Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently announced the appointment of Carla Testani to the Wayne County Circuit Court.
Testani has been in private practice since 1999, most recently at the Fausone Bohn law firm specializing in family law. She serves as vice chair on the Northville Township Zoning Board of Appeals.
Testani is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the State Bar of Michigan Family Law Section, the Wayne County Family Law Bar Association (serving as president from 2014-2016), the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, the Federalist Society, the Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers, the Italian American Bar Association of Michigan, and many other associations.
She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1995 and her law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 1998. She fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Megan Brennan.
Testani must seek election in November 2020 for the remainder of the term.
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Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently announced the appointment of Anica Letica to the Michigan Court of Appeals, 1st District.
Letica has been with the Michigan Department of Attorney General since 2009 where she handles appellate matters for the Criminal Division and for local prosecutors across the state. Prior to that she worked in the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office after starting her career as a law clerk at the Michigan Court of Appeals.
She is a member of the State Bar's Appellate Practice and Criminal Law Sections, the National District Attorneys Association and the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan where she serves on the Appellate Prosecutors Committee, the Amicus Brief and Court Rules Committee, the Michigan Prosecutor's Justice Initiative: Best Practices Committee, and the Rape Initiatives Committee.
Letica has received special recognition for her work on cold-case sexual assaults. She also was a member of the ad hoc Circuit Court Appellate Rules Revision Committee that overhauled the circuit court appellate rules, adopted by the Michigan Supreme Court in 2011.
She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1982 and received her law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 1985.
Letica fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Michael Talbot. She must seek election in 2020 for a six-year term.
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Attorney Debra A. Freid recently began her tenure as the 66th president of the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ). Freid was unanimously elected by the MAJ general membership and ceremoniously sworn in by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridget Mary McCormack at the MAJ's annual convention May 11-12 in Detroit. Her one-year term runs until May 31, 2019.
"For more than 73 years, MAJ and its members have stood up to protect the rights of the injured and provide strong and effective representation on their behalf," Freid said. "I am honored to be elected by my fellow trial lawyers to lead MAJ as we move into this very important election year."
Freid, a graduate of Wayne State University and Wayne State University Law School, is a founding partner at Freid, Gallagher, Taylor, & Associates PC. She has been practicing law for 37 years and specializes in employment discrimination and personal injury litigation.
Freid was named to the Michigan Lawyers Weekly Women in the Law Class of 2017 and is a member of the Leading Lawyers Club. She is one of only nine attorneys in the state to be Board Certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.
Joining MAJ in 1990, Freid has served as an officer in the association for the past four years, holding positions as treasurer, secretary, vice president and president-elect. She belongs to several professional organizations, including the American Board of Trial Attorneys, the American Association for Justice, the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Saginaw County Bar Association, and the Women's Lawyer Association of Michigan.
"For nearly a decade, an anti-civil justice majority has had complete control of state government and waged an unmitigated assault on citizens' rights in every area of the law including the fundamental right to a civil trial by jury," Freid said. "MAJ will continue to fight to balance the scales of justice and serve as a powerful force to protect and restore the rights of those abused or injured by others."
Freid is a frequent volunteer at Saginaw pro bono clinics and serves as a volunteer judge at local college moot court competitions.
Along with Freid, new MAJ officers for 2018-19 are:
President-Elect - Robert J. MacDonald, MacDonald & MacDonald PLLC.
Vice President - Donna M. MacKenzie, Olsman, MacKenzie, & Wallace PC.
Secretary - Ronald K. Weiner, Lipton Law P.C.
Treasurer - Stuart A. Sklar, Fabian, Sklar, King, & Liss PC.
Immediate Past President - Brian J. McKeen, McKeen & Associates PC.
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Brooks Kushman is proud to announce six of the firm's shareholders have been named "IP Stars" by Managing Intellectual Property (IP) Magazine. Brooks Kushman is also the only firm to be recognized in the top tier as "Highly Recommended" for each ranking: Patent Contentious, Patent Prosecution, and Trademarks.
Brooks Kushman attorneys recognized as IP Stars by the publication are President Mark Cantor and shareholders Frank Angileri, Elizabeth Janda, John LeRoy, Sangeeta Shah, and Robert Tuttle.
Angileri, Cantor, and Tuttle were recognized as both Trademark Stars and Patent Stars. LeRoy and Shah were recognized as Patent Stars, and Janda was recognized as a Trademark Star.
Cantor serves as the president of Brooks Kushman, and one of the founders of the firm. His practice focuses on complex litigation matters in all technology areas, and he has been named an "IP Star" since 2013. In 2016, he was a part of the team of trial attorneys who secured the largest trademark verdict in Michigan history.
