Joseph G. Scoville served for 26 years as United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Michigan. Before taking the bench in January of 1988, he was a partner in the law firm of Warner, Norcross & Judd in Grand Rapids. Among other cases of public importance, he successfully argued an appeal to the United States Supreme Court on an issue of federal preemption.

Scoville is a past president of the Federal Bar Association, Western Michigan Chapter, and has been a faculty member for many continuing legal education programs in the State of Michigan. He has taught Constitutional Law as an Adjunct Professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Judge Scoville is a graduate of Michigan State University (1971, with High Honors, Phi Beta Kappa) and University of Michigan Law School (1974, Magna cum Laude, Order of the Coif). He and his wife, Margaret, have been married for forty-two years.