MAY 4 • 2023 | 33

as an adjunct professor at University of 
Detroit Mercy from 2008-2012, and then 
at University of Michigan Law School from 
2018 onwards, where he continues to teach 
today.
At the latter, he created the course “21st 
Century Infrastructure: The Lawyer’s Role,
” 
which covers infrastructure history and 
related legal and ethical issues.

MAKING A PIVOT
As a topic he’s now intimately familiar with, 
Doctoroff put his high-profile legal career 
on hold to pivot to a role in public service 
— specifically, infrastructure and its legal 
issues.
The reason? At 47, Doctoroff was thrown 
an unexpected curveball. He underwent 
heart surgery and, with both of his parents 
passing away early, realized how limited 
time could be.
“I started playing with the idea of doing 

something different after recovering from 
heart surgery,
” he recalls. “I didn’t really 
have anything great in mind because I didn’t 
want to leave a good career that was still 
improving and growing stronger.
”
He had been a partner at Honigman for 
more than a decade. However, after chairing 
a State Bar committee on business courts 
that generated a report that made its way 
across former Gov. Snyder’s desk, Snyder 
asked Doctoroff if he wanted to help advo-
cate the creation of a statewide business 
court in Michigan.
The effort was successful, so much so 
that it encouraged Doctoroff to write a brief 
email to the office of the legal counsel with 
whom he was working with to ask if they 
would want to use him. “I was interested in 
public service,
” he admits.
Ten minutes later, a reply hit Doctoroff’s 
inbox. “They really needed someone to 
lead Michigan’s participation in the bridge 

effort,
” he recalls. “When I got the opportu-
nity to be the bridge guy, I finally jumped at 
it, and I’ve never looked back.
”

LOOKING FORWARD
As for his next steps following the com-
pletion of the Gordie Howe International 
Bridge, Doctoroff is still mulling over his 
options. Outside of his work, he enjoys 
spending time with his family — his wife 
Stacy, a licensed therapist he calls his “north 
star,
” and his three children Nicole, Alana 
and Matthew.
“I feel really lucky to be able to say that 
we are all very fond of each other,
” he jokes. 
“We’ve got a very close family.
”
Doctoroff is also one of four brothers and 
has an identical twin, Tom. While he figures 
out where the rest of his career will take 
him, he calls the ongoing project the biggest 
“bridge-building” effort of all.
“We overcome differences and see things 
from competing perspectives,
” Doctoroff 
says. “There are so many viewpoints that 
have to be reconciled to achieve a common 
shared goal: creating this state-of-the-art, 
once-in-a-generation international bridge 
that’s going to change the economy of this 
region.
“In order to do that,
” he adds, “it’s neces-
sary to build bridges.
” 

Nicole, Stacy, 
Andrew, 
Matthew and 
Alana Doctoroff.

Andy 
Doctoroff

“BEING PART OF A TEAM AND HAVING PEOPLE 
TO GAIN STRENGTH AND SUCCESS FROM, THAT 
WAS ALWAYS REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME.”

— ANDREW DOCTOROFF