Angileri is co-chair of Brooks Kushman's Post-Grant Proceedings practice, and focuses on IP litigation. He was also named as Michigan's "IP Litigator of the Year" for three years, and has been named an "IP Star" since 2013.
Janda serves as chair of Brooks Kushman's Trademark practice, managing substantial trademark portfolios both domestically and internationally in a variety of industries. She has been on the list of "IP Stars" since 2013.
LeRoy's practice focuses on patent, trade secret and copyright litigation in the software and electrical arts, and he also started the firm's Open Source Software Compliance practice. LeRoy was recently recognized as Michigan's "IP Litigator of the Year," and this is his third year being recognized as an IP Star.
Shah is Brooks Kushman's co-chair of Post-Grant Proceedings and chief diversity officer. Her practice is primarily focused on post-grant challenges and patent opinions. She represents several Fortune 500 clients for whom she provides strategic counseling and guidance on their global IP portfolios. She has been on the list of "IP Stars" since 2014.
Tuttle's practice at Brooks Kushman focuses on IP litigation. He works closely with clients across a variety of industries on litigation matters covering all aspects of IP strategy including patents, trademarks and trade secrets. Tuttle was named Michigan "IP Litigator of the Year" in 2013, and has been an "IP Star" since 2013.
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Hirzel Law PLC is a boutique law firm that was recently formed by Kevin Hirzel in order to service the legal needs of condominium and homeowners associations throughout Michigan.
Hirzel is the managing member of Hirzel Law PLC and is nationally recognized as an innovator and leader in community association law. He has been granted membership in the College of Community Association Lawyers (CCAL)-one of fewer than 175 attorneys nationwide to be admitted to the prestigious organization.
Hirzel is joined by Matthew Heron and Joe Wloszek, who are members of Hirzel Law PLC. John Calvin, Brandan Hallaq and William Kolobaric have also joined Hirzel Law PLC as attorneys. The attorneys at Hirzel Law PLC have represented hundreds of community associations throughout their careers.
The firm is headquartered in Farmington at 37085 Grand Rive Ave, Ste 200, in the new Freedom Plaza building. Additional information on Hirzel Law PLC can be obtained at www.hirzellaw.com, e-mailing the firm at info@hirzellaw.com or via telephone at 248-478-1800.
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Chambers USA has rated Bodman PLC as one of Michigan's top business law firms.
In the newly released 2018 edition, Chambers again placed Bodman in "band one" (the highest possible rating) for Banking & Finance. Bodman has been the sole Michigan law firm ranked in band one for Banking & Finance for more than a decade.
Chambers ranked Bodman among Michigan's top law firms in Corporate/M&A, Commercial Litigation, Real Estate, and Labor & Employment, and recognized the firm for expertise in Employee Benefits work.
Chambers also ranks individual lawyers based on their legal knowledge and experience, effectiveness, and client service. Bodman attorneys were ranked in six of the seven practice areas that Chambers evaluates in Michigan, including:
- Banking & Finance: Robert J. Diehl Jr., Scott P. Gyorke, Kathleen O'Callaghan Hickey, Joseph J. Kochanek, Ralph E. McDowell, Larry R. Shulman, and Wendy L. Zabriskie.
- Commercial Litigation: Dennis J. Levasseur and Joseph J. Shannon.
- Corporate/M&A: Timothy R. Damschroder, Laurence B. Deitch, Carrie Leahy, and Mark W. Peters.
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation: David B. Walters.
- Labor & Employment: John C. Cashen and Karen L. Piper.
- Real Estate: Nicholas P. Scavone Jr. and Andrew Z. Spilkin.
In addition, Bodman is pleased to announce Thomas J. Rheaume Jr., a member of Bodman's Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution and Appellate practice groups, has been elected president of The Federalist Society Michigan Chapter.
Rheaume previously served as vice president of the Michigan Chapter for two years. "Being an active member of the Federalist Society is extremely rewarding," Rheaume said. "I'll continue to engage the next generation of leaders who share the same passion for public service."
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was one of many to congratulate Rheaume on Thursday, May 31, at the Federalist Society-Michigan Chapter's Annual Dinner and Grano Award Presentation held at the Inn at St. John's in Plymouth.
At Bodman, Rheaume represents clients involved in complex commercial litigation matters and serves as local counsel for national and international law firms. Rheaume has been selected to the Michigan Super Lawyers® Rising Stars list since 2013 for business litigation is a member of the 2017 Benchmark Litigation Under 40 Hotlist. He is active in the Detroit Economic Club and serves on its Young Leaders board of directors.
Before joining Bodman, Rheaume served as a law clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen J. Markman. He has written appellate and amicus briefs in state and federal appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
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Rasul M. Raheem, a senior attorney at Plunkett Cooney, was recently selected as one of the honorees for the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association's Trailblazers Award.
