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Helal A. Farhat

Nonpartisan · MI · Chief Judge Pro Tem and Presiding Judge, Family Division, Wayne County Third Circuit Court

Official website

Helal A. Farhat is chief judge pro tem of Michigan's Third Judicial Circuit Court in Wayne County and presiding judge of its Family Division. Governor Gretchen Whitmer appointed him to the court in March 2019. Farhat previously served as a magistrate in Dearborn's 19th District Court and spent 17 years in private practice handling domestic-relations, civil, criminal, and commercial matters. He earned undergraduate and law degrees from Wayne State University.

Track record

Civil Rights

· 1 record

  • Helal Farhat entered an appearance for plaintiffs challenging the 2017 federal travel restrictions as violating religious-liberty, equal-protection, and associational rights.

    February 3, 2017For

    Source: dockets.justia.com · researched July 13, 2026

Integrity and Ethics

· 1 record

  • A federal court dismissed a pro se civil-rights suit against Helal Farhat concerning his custody-case orders, holding that judicial immunity barred the claims against him.

    April 22, 2025

    Source: cases.justia.com · researched July 13, 2026

Legal Competence

· 4 records

  • Helal Farhat served on the judicial panel for a student moot-court competition during the Exploring Careers in the Law program.

    July 26, 2024For

    Source: 3rdcc.org · researched July 13, 2026

  • The Michigan Supreme Court selected Helal Farhat to serve on the newly created Michigan Judicial Council, a statewide body focused on improving the justice system.

    June 24, 2021For

    Source: 3rdcc.org · researched July 13, 2026

  • Helal Farhat joined four other Wayne County Family Division judges in a public bar-association program about virtual family-court practice, personal-protection-order filing changes, and the division's future operations.

    September 22, 2020For

    Source: members.detroitlawyer.org · researched July 13, 2026

  • The Michigan Court of Appeals held that an affidavit Helal Farhat supplied in support of an arson defendant's new-trial motion was inadmissible hearsay and did not establish personal knowledge of the alleged recantation.

    July 18, 2017Against

    Source: law.justia.com · researched July 13, 2026

Elections

Profile last researched July 13, 2026.