His office is filled with trinkets and gifts from his clients, and his walls are covered with memories. Benjamin Franklin’s poem, “The Benefit of Going to Law,” is the first thing you see when you walk off East Bacon Street into his office. The framed poem isn’t there for Jim Hayne; he can recite it perfectly by memory.
Large bookshelves that extend to the ceiling are filled with volumes of law books and papers, and files are scattered orderly across his desk — the sign of a lawyer well at work.
He embodies both the letter and the spirit of the law. With more than 40 years of upholding the law, from his time on a judicial bench to his career in his law office, and even his time as a Hillsdale College professor, Jim Hayne dedicated his life to serving the people of Hillsdale and Michigan.
Hayne was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1942. He grew up in a mobile home, where he lived with his mother. In the summers, he would travel cross-country on a train to visit his father in Washington. On the weekends, Hayne mowed lawns to make money. He later learned that growing up, his family was poor monetarily.
“I never knew I was poor because I had a lot of things going on,” Hayne said. “My coin bank was always full.”
His senior year of high school, Hayne moved schools. It was there that he met a girl.
“I saw this girl,” Hayne said. “She was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.”
It took him three weeks to get the nerve to ask Connie out. They dated their entire senior year of high school.
A week after Hayne’s high school graduation, he left for the United States Navy and Connie went on to The Ohio State University. Jim and Connie agreed they would go their separate ways.
While in the Navy, Hayne was a Petty officer third class and crew member in the Airborne Early Warning Barrier Pacific. He flew in a WV2 surveillance aircraft that would travel from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Midway Island, and then up to the Aleutian Islands and back. It was a 16-to-19 hour trip that was designed to patrol the area. Their mission was to protect against Russian or Chinese sneak attacks. Hayne went through escape and evasion school as well as prisoner of war camp where he trained for enemy capture. As part of school, Hayne was sent into a room filled with tear gas for 15 minutes.
“My sinuses are still screwed up because of the tear gas,” Hayne said.
As Hayne recalls, he was in the Navy for three years, nine months, 12 days, six hours, and 40 minutes. When he returned home and went to the local drugstore to get medication for his sinuses, he ran into Connie’s mother, who told Hayne to call her.
“I thought she’d have a boyfriend by then, but she was happy to hear from me,” Hayne said.
As Hayne went to school, he and Connie started dating again. With tears in his eyes and emotion in his voice, Hayne recalled his father-in-law. He was a doctor and Hayne was from the opposite, wealthy side of the tracks, but before Connie’s father died, he told Hayne: “I think it would be just fine if you married my daughter.”
After two years of dating, they married on Aug. 20, 1966. Hayne earned his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Toledo and then received his law degree from Toledo Law School. While Hayne went to school, Connie taught the 2nd grade. Hayne passed both the Ohio and Michigan Bar Exams and was offered a position in Hillsdale, Michigan, as an assistant attorney at the district court. After two years he was elected district judge.
Hayne was the chief judge of the second judicial district — Hillsdale and Lenawee counties — for five years. During his last two years on the bench, in addition to his duties as district judge,
Hayne was selected by the Court Administration Office to handle racial problems in courts throughout the state of Michigan.
“My feeling is that there is one race — the human race,” Hayne said. “I personally don’t care if a person’s skin is black, brown, white, or sky blue pink with purple polka dots.”
Hayne’s friend for more 40 years, John Savarino, noted Hayne’s character.
“He is a good listener, and when he was on the bench he seemed to know who he was judging,” Savarino said.
If Hayne heard the words “black” or “white” in his courtroom, he would call a recess and request both attorneys and clients meet him in his office.
“I would have the persons involved in racial disputes and put their hand on a piece of paper of the color they referenced,” Hayne said.
Hayne would instruct the African-American person to place their hand on a black piece of paper.
“I can clearly see your hand on that paper — you’re not black.”
Hayne would instruct the Caucasian person to place their hand on a white piece of paper.
“I can clearly see your hand on that paper — you’re not white.”
Hayne would cut through the case and get both parties’ attention.
“Now that we have all that nonsense out of the way — what’s the real problem?”
One of Hayne’s friends, David Burgee, once found himself in Hayne’s court for a speeding violation, for which he pleaded not guilty. Burgee recalled Hayne’s words to the packed courtroom:
“Let the record show he is a friend of mine, and he is as guilty as the day is long.”
Burgee said that in that moment he was ready to be sent off to jail. Hayne joked that Burgee’s face was as red as a tomato. Hayne recused himself from the case because Burgee was his friend, and Burgee eventually got out of the speeding ticket.
After his time on the bench, Hayne worked in any attorney’s office for eight years, before he opened his own: “James E. Hayne Law office,” where he has been for the past 30 years.
Cindy Miller has been Hayne’s secretary for 40 years — she started working for him when she was 19 years old. After her first day in Hayne’s office, she went home in tears, telling her mother: “He’s too picky, I can’t work for him.”
After all these years she looks back and laughs.
“We’ve raised our families together,” Miller said. “After all these years, he’s been like a father to me.”
Hayne has three grown children who have blessed him with seven grandkids, of whom he is very proud.
“I have lived a very blessed life,” Hayne said. “I still get enjoyment trying to help people with their difficulties.”