Raheem, along with two other award recipients, was honored at a dinner on June 7 at The Community House in Birmingham. Selected by the association's 25th Annual Trailblazers Dinner Committee, the award is presented to outstanding individuals who are pioneers in the legal community.
A 30-year veteran of the banking industry, Raheem works in the firm's Bloomfield Hills office as a senior attorney in the Banking, Bankruptcy & Creditors' Rights Practice Group. His practice includes all aspects of banking law, as well as business transactions and regulatory law.
In his prior role as in-house counsel to Bank of America, N.A. (and previously to LaSalle Bank Corp and its predecessor Michigan National Bank), Raheem advised senior management on finance and lending relationships, credit issues, restructuring and recovery strategies, reputational risk, treasury services, bank policy and regulatory issues. He also managed outside counsel and related litigation with law firms across the country.
Raheem is active in the community, having been appointed by Detroit Mayor Michael Duggan to serve as a member of the Detroit Land Bank Authority Board of Directors. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion. Raheem serves as a hearing panel member for the state of Michigan's Attorney Discipline Board. His bar memberships include the American, National and Oakland County bar associations.
Raheem received his law degrees from Wayne State University Law School. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.
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Collins, Einhorn, Farrell PC is pleased to announce that attorney Tanya M. Murray recently joined the firm's Insurance Coverage practice group. Murray represents and counsels clients by providing coverage opinions and drafting corresponding coverage position letters encompassing a wide variety of claims under commercial general liability, homeowners, umbrella and professional liability insurance policies. She also litigates coverage disputes arising from claims for bodily injury, property damage, personal and advertising injury, construction defects and toxic torts among others.
Murray graduated from the University of Western Ontario with her Bachelor of Arts, Honors Specialization in Kinesiology. Murray went on to obtain her law degree at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
She is a member of Oakland County Bar Association and the Women's Bar Association Oakland Region of Women Lawyers Association of Michigan.
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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that the firm has received three practice rankings and ten attorneys have been ranked in this year's The Legal 500 United States 2018.
The Legal 500 United States 2018 recognized Dickinson Wright in the following practice areas:
- Labor and Employment Labor and Employment Disputes (including Collective Actions): Defense
- M&A/Corporate and Commercial M&A: Middle-Market (sub-$500m)
- Real Estate Construction (including Construction Litigation)
The Legal 500 United States 2018 recognized the following local Dickinson Wright attorneys as Recommended Lawyers:
Labor and Employment Labor and Employment Disputes (including Collective Actions): Defense
- Timothy Howlett (Detroit)
- Kenneth McIntyre (Detroit)
- Kathryn Wood (Troy)
M&A/Corporate and Commercial M&A: Middle-Market (sub-$500m)
- Richard Bolton (Detroit)
- Mark High (Detroit)
Real Estate Construction (including Construction Litigation)
- Peter Webster (Troy)
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M. Alex Monahan and Maxwell Goss have joined the Birmingham law offices of Lippitt, O'Keefe, Gornbein PLLC.
Monahan joins the firm as an associate attorney. His areas of expertise include business and corporate law, real estate law and commercial litigation. He is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School and holds a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan, and the Oakland County Bar Association.
Goss joins Lippitt O'Keefe Gornbein as Of Counsel with experience in business and intellectual property litigation. His practice focuses on trademark, trade secret, non-compete, business defamation and shareholder litigation.
Goss graduated from Notre Dame Law School and is licensed to practice law in both Michigan and Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University.
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The Oakland County Bar Association Board of Directors appointed Julie Lyons Kosovec of Brooks, Wilkins, Sharkey, & Turco PLLC to the Board of Directors on Wednesday, June 6.
Kosovec was appointed to serve the remainder of a three-year term vacated by Karen Safran who has moved to Colorado.
Kosovec's term expires June 30, 2019.
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Foster Swift welcomes attorney Andrea Badalucco to the firm. She will practice in the firm's Southfield office in the areas of civil, criminal, family law and juvenile matters.
With a zeal for family law, Badalucco has dedicated her practice to serving those navigating the complex arena of the family court system. Her goal is to provide compassionate representation to help clients make informed decisions concerning matters that affect their lives.
A graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, Badalucco's trial experience while working in the Special Victim's Section of the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office laid the groundwork for her passion to give voice to those who need to be heard.
In addition to her practice as an attorney, Badalucco is a gifted vocalist. She has performed on opera stages around the world including New York City's Metropolitan Opera. A further testament to her talents, she will be performing for the Pope in the Sistine Chapel Choir this fall.
