Joy joined the FBMJ team as a paralegal specializing in medical malpractice defense while she awaited her State Bar of Michigan Licensure. Prior to joining Foley, Baron, Metzger, & Juip, Joy worked for a Metro-Detroit law firm as a paralegal supporting their medical malpractice defense team. She is a member of the Health Law Section and Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar of Michigan, as well as a member of the Oakland County Bar Association, Detroit Bar Association, Wolverine Bar Association, and the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association. In addition, she is a member of the Black Women’s Law Association of Michigan, the Women’s Law Association of Michigan, and the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel (MTDC).
Legal defense is a second career for Joy, as she comes with over a decade’s worth of experience working in Detroit Schools as an educator and School Counselor and a passionate advocate for Detroit students. She left her career in education to pursue her legal career, graduating from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. While in law school, Joy was an active mentor, a member of the Black Law Student Association, and a student member of the Wolverine Bar Association and Women’s Law Association of Michigan. She received several awards and scholarships, including a Book Award from the Juvenile Law Appellate Clinic, the Voices of Justice Fellowship, and the Damon J. Keith Scholarship from the Wolverine Bar Association.
In addition to litigation, she was asked to teach the Course Critical Lawyering in the 21st Century, a Course for 1Ls, at the University of Detroit Mercy less than one year after she graduated and plans to continue to train aspiring attorneys in the future.
Joy also enjoys storytelling and has participated in WDET The Moth storytelling events. She is also passionate about dance and is a member of a West African dance company and performs at the African World Festival each August at Hart Plaza. She loves good food too – particularly gumbo, shrimp n’ grits and equsi soup (a Nigerian one-pot dish), and when asked about her favorite pizza, Joy will choose a Pep’s Hot N Ready with butter, parm sauce and red pepper flakes, commenting, “If you know, you know.”
University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, Juris Doctor, 2022
Wayne State University, Master of Arts in Counseling, 2013
Grand Valley State University, Bachelor of Science in History, 2010
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
It's Plenty by Burna Boy
Cartagena, Colombia
She's All That and Chicago (the musical)
Bozoma St. John and Caroline A. Wagna