Oakland County's most prominent legal employee is about to get a new soapbox to stand on in downtown Pontiac.



Restoration of the Lady Justice statue in front of the Oakland County Courthouse began last year after foul weather tore away her scales and cracked her arm. She was set to return in May, but county officials discovered that her cinder block and stucco base was also cracked and needed work. A new marble base that not only matches the courthouse's exterior but came from the same stone quarry has been ordered.



"The statue turned out so fantastic we wanted to put it on a better pedestal," says Steven Sanford, an Oakland County project coordinator for facilities engineering.



The county bought the 9-foot-tall statue in 1904 from W.H. Mullins, a Salem, Ohio-based company that manufactured statues. She stood guard in front of the old Oakland County Courthouse until 1962, when the building was demolished. After spending the next two decades in storage, she was returned to the plaza in front of the new courthouse until last year's storm exposed the cracks that had been weathering on her for years.



The Fine Arts Sculpture Center in Clarkston recently conducted a $40,900 restoration of Lady Justice, but a century of life deteriorated her pressed zinc frame to the point that it needs to be indoors to survive. She will be installed in the courthouse and a new bronze copy of the statue will replace Lady Justice at the courthouse's south plaza. Both are expected to be installed by the end of the summer.



Oakland County is currently trying to raise money to restore the statue and to buy a new one.