By Beth Anne Eckerle
Legal News
Twenty-four years of dedication to labor and employment law have earned Louis Theros a designation reserved for only one-half of 1 percent of the nation’s attorneys – to be named a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
But it’s more than a prestigious award for Theros. It represents a career spent striving for excellence, mentoring junior lawyers, serving others, and exhibiting integrity in the courtroom and in the community.
“I feel humbled to be in this group,” said Theros, 49, a Grosse Pointe Farms resident. “It shows a culmination of my 24 years of practice, and I feel very privileged to be selected for this recognition.”
Theros, an attorney with Butzel Long the past four years, is a shareholder, vice president and serves on the firm’s board. He concentrates the areas of employment litigation, labor, advising and counseling on compliance and gaming law.
With Theros’ designation, the firm of 140 now boasts six Fellows. The selection process is predicated on nomination by a current fellow; for Theros, that was respected Michigan arbitrator George Roumell.
“Louie is an excellent labor and employment lawyer – that’s the first criteria,” said Roumell. “He’s well-respected by his peers in the field and, additionally, he has made contributions to his community. He’s on the city council with Grosse Pointe Farms and he’s also very active in his church. He’s truly a person of all seasons.”
Roumell, who has known Theros personally for more than 10 years and who knew his father, Spero, for more than 40, said that the younger Theros indeed followed in his respected father’s footsteps.
Theros’ interest in labor and employment law was fueled by a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law, from where he received his J.D. in 1989. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree, he headed to Vanderbilt to pursue law. There, his professor Bob Covington impressed Theros with his comprehensive grasp of the law and remarkable memory of details, particularly in labor and employment relation cases. After a summer clerkship, he returned to find Covington reciting tidbits from Toussaint vs. Michigan Blue Cross/Blue Shield, a case Theros had learned about that summer.
“Right off the top of his head, Bob could recite specific, minute details,” Theros recalled. “He supposedly got such a high score on the Tennessee bar exam – this has turned into a Paul Bunyan-like story, I’m sure – that they suspected him of cheating. But when they spoke to him, he could give pinpoint cites to cases... Every other Friday, the school would host happy hour in the courtyard and Professor Covington would show up in his Grateful Dead tie-dyed shirt. He and I became good friends.”
Covington encouraged Theros in the direction of labor and employment law. “I kind of gravitated toward it. I found it fascinating, particularly the human element,” Theros said.
That element is one of the most interesting components of his work in labor and employment law – an area that sees breakdowns of friendships, employment/employee relations, and shifts in workplace policies.
He recalled one memorable case where a woman sued for gender discrimination. Theros defended her employer, and he and her attorneys reached a settlement. But during the final meeting at the courthouse to sign the paperwork, the woman asked to step outside for a cigarette to calm her nerves. She returned, fired her lawyers and took the case to trial.
“During the course of the trial I was successful in getting her claims for emotional distress and punitive damages dismissed,” recalled Theros. “The court at that point had knocked down a substantial amount of the damages. I asked the jury to consider awarding only nominal damages of $1. Of course, we were ready to settle for a lot more than that 60 days earlier.”
The jurors continued to deliberate, but they were hopelessly deadlocked, six in favor of the $1 award and two preferring no damages at all. The judge sent the jury back to deliberate, but they wouldn’t budge.
“After all this – the original settlement, the court case, having the trial with the new lawyers and in between trying to reach a settlement – I thought, ‘I’m going to have to try this case all over again,’” Theros recalled.
Additionally, the case took place in Chicago, forcing Theros to be gone from his family for an extended period of time, which weighed on him.
But a silver lining of all those efforts was found when Theros was able to interview the jurors after the case.
“We talked to the jurors who didn’t want to give her one single dollar and said, ‘You guys are killing us, why didn’t you give her the dollar?’ They looked at me and said – and this small window gave me some faith in the jury system – ‘The instructions said we were to stick by our convictions and not waive them in order to reach a compromise verdict,’” Theros said. “They said, ‘Your client did not discriminate and this was a
baloney case. Neither of us could find it in our hearts to find your client guilty, even if it meant only a dollar.’”
Relieved that he’d gotten the message across, Theros scheduled a flight home the next day, exhausted but hopeful about the good in people, looking forward to a few days to decompress.
“I flew home and woke up the next morning,” he said, “and the next morning was 9/11.”
Theros, an engaging storyteller, recalled another “learning moment” from his first case as first-chair trial lawyer. The jury returned a small verdict against his client, who was sued for not preventing a third-party vendor from harassing employees at its facility.
During post-trial interviews with the jury, Theros was especially eager to hear from a nurse he had specifically wanted on the panel because of her education and professional demeanor. “I asked her for her thoughts on the case, and she said, ‘Mr. Theros, have you ever heard of personal space?’” he recalled. “I said, ‘Yes.’ And she said, ‘Well you invaded mine! When you came up to the jury box..., you totally invaded my personal space.’”
Another juror came to his defense, saying she appreciated his personal approach. Arguments between the two got a bit heated, and Theros had to stop their bickering. “The moral of the story,” Theros said with a laugh, “is that I should bob-and-weave a little more.”
Theros noted that today most cases are settled before trial because of economics. “I used to say I was a litigator/trial lawyer, but now we’re more litigation managers, trying our best to... get the case dismissed or favorably resolved before going to trial,” he explained.
Another enjoyable aspect of his career – and one that influenced his Fellow designation – is guiding junior lawyers, particularly in developing writing skills.
“I can tell you that writing skills have diminished in the sense that we’re so tuned into our techy stuff,” Theros lamented. “One of the things senior lawyers can do to help junior lawyers is teach them to write... Even if their sentence structure and grammar and word choices are fine, you still have to be able to persuade, to make your argument resonate.”
It’s an area he works on relentlessly with his own sons, Jonathan, 15, and Evan, 13.
“I ride them on their writing constantly,” Theros said. “The reason I do that is because I’m still getting better as a writer myself – it’s a lifelong process.”
In fact, one of his writing mentors is an 87-year-old partner at Butzel Long, Bill Saxton. “He still writes, and... in a way that is beautifully succinct and to the point,” Theros said. “I save his articles and I show my kids.”
Theros is also involved with the Detroit Metropolitan Bar, of which he is past president. Through Inns of Court, young lawyers in Wayne County work with judges and experienced attorneys in mock trial settings.
“It gives them the chance to work with masters in the field, and it’s very beneficial,” he said.
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