Legal People

Michael S. Khoury and Sara M. Kruse, both partners at Southfield-based Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC, have been named the co-practice group coordinators for the firm's Emerging and Growth Business Practice Group. Jaffe CEO Bill Sider made the announcement. The Emerging and Growth Business Practice Group assists entrepreneurs, start-up companies and growing businesses in all areas of formation, development and funding, and complex business transactions. In addition to leading this practice group, Khoury is also a member of the Corporate and Intellectual Property and Information Technology Practice Groups, specializing his practice in commercial, business and technology matters including start-ups and emerging businesses. He is a former chair of the State Bar of Michigan's Business Law Section and Information Technology Law Section, as well as a member of advisory boards for several entrepreneurial organizations. Khoury is an alumnus of the University of Michigan, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He earned his law degree from Wayne State University Law School. As co-practice group coordinator, Kruse has developed a practice in guiding her clients through large corporate transactions, where she represents both private and public companies in all aspects of their legal needs--from formation to equity financing to acquisition. Kruse is also a member of the Corporate and Securities and Regulations Practice Groups at the firm. She is also a long-standing and active member of Jaffe's Women's Caucus Group, which was recently awarded the Inaugural Women's Resource Center Award by the Michigan Women's Foundation. She has represented several clients in complex business transactions that have received Crain's Detroit Business Merger & Acquisition awards, including multiple "Deal of the Year" recognitions. Kruse is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Law School. * * * Dirk Beckwith, shareholder at the law firm of Foster, Swift, Collins, & Smith PC, has been named as the president-elect of the Transportation Lawyers Association (TLA). Beckwith will begin serving his presidential term this month 2013. Beckwith has experience representing transportation companies and handles both regulatory and administrative matters for those engaged in the transportation industry. He has been involved in several landmark decisions for the trucking and railroad industries, as well. During the past year he has served as the TLA's first vice president and as editor of TLA's publication entitled The Transportation Lawyer. Beckwith is also a member of the Association for Transportation Law Professionals, where he previously held the position of regional vice president. He is active in the Trucking Insurance Defense Association, Transportation Loss Prevention and Security Association and the Conference of Freight Council. Beckwith is a graduate of the University of Michigan and earned his law degree from the Wayne State University Law School. * * * Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC is pleased to announce that Brian A. Kreucher has joined the firm. He will practice out of the firm's Royal Oak Office. For the last 23 years, Kreucher has helped employers minimize the legal risks involved in employment decisions while maintaining business goals. He helps many clients "prevent fires" by functioning as an extension of their human resources and in-house legal team. Kreucher also assists clients in navigating the "alphabet soup" of employment laws (ADA, ADAAA, ADEA, COBRA, EEOC, ERISA, FLSA, FMLA, GINA, NLRA, OSHA, TITLE VII, USERRA, WARN, ELCRA, PDCRA, etc.), restrictive employment covenants, sales commissions laws, internal investigations and employee performance issues.Kreucher also routinely represents employers when confronted with state civil rights charges, unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, EEOC investigations and discrimination charges, labor arbitrations and commercial and general litigation matters. Kreucher's representative clients range from small businesses to a large multinational Tier 1 automobile supplier, one of the nation's largest security firms as well as a Fortune 500 company, which provides integrated logistics, warehousing and transportation solutions. Some examples of Kreucher's successful representations of clients are reflected in the following published state and federal court decisions: Banner v. The City of Flint 136 F.Supp.2d 678 (2000) and 99 Fed.Appx. 29, 2004 WL 771672 (6th Cir. (Mich.)); Nelson and Ferris v. The City of Flint 136 F.Supp.2d 703 (2001); and Lindberg v. Livonia Public Schools, 219 Mich. App. 364; 556 N.W.2d 509 (1996). Kreucher attended Albion College's Professional Management Program before receiving his B.B.A. from the University of Michigan Business School in 1987 and his law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 1990. He is admitted to practice in Michigan as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of Indiana and the Western and Eastern Districts of Michigan. In addition, Kreucher is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit as well as being admitted pro hac vice in Ohio, Tennessee, Illinois, Mississippi and Kentucky. * * * Butzel Long has announced the following attorneys have been elected shareholders including: Angela Emmerling Boufford, David J. DeVine, Bernard (Bernie) J. Fuhs, Bushra A. Malik, Robert M. Nemzin, and Elissa N. Pinto. Based in Butzel Long's Bloomfield Hills office, Boufford represents corporate clients in complex business and commercial litigation. She also has significant eDiscovery/ESI experience and presents on the topic frequently. In addition, she has arbitration experience having defended securities brokers and broker/dealers in customer arbitrations (NASD/FINRA) across the country. She also has served as an adjunct securities regulations professor. Boufford serves on the Board of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, the Oakland County Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association. She is admitted to practice in Michigan and in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Boufford is a graduate of Michigan State University (1994) and the Michigan State University College of Law (1998). DeVine, based in Butzel Long's Detroit office, practices in the areas of business litigation and bankruptcy and serves businesses in a wide array of industries, including automotive, banking, construction, and real estate. He also has substantial experience with commercial real estate transactions, having practiced as a transactional real estate attorney for nearly two years before joining Butzel Long. