Legal People ...

Royal Oak-based law firm Howard & Howard is pleased to announce that Aaron J. Beresh and David J. Goswami have joined the firm. Both will practice out of the firm’s Royal Oak office.

Beresh concentrates his practice on providing practical and effective legal advice to a variety of health care providers and suppliers in connection with a broad range of healthcare transactional, corporate, regulatory, and related matters.

Beresh received his law degree from Michigan State University College of Law in 2008 and his B.A. from Michigan State University in 2004. During law school, he served as a member of the Journal of Business & Securities Law. He is licensed to practice in the state of Michigan.

Goswami concentrates his practice in intellectual property with a focus on patent preparation and prosecution. He has experience in the electrical, software, computer, and mechanical arts. In particular, Goswami has worked with clients in the consumer electronics, automotive, telecommunications, financial services, and hospitality spaces. He has experience preparing utility patent applications domestically and internationally.

Goswami received his law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 2012. He also received both his B.S.B.A. in 2009 and his B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering, with an additional major certificate in Computer Engineering in 2017 from Oakland University. He is licensed to practice in the state of Michigan and before the USPTO.

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Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC’s David Steinberg was recently named a 2019 Legal Eagle by Franchise Times. According to Franchise Times, the annual list honors franchise lawyers who are at the top of their game and provide outstanding service to clients and the industry.

Steinberg, as an expert in the field of franchise law, is Of Counsel to Jaffe. He specializes in the development of start-up franchise systems and distributorships, licensing, registration, litigation and arbitration of franchise disputes.

Steinberg earned his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where he served as article and book review editor of the Law Review. He earned a master’s degree in international trade regulation from Georgetown University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and communications from the University of Michigan.

Steinberg was appointed to the Franchise Relations Committee of the International Franchise Association, serves as a board member of the Walled Lake Schools for Excellence, and is a member of the American Bar Association’s Anti-Trust Section and Forum Committee on Franchising. He was named to the DBusiness list of Metro Detroit’s Top Franchise Lawyers in 2010 through 2018.

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A. Vince Colella, civil rights and personal injury attorney and managing partner of Southfield-based Moss & Colella PC, has been named to the  Leaders in the Law class of 2019 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Colella is a leader in a new era of civil rights, directing public sector accountability to a new level for the purpose of citizens’ legal protection. While his legal career initially focused solely on personal injury, his civil rights practice is a natural outgrowth that has contributed to far-reaching social implications and emerging trends in the law.  Colella’s current civil rights cases include representing two families who have lost their loved ones to deadly force police shootings: Theoddeus Gray, killed November 4, 2018 by the St. Clair Shores Police Department, and Cody Reynolds, killed by a Royal Oak police officer on May 14, 2018. In 2017, he received a confidential settlement for the family of Janet Wilson, who was killed by a Dearborn police officer in 2016.

In October 2018, Colella drew national attention to the plight of families impacted by criminal and lax mortuary practices when he filed a $1 million lawsuit on behalf of a Detroit woman whose husband’s remains were improperly handled by the now closed Cantrell Funeral Home in Detroit. He was one of the first attorneys to file a civil action against the now defunct funeral home.

In addition to civil rights, Colella has gained a reputation for successful litigation efforts involving recreational accidents/gross negligence, government liability and immunity cases. In November of 2017, he obtained a favorable decision from the Michigan Supreme Court when it denied leave for appeal, allowing a Court of Appeals decision to stand against a public-school shop teacher for a student who lost her fingers in a table saw (Bellinger v Kram). The Bellinger decision paved the way for other cases against state employees whose grossly negligent conduct results in injury or death. 

While Colella gained has local and national attention for his civil rights work, he maintains his personal injury trial practice that includes a wide array of practice areas: automobile, truck and motorcycle accidents; insurance disputes; general negligence; premises liability; sexual harassment and assault; employment discrimination; and wrongful death.

Colella has served as a member of the executive board of the Michigan Association for Justice (formerly known as the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association) and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Oakland County Bar Association, the Detroit Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He is certified as a mediator and regularly serves as a case evaluator for the Oakland County Circuit Court Case Management Office. He received a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Michigan State University.