald in the Detroit News in an article titled "City airport area becomes wasteland; Failed effort to buy out property owners leaves neighborhood in limbo" on Dec. 10, 2007.
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  • John Mogk was quoted by Tim Jones in the Chicago Tribune in an article titled "Housing crisis hits Midwest hard; Foreclosures on the rise amid lagging economy in region" on Nov. 4, 2007.
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  • John Mogk wrote an article featured in the Detroit Free Press titled "Bush's plan nearly useless against foreclosure" on Dec. 31, 2007.
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  • John Mogk wrote an op-ed piece on subprime lending in the Detroit Free Press.
  • John Mogk wrote an article, "Aftermath eclipses Detroit's riots," that was featured in the July 25, 2007 edition of The Detroit News (detnews.com).
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  • John Mogk wrote an article, "City must take action to prevent blight," that was featured in the Aug. 12, 2007 edition of the Detroit Free Press (freep.com).
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  • John Mogk In an op-ed piece, Professor Mogk contends that it wasn't the 1967 riot that caused the destruction of Detroit neighborhoods so much as what occurred thereafter. He cites a number of factors, including a lengthy teachers strike in 1973, ill-conceived federal neighborhood rebuilding policies that led to abuses, and neighborhood opposition to building auto plants that would help stimulate the city's economy, among others.
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