LEGAL PEOPLE

The Michigan Supreme Court recently announced that Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Michael Warren has been appointed to serve on the bench of the Oakland County Business Court.

Created by statute in 2012, 17 business courts statewide “...allow business or commercial disputes to be resolved with the expertise, technology, and efficiency required by the information age economy.”

Warren succeeds Judge James Alexander, who has served in the post since it was created and is retiring at the end of the year.

A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School where he focused on civil litigation and the Constitution, Warren has served on the Oakland County Circuit Court bench since 2002. On the court, he has presided over more than 350 jury trials and is highly regarded for running an efficient courtroom, paying attention to the smallest details in order to ensure clarity and prompt resolution of cases.

Warren is very active outside the courtroom, including service on the State Board of Education and as co-founder of Patriot Week. Previous to his service on the bench, he was a partner in one of the state’s largest law firms where his practice focused on a wide range of business concerns, including real estate, labor and employment, benefits, and taxes.

Warren will join Judge Martha Anderson on one of the state’s busiest business courts. In addition, a key element of Michigan’s business courts is making opinions available on a website, so that the public and practitioners statewide can search them. Nearly 2,700 opinions are currently posted and indexed by county and key word.

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Plunkett Cooney Director of Diversity & Inclusion Laurel F. McGiffert will serve as a panelist for a half-day diversity and inclusion webinar on Oct. 20 sponsored by Michigan Lawyers Weekly (MLW).

Titled “The Way Forward: A Plan for Boosting Diversity and Inclusion in Law Firms,” the webinar, which will take place from 8:15 a.m. to noon, will feature two sessions moderated by city of Detroit Corporation Counsel Lawrence Garcia.

The first session will focus on the Mansfield Rule, an approach to improving law firm diversity through the adoption of a formal agreement focusing on metrics. McGiffert will then join four colleagues from other metro Detroit law firms to discuss “