Richard Bernstein will take office as Michigan's first blind Supreme Court Justice on Thursday, January 1.

Bernstein said his chambers will be unique, with legal clerks reading briefs aloud in preparation for hearings.

"We do use technology but technology can only take you so far," he told the Associated Press. "I internalise the cases word for word, pretty much commit them primarily by memory. I'm asking the reader to pinpoint certain things, read footnotes, look at the legislative record.

"Not many clerks will have as much interaction with a justice as mine will."

Timothy Maclean has been Bernstein's assistant for three years, and has helped him prepare for the court's first session on January 13. While Bernstein acknowledges that his method is not the most efficient, he has learned to make the most of his situation.

"It would be much easier if I could read and write like everyone else, but that's not how I was created," said Bernstein, who has been blind since birth.

"No question, it requires a lot more work, but the flip side is it requires you to operate at the highest level of preparedness," he continued. "This is what I've done my entire life. This goes all the way back to grade school for me."

Bernstein has also thrived as an athlete – competing in over 15 marathons, and completing a triathlon in 2008. This week, his determination will make him one of only a handful of blind Supreme Court Justices in the country. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young Jr. expressed high hopes for the 41-year-old.

"Every new justice has to make a transition from whatever life he or she had before," Chief Justice Young said. "His will be different than others, but he's extraordinarily successful and very driven. You don't enter Ironman competitions without having a steel backbone."

Bernstein will be the second Democratic justice on the seven-member court.