LEGAL PEOPLE

Harness Dickey Harness Dickey recently announced that attorneys Elizabeth Brock and Nicholas Drysdale have been named among the firm's newly elected principals for 2017. Both intellectual property attorneys work in the firm's Metro Detroit headquarters. Brock is a trademark and copyright attorney managing global brand portfolios. Her practice includes trademark clearance, prosecution, maintenance and enforcement on behalf of domestic and international clients. She has led Inter Partes Review proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and regularly conducts brand enforcement over the Internet. Brock earned a law degree from Wayne State University Law School and a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan. Drysdale is a patent attorney focused on prosecuting patents for clients in diverse industries. He has filed more than 500 patents since he started with the firm in 2007, including patents for vehicle powertrain control, semiconductors, and numerous electrical technologies. He also has considerable experience preparing appeals with the USPTO. Drysdale earned a law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School and received a bachelor's degree from Oakland University with a double major in Electrical Engineering and Systems Engineering. ----- Levin Center at Wayne State ­University Law School For the second consecutive year, Elise Bean of the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School was named to Global Tax 50, an international list of 50 people and organizations who influenced tax policy. Each year, International Tax Review, a publication for tax professionals, compiles this list of 'who's who of the tax world.' Bean first came to the attention of the publication in 2015 when she served as head rapporteur for the Independent Commission for Reform of International Corporate Taxation, a group of leaders from around the world seeking reform of multinational corporate taxation. For 29 years, Bean worked for U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, on the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In 2003, Levin appointed her as staff director and chief counsel of the committee's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which he then chaired. During her tenure on the subcommittee, Bean supported Levin-led investigations into a host of tax issues, including multinational corporate tax avoidance by Apple, Caterpillar and Microsoft, and hidden offshore bank accounts at Credit Suisse and UBS which knowingly helped their U.S. clients use those accounts to evade U.S. taxes. Today, Bean is co-director of training and conferences for the Levin Center and teaches others how to conduct complex oversight. Levin, who retired from the Senate at the beginning of 2015, is chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law and distinguished legislator in residence for the law school. In 2016, on behalf of the Levin Center, Bean traveled to Brussels at the invitation of a European Parliament investigative committee to lead workshops focused on how to conduct better oversight investigations into multinational corporate tax dodging. Attendees were from the Parliament's Committee of Inquiry to investigate the Panama Papers. Bean graduated from Wesleyan University and earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Charfoos & Christensen Mary Pat Rosen, an attorney with Charfoos & Christensen in Royal Oak, has been chosen as president of the 'Impact100' chapter in Oakland County. Impact100 is a women's philanthropic group 'seeking to transform lives in their local community' by awarding high-impact grants to nonprofits in five focus areas: Arts and Culture; Education; Environment and Recreation; Family; and Health and Wellness. The first chapter of Impact100 was founded in 2001 in Cincinnati and there are now more than 30 chapters across the U.S. Each chapter's objective is to have a minimum of 100 members who donate $1,000 annually with 100 percent of the proceeds raised earmarked for charitable use. An attorney with Charfoos & Christensen since 1988, Rosen will serve a two-year term as president of Impact100 in Oakland County. Published: Mon, Jan 09, 2017