Michigan Defense Trial Counsel
The Michigan Defense Trial Counsel announces Amber L. Girbach and Paul D. Hudson as recipients of the Thirteenth Annual Young Lawyers Golden Gavel Award winners.
The award recipients will be honored during the Awards Banquet at the MDTC Annual Meeting and Conference on May 13 at The Atheneum Suite Hotel.
Amber L. Girbach, of Hewson & Van Hellemont PC, graduated from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science in 2006. She went on to obtain her law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2009.
Girbach was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 2009. She initially worked as an assistant public defender at the Washtenaw County Office of Public Defender gaining trial and courtroom experience. Prior to joining Hewson and Van Hellemont PC in 2013, she was an associate attorney at a personal injury law firm where her practice focused on complex medical malpractice litigation.
Paul D. Hudson specializes in complex commercial litigation, with an emphasis on federal and state appeals at Miller Canfield.
As head of the firm's Appeals Section, Hudson counsels firm clients on appellate strategy and procedure, and represents individual, corporate, and higher-education clients in state and federal appellate courts across the country. He has successfully advocated on behalf of an automotive company in a tax appeal before the Michigan Supreme Court; a turbocharger supplier in a $50 million warranty dispute in the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals; a law school facing fraud and consumer-protection claims in the federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals; a client with an obstruction-of-justice appeal in the 6th Circuit; and a manufacturer with an issue of first impression regarding employer liability for a factory accident in the 6th Circuit.
Hudson also counsels firm clients on potential amicus opportunities, and has submitted amicus briefs in the state and federal appellate courts on behalf of business clients and trade organizations. He also maintains an active U.S. Supreme Court practice, representing clients at the writ of certiorari stage.
Hudson is active in state and federal bar associations, holding leadership positions on the American Bar Association's Appellate Practice Committee and the State Bar of Michigan's Litigation Section Counsel. The chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently appointed Hudson to chair the Sixth Circuit's Advisory Committee on Rules. He formerly served as the editor-in-chief and publications chair of the State Bar of Michigan Litigation Journal, and co-authored the Michigan chapter of a leading treatise on commercial disputes, "Business Torts: A Fifty State Guide."
Before joining Miller Canfield, Hudson served as a law clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Raymond M. Kethledge, Sixth Circuit.
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Sommers Schwartz
Sommers Schwartz PC is pleased to announce that Jabran "Jay" G. Yasso has been named a senior shareholder and that Tad T. Roumayah has been elevated from associate to shareholder.
For more than 20 years, Jay G. Yasso has focused his practice on medical malpractice, automobile negligence, and personal injury matters, and has litigated, mediated, and facilitated numerous multi-million dollar settlements on behalf of his clients. He also represents individuals and businesses in the entertainment industry, including record companies, artists, producers, agents, authors and songwriters, publishers, and models.
Yasso is actively involved with St. Regis Parish in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, serving on the Board of Directors of the School Finance Committee and the Capital Campaign Committee, and as a basketball coach, counselor, and mentor.
Yasso sits on the board of the D-MAN Foundation, a non-profit devoted to assisting people with disabilities, where he helped build a music therapy studio. He is a member and has been actively involved with The Grammy Awards - Chicago Chapter.
Tad T. Roumayah represents employees who have encountered discrimination, wrongful discharge, whistleblower retaliation, wage theft and abuse, Family Medical Leave Act and civil rights violations, and other employment issues and disputes. He also counsels people and businesses involved in contract disputes and business torts, and advises companies on their human resource policies, procedures, and other employment-related matters.
Roumayah has been named to the list of Super Lawyers Rising Stars in Michigan annually since 2013, and in 2014, was recognized by the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan for his pro bono service and contributions.
Additionally, senior shareholders Matthew D. Curtis, Richard D. Fox, Kevin J. Stoops, Daniel D. Swanson, and Jason J. Thompson have each been re-elected to one-year terms on Sommers Schwartz's board of directors. Curtis and Fox practice in the areas of medical malpractice, birth injury, and personal injury; Stoops and Swanson represent clients in employment and commercial litigation matters; and Thompson focuses his practice on mass torts, complex litigation, and class actions.