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and American Bar Association. He has been listed as a Michigan Super Lawyer Rising Star (Business Litigation) since 2010. DeVine is a contributor to and editor of the 2010-2011 Original Equipment Supplier Association (OESA) "North American OEM Production P.O. Terms and Conditions Comparative Analysis," the standard reference manual among automotive suppliers. He also was a co-author of "Contract Law and the Changing Business Needs of the Automotive Supply Chain: The Problem of Dual-Source Requirements Contracts," which appeared in the Fall 2012 edition of the Michigan Business Law Journal. DeVine is a graduate of Emory University School of Law (2006). He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan (B.A., 2003). Based in Butzel Long's Detroit office, Fuhs concentrates his practice in the areas of business and commercial litigation. He has experience in non-compete, non-disclosure, and trade secret disputes, business and financial services industry disputes, franchise and dealerships, transportation and logistics industry disputes, construction, real estate, securities, and sales representative matters. Fuhs has successfully litigated and counseled clients on non-compete and trade secret matters in all 50 states. Fuhs recently was named to L. Brooks Patterson's Elite 40 Under 40 Class of 2013. He also was named to Crain's Detroit Business' 2012 Class of "40 Under 40. " He was selected as a 2012 Business Litigation Top Lawyer by DBusiness Magazine. He also was named to the 2011 & 2012 Michigan Super Lawyers' Rising Star List. Fuhs is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (2006) and the University of Detroit Mercy (B.S., 2003). Malik, based in the firm's Detroit office, practices in the area of immigration law, focusing her practice on the representation of multinational and domestic clients' inbound and global migration needs. Malik's immigration experience includes: Employment-based and Family-based Permanent Residence Petitions; Non-Immigrant Petitions; Employer Compliance; U.S. Passports; complex Naturalization matters; and Currency Seizures. She has experience in securing work and residence permits for numerous countries around the globe, including: China, India, Canada, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Malaysia and Belgium. Malik currently serves as the chair of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service Liaison Committee for the Michigan Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyer's Association (AILA) and on the Conference and Events Committee of the Global Migration Section for AILA. She is currently serving as the program vice chair of the 2013 AILA Global Immigration Forum. Malik also will be presenting at the 2013 AILA Global Immigration Forum. Malik graduated from Michigan State University's James Madison College with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations, an additional major in Japanese and a Certificate of Asian studies in 1996. She graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in December, 1998. Malik speaks Hindi, Japanese and Urdu. Nemzin is based in Butzel Long's Bloomfield Hills office. He concentrates his practice in the areas of estate planning and succession planning, counseling individuals and business owners on the various aspects of estate and wealth transfer planning. He is a frequent lecturer at national seminars involving estate and succession planning and has extensive experience in sophisticated tax planning techniques, including planning for dynasty trusts, life insurance trust planning, charitable trust planning, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies. He also has experience in probate, and trust administration and the formation and operation of public charities and private foundations. Nemzin is admitted to practice in Michigan and New York. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Section of Taxation. He also is a member of the ABA Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section and serves as the Co-Chair of the Young Lawyers Network. He served as a Fellow in the ABA Real Property, Trust & Estate Fellows Program, which annually selects only three trusts and estates attorneys in the United States. His other memberships include the State Bar of Michigan and the New York State Bar Association. Nemzin is a graduate of New York University School of Law (2007) and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (2006). Based in Butzel Long's Detroit office, Pinto concentrates her practice on immigration law. She has focused her immigration practice on business immigration, and has gained experience representing local, national and international companies in obtaining authorization for foreign national employees to work temporarily and permanently in the United States, through various work-authorized visa classifications (including H-1B, TN, L-1 and O-1) and employment-based permanent residence processes (including Multinational Manager/Executive, Extraordinary Ability Alien and Outstanding