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Southfield law firm Maddin, Hauser, Roth, & Heller PC is pleased to announce that the Oakland County Bar Association (OCBA) has awarded two committees led by Maddin Hauser professionals with its annual Committee of the Year Awards.
The OCBA Employment Law Committee, led by Shareholder Kaitlin A. Brown, has been recognized as one of the most active committees at the OCBA. The committee has been acknowledged for its efforts in securing dynamic speakers, spreading the word about the benefits of the OCBA and structuring the committee to encourage engagement. Some of the speakers who presented at the committee's monthly meetings this year included: Gail Cober, director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Detroit; Sylvia Elliott, director of Office of Legal Affairs for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights; and Terry Moran, regional director of Detroit Regional Office for the National Labor Relations Board.
The OCBA Paralegal Committee, led by Paralegal Patricia A. Allerton, has been recognized for a renewed energy in becoming one of the OCBA's most active committees. It has been acknowledged for sharing best practices, spreading the word about the benefits of the OCBA and community outreach through its adoption of a family through Volunteers of America. In addition, this past winter, the committee donated 100 coats, as well as money for purchasing socks and hats in bulk, to the Hope Warming Center in Pontiac. Notable speakers at this year's monthly meetings who provided insight into paralegal ethics, data analytics and legal research included: John Winkler of KLDiscovery and Diane Ebersole, assistant division director of the State Bar of Michigan.
Both committees have been recognized for embodying the characteristics of what the OCBA committees are meant to be: communities of practice. The Committee of the Year awards are given each year at the OCBA's Annual Meeting to those committees that have accomplished significant results.
Brown is a shareholder in Maddin Hauser's Corporate and Employment practice groups. Specializing in employment law, she focuses primarily on counseling employers to take proactive measures to prevent more costly claims of wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and improper payment of wages.
She has been recognized among Michigan Lawyers Weekly's 2016 Up and Coming Lawyers, named a Rising Star by Michigan Super Lawyers® from 2014-2017, received a Pro Bono Accomplishment Award from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and was recognized in 2017 with the Member of the Year Award from the Women's Bar Association.
Allerton has served as a Legal Assistant in Maddin Hauser's Estate Planning and Probate Practice Group for more than 15 years.
In 2009, she earned her paralegal certificate from Oakland University's ABA approved paralegal program. In 2017, Allerton was elected chair of the OCBA's Paralegal Committee.
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Honigman recently announced that Patrick Hurford has joined the firm as a partner in its Litigation department and White Collar Crime and Investigations practice group, which he will co-lead with Honigman partner Mark Pendery. Hurford focuses his practice on a broad spectrum of internal investigation and white collar crime issues, including bank fraud, wire and mail fraud, healthcare fraud, prescription controlled substance offenses, money laundering, embezzlement, and tax evasion, among others.
Hurford joins the Detroit office of the firm from the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served more than seven years as a trial attorney for the Healthcare Fraud Strike Force at Main Justice in Washington, D.C., and as an assistant U.S. attorney of the Eastern District of Michigan.
As a federal prosecutor, Hurford focused on the investigation and prosecution of federal white collar and healthcare crimes, including healthcare fraud, controlled substance offenses involving prescription drugs, bank fraud, wire and mail fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, identity theft, and bank embezzlement. He has served as lead counsel for multiple jury trials and appeals.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Hurford was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb in New York, where he focused on internal investigations, SEC enforcement proceedings, arbitration, and civil litigation, including securities fraud, foreign sovereignty immunity issues, commercial and employment disputes, and art restitution claims.
Hurford received his law degree from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2006. He earned his B.A. from Kalamazoo College.
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Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC recently hired Ilene K. Zaitouna as an associate in the firm's Immigration Group. Zaitouna will focus on a diverse caseload of immigration matters.
Prior to joining Jaffe, Zaitouna served as an associate attorney at Fakhoury Global Immigration where she prepared and filed nonimmigrant and immigrant visa petitions for individuals with extraordinary ability, multinational managers or executives, and preference petitions for professionals. Before that, she served as an associate attorney at Wildes & Weinberg PC where she focused on preparing and filing O-1, O-2 and P visa petitions, as well as EB-1 and I-140 petitions for individuals of extraordinary ability including fine artists, musicians, dancers, chefs, designers, information technology professionals, and executives.
Zaitouna has also served as a legal volunteer for the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project, as well as a legal intern at Human Rights First, Forbes Media LLC, Gell & Gell and the Law Offices for Mekani, Orow, Mekani, Shallal, & Hindi PC. She also gained insight serving as a judicial intern to Macomb County Circuit Court Judge David F. Viviano.
Zaitouna earned a law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political theory and constitutional democracy from Michigan State University's James Madison College. She is admitted to the Michigan and New York state bar associations.
Published: Mon, Jun 11, 2018