In addition, on March 1, Sommers Schwartz's Norman Tucker spoke at the American Conference Institute's Medical Malpractice Catastrophic Injury seminar. He co-presented with Cheryl M. DeKleine, vice president of Claims and Litigation at Stanford Healthcare on the topic, "'I'm Sorry' Statutes, Early Disclosure, Conversation, and Resolution, and Their Place in Catastrophic Injury Cases - Two Perspectives: the Healthcare Provider and the Plaintiff's Attorney's."
Tucker is also the co-chair of the American Conference Institute's 15th Annual Advanced Forum on Obstetric Malpractice, which will be held on June 21 and 22 at the Union League in Philadelphia. In addition to his leadership role, he will also moderate a panel discussion on "In-House Claims and Risk Management Professionals Speak Out on Obstetric Malpractice Financial & Legal Decisions Evaluation and Settlement of Cases, Insurance Coverage, and More."
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Wayne State University Law School
Wayne State University Law School Associate Professor Christopher C. Lund has co-authored a casebook, Religion and the Constitution, which examines the relationship between government and religion within the framework of the U.S. Constitution.
The book, in its fourth edition, was published by Wolters Kluwer as part of its Aspen Casebook series.
Co-authors with Lund are Michael McConnell, a professor at Stanford Law School and director of the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, and Thomas Berg, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and co-director of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy.
The book covers the traditional array of church-state topics, including the regulation of religious practice, the funding of religious institutions, the endorsement by government of religious messages, and the appropriateness of religion in politics. Among other updates, the fourth edition includes the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC and Holt v. Hobbs, as well as important contemporary lower-court cases, such as Elane Photography v. Willock and Spencer v. World Vision.
Lund joined Wayne Law in 2009 and teaches courses including Constitutional Law, Contracts, Evidence, Religious Liberty in the United States and Torts. He has been voted Professor of the Year five times.
His principal focus has been in the field of religious liberty. His work has been published in law reviews, such as the Northwestern University Law Review and the Virginia Law Review; peer-reviewed legal journals, such as the Journal of Law and Religion; and peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journals, such as History of Religions.
Prior to joining Wayne Law, Lund was an assistant professor at Mississippi College Law School. Before teaching, he clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Karen Nelson Moore, Sixth Circuit, served as the Madison Fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and practiced law at Dechert LLP in Philadelphia.
Lund earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his bachelor of arts from Rice University with majors in mathematics and psychology.
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Butzel Long
Butzel Long Attorney, Shareholder and Vice President James F. Gehrke has been elected to serve on the firm's Board of Directors. He practices in the firm's Detroit and Washington, D.C. offices and is the managing shareholder of the D.C. office.
Gehrke is a litigator specializing in complex business matters, including qui tams and disputes regarding the manufacture and supply of commodity and complex products for government and industry. He also has experience in litigating insurance coverage disputes. Gehrke is a member of the firm's Litigation and Appellate practice groups, co-chairs Butzel Long's PAC Committee, and is a member of the firm's Pro Bono Committee.
Gehrke is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (1994). He also is a graduate of the George Washington University (M.P.S. in Law Firm Management) and Harvard Divinity School (M.Div., 1990). He earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1986 from the University of Michigan.
After law school, Gehrke clerked for United States District Court Judge John Feikens, Eastern District of Michigan, and Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice James H. Brickley. He is licensed in Michigan and Washington D.C. and is admitted to and has practiced before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United States Court of International Trade, and many United States District Courts.
Gehrke is also a graduate of the Michigan Political Leadership Program and Leadership Detroit (Class XXVI). He serves on the Board of Directors for the SSGT. Ergin V. Osman Memorial Fund and the Board of Advisors for Paula Tutman's Children's Toothfairy Foundation. He served for many years as General Counsel for Think Detroit and on the Michigan Land Use Institute Board of Directors.
Gehrke is an active member of his church and is a supporter of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba.
Published: Mon, Apr 04, 2016