Researcher and PERM Alien Labor Certifications). Pinto is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A., 1998) and Wayne State University Law School (2001). She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Federal Bar Association, the American Bar Association (International Law Section and Labor and Employment Section), and the State Bar of Michigan (International Law Section and Young Lawyers Section). She is fluent in Portuguese and also speaks French and Spanish. * * * Maddin, Hauser, Wartell, Roth, & Heller PC announced that six of its attorneys were selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. This is the third year in a row that Maddin Hauser attorneys were chosen. Members from two of the Southfield-based firm's practice groups were recognized. Michael W. Maddin, president emeritus and founder; Mark R. Hauser, managing director and founder; and Lowell D. Salesin, a shareholder and member of the Executive Management Committee, represent the Real Estate group. All three attorneys are repeat selections. Firm shareholders Charles M. Lax, Gary M. Remer, and Marc Wise were honored in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice area. Lax and Remer earned repeat selections. This is Wise's first appearance on the list. * * * Jackson Lewis LLP is pleased to announce that Katherine J. Donohue has joined the firm's Detroit office as Of Counsel. Donohue joins the firm from Butzel Long where as a Partner she concentrated her practice on employment, non-compete and trade secret litigation, traditional labor law, higher education law, and employment- related and e-discovery counseling. A litigator, Donohue also has handled commercial litigation. She is admitted to practice in the State of Michigan, the United States Court of Appeals in the Sixth Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. Donohue is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (2003). Donohue also is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A., 2000). Donohue was named a Michigan Super Lawyer Rising Star (Employment & Labor) in 2012 and 2013, and Michigan Lawyers Weekly named her one of the "Top 20 Up & Coming Attorneys" for 2011. * * * Nationally known family law attorney Richard S. Victor, senior partner of Victor & Victor in Bloomfield Hills, recently was elected as one of only 95 attorneys in the country to the American College of Family Trial Lawyers (ACFTL) and was inducted into the College at its annual meeting in New Orleans. A past president of the Michigan chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Victor served on the National Board of Governors of the Academy. He has been the national chairperson of the AAML's CLE (Continuing Legal Education) programs, as well as serving as chair for CLE for the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan from 1985-95, co-chairing CLE for the Michigan chapter of the American Academy from 1995-2010. In 2006, the National AAML presented Victor with its coveted National Fellow of the Year Award. He was elected chairperson of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan and received its highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, in 1999. In 2000, upon his 25th anniversary of graduating from Michigan State University College of Law, he was honored with the National Alumni of the Year Award. In 2004, the State Bar of Michigan presented him with the Champion of Justice Award, honoring him for his work on behalf of families and children. Victor is listed in Best Lawyers in America; and has been named a Super Lawyer by Michigan Super Lawyers Magazine every year, since its inception and was featured on the cover of the publication with a special feature story in 2008. In addition, he was named as one of the top 10 lawyers in Michigan by Michigan Lawyers Weekly and was awarded the Meritorious Service to the Children of America Award by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges in 1993. He is the co-author of the three-volume treatise, "Michigan Family Law and Practice" (West Publications), and the nationally recognized children's book, "You and Me Make Three." In 1982, he founded the Grandparent Rights Organization and has served, pro bono, as its executive director since its inception. He also founded the national nonprofit Victor Smile Foundation, providing benefits to children of divorce. He, along with Judge Edward Sosnick of the Oakland County Family Court, created the SMILE (Start Making It Livable for Everyone) program (an educational program for divorcing parents) for both the state of Michigan and other states across the U.S., as well as for Australia. The American College of Family Trial Lawyers is a select group of 100 of the top family law trial lawyers from across the United States. The American College was formed in 1993 to bring together some of the top trial lawyers in America practicing sophisticated and complex family law and matrimonial matters both domestically and abroad, ranging from dissolution of marriage (divorce), paternity, palimony, child abduction and domestic torts. Diplomates, all members of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, are chosen based upon their recognized litigation skills and courtroom abilities. Victor, who practices with his sons Daniel and Ronald, "believes and has taught both lawyers and judges that divorcing couples must realize that divorce is an emotionally draining experience, born from loss, which usually does not allow individuals to think and act logically and emotionally at the same time." Said Victor: "By creating the concept of a more honest, personalized and direct way to practice family law, we can instill a new philosophy to bring integrity to the practice." Over the course of his career, Victor has appeared on various national television shows, including "Oprah," and in three movies. Published: Mon, May 20, 2013