'Angry Black Women' Comment Gets Lawyer Disciplined, Again
Cliff Woodards, 55, engaged in “discourteous conduct” during a probation hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court, the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board found.
October 23, 2017 at 02:54 PM
5 minute read
A Michigan lawyer who's also a local radio personality has been reprimanded for telling an officer during a hearing that she had “angry black women's syndrome.”
Cliff Woodards, 55, engaged in “discourteous conduct” during a probation hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court, the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board found. Woodards, who is African American, also said to the probation officer “that's why you don't have a husband.”
Commenting on the Oct. 20 reprimand for his remarks, Woodards said Monday, “That's the price you pay for being 55 and having no filter.”
The reprimand, first reported on Legal Profession Blog, follows an incident in which Woodards last year posted critical remarks on Facebook about the appearance of a female attorney at a public defender training session, which Woodards also attended.
Woodards, according to the website WDIV ClickOnDetroit, posted, “After watching yet another woman dressed up like a man, wearing sagging jeans, boxer briefs and sporting a mohawk, it finally dawned on me to ask this question: Why you wearing men's drawers, though? It's not like your gonna need or use the flap. Do they make you feel more manly? I don't understand.”
Woodard said those comments remain on his Facebook page.
In a separate incident, Woodards was reprimanded in 2010 after he admitted that he represented himself as an attorney while suspended from practice for nonpayment of bar dues.
He called the situation a “weird quirk,” in which a client's court papers were filed in the brief period in which his dues had lapsed.
Woodards hosts “Your Turn,” weeknights at 7-9 p.m. on 910am Superstation in Detroit. He's tried more than 100 felony cases, according to the station's website, and graduated from Wayne State University Law School in 2001.
In the Oct. 20 decision, the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board found that Woodards “failed to treat with courtesy and respect a person involved in the legal process and failed to avoid treating that person discourteously or disrespectfully because of that person's race and gender.”
Woodards was ordered to pay $750 in costs.
A Michigan lawyer who's also a local radio personality has been reprimanded for telling an officer during a hearing that she had “angry black women's syndrome.”
Cliff Woodards, 55, engaged in “discourteous conduct” during a probation hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court, the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board found. Woodards, who is African American, also said to the probation officer “that's why you don't have a husband.”
Commenting on the Oct. 20 reprimand for his remarks, Woodards said Monday, “That's the price you pay for being 55 and having no filter.”
The reprimand, first reported on Legal Profession Blog, follows an incident in which Woodards last year posted critical remarks on Facebook about the appearance of a female attorney at a public defender training session, which Woodards also attended.
Woodards, according to the website WDIV ClickOnDetroit, posted, “After watching yet another woman dressed up like a man, wearing sagging jeans, boxer briefs and sporting a mohawk, it finally dawned on me to ask this question: Why you wearing men's drawers, though? It's not like your gonna need or use the flap. Do they make you feel more manly? I don't understand.”
Woodard said those comments remain on his Facebook page.
In a separate incident, Woodards was reprimanded in 2010 after he admitted that he represented himself as an attorney while suspended from practice for nonpayment of bar dues.
He called the situation a “weird quirk,” in which a client's court papers were filed in the brief period in which his dues had lapsed.
Woodards hosts “Your Turn,” weeknights at 7-9 p.m. on 910am Superstation in Detroit. He's tried more than 100 felony cases, according to the station's website, and graduated from
In the Oct. 20 decision, the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board found that Woodards “failed to treat with courtesy and respect a person involved in the legal process and failed to avoid treating that person discourteously or disrespectfully because of that person's race and gender.”
Woodards was ordered to pay $750 in costs.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllUS Courts Announce Closures in Observance of Jimmy Carter National Mourning Day
2 minute readNorth Carolina Courts Switch to Digital, Face Extreme Weather in 2024
'Serious Disruptions'?: Federal Courts Brace for Government Shutdown Threat
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Restoring Trust in the Courts Starts in New York
- 2'Pull Back the Curtain': Ex-NFL Players Seek Discovery in Lawsuit Over League's Disability Plan
- 3Tensions Run High at Final Hearing Before Manhattan Congestion Pricing Takes Effect
- 4Improper Removal to Fed. Court Leads to $100K Bill for Blue Cross Blue Shield
- 5Michael Halpern, Beloved Key West Attorney, Dies at 72
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250