At 6 feet, 8 inches tall, Mackinac Center attorney Derk Wilcox is an example of Big Law. Derk, a powerlifter, former wrestler and former strongman competitor, isn’t intimidated.
Which is good for a lawyer who sues and testifies against unions and has represented people with mental disorders exhibiting dangerous behavior.
Derk’s mother was an English literature professor at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and his father managed a bookstore. His parents had 10 kids, most of whom were adopted. Some had disabilities.
His father grew up in Cheboygan before heading to New York City’s Greenwich Village, where he entered the folk music scene. He eventually returned to Michigan, settling in Ann Arbor. The neighborhood was an academic ghetto of hippies and radicals, including several members of the Weather Underground. Years later, one of Derk’s babysitters (“cooperative child care” observers, Derk quips) died when a bomb she was assembling exploded.
“I found out in 1972 that my parents voted for Nixon,” Derk says. “The left was far too radical and dangerous for them. And they watched ‘Firing Line’ with William F. Buckley.”
At age seven, Derk wrote his own science book, and he started college studying art and physics. In time he switched to economics and political science, earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
Derk also earned a master’s in economics from the University of Detroit Mercy. “I was working as an economist for a consulting firm, but it was a lot of the same stuff over and over — same data, different quarter,” Derk says. “That got boring, so I began thinking about law school. Right then, Ave Maria School of Law opened in Ann Arbor.”
After earning his degree, Derk worked in municipal, construction, trucking and mental health law. But his economics studies and time studying at Ave Maria under Judge Robert Bork prompted an interest in public policy.
“I was a follower of the Mackinac Center — reading the white papers and articles — and then began reading Michigan Capitol Confidential,” Derk says. “I read in there that they were hiring a lawyer. I applied, and I was lucky enough to be accepted.”
Outside work, Derk stays active. He has participated in field events (throwing rocks and logs) in the Highland Games. He resumed competing in his 50s, getting involved at the masters level in shot put and discus. He still participates in powerlifting and bench press.
