ST. LOUIS • The Missouri Supreme Court's loss will soon be St. Louis University School of Law's gain.

Judge Michael A. Wolff, who has served on the Missouri Supreme Court for a dozen years, announced Wednesday he will be stepping down next year to return to St. Louis University School of Law, putting a capstone on a long and varied career in law and politics.

Wolff was already a law professor there when he was tapped by then-Gov. Mel Carnahan for the court in 1998. On Wednesday, he said the school "is attracting some of the finest young scholars in legal education today."

"While I am not exactly young, I am honored to be rejoining their ranks," Wolff, 65, said.

Before becoming a judge, Wolff sought to represent the state from the other side of the bench, running two unsuccessful campaigns for state attorney general.

In 1992, Wolff lost the Democratic primary to Jay Nixon, who, as the current governor, has the responsibility of replacing Wolff.

Under the state's nonpartisan court plan, Nixon will choose the next judge from a list of three names chosen by a judicial commission.

Wolff worked for Carnahan's campaign for governor, and when Carnahan was elected, Wolff served as the governor's general counsel. Later, Wolff played a key role in negotiating the legislation that helped settle the St. Louis desegregation case.

Wolff did not give an exact date for his departure; his teaching career will resume, he said, in the fall semester of 2011.

On the court, Wolff spent two years as chief justice, from July 2005 through June 2007. In his decisions, Wolff, a former journalist, is known for introducing sometimes colorful prose in otherwise opaque legal matters.

In August, Wolff, quoting James Madison in the Federalist papers, wrote the opinion overturning the conviction of a man who robbed a post office in Neosho, Mo. The man was wrongly tried, Wolff wrote, under state laws — because the offense took place in a post office, it was a federal matter.

Wolff lives in Clayton and is married to Patricia Wolff, a pediatrician who has been recognized for her work on children's health issues in Haiti.

Virginia Young of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.