Judge Donald Allen was appointed judge of the 55th District Court by Governor Jennifer Granholm on December 22, 2008. He was elected to the bench in 2010 for a six year term. His current term expires January 1, 2017.

Prior to being appointed to the District Court, Judge Allen served as the director of the Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP). Judge Allen assumed the directorship of ODCP on June 5, 2006, after serving as deputy legal counsel for the Governor on her legal staff. Judge Allen's duties for the executive office included serving as a member of the Governor's senior staff with responsibilities for emergency management and homeland security, civil rights, and criminal justice.

Judge Allen is a 1983 graduate of Wayne State University Law School and spent most of his professional career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Michigan Department of Attorney General. He served at the Department of Attorney General from February 1988 through September 2005. His assignments included the Social Services, Revenue, Corrections, and Health Care Fraud divisions where he specialized in litigation. While at the Attorney General's Office, he also served as a member on the Attorney General's Litigation Advisory Board. In his last assignment at the Health Care Fraud Division he served as a prosecutor of high profile criminal and civil defendants.
As a busy, active sobriety judge in the 55th District Court, Judge Allen has seen first-hand the devastation that opioid addiction creates for our young adults and their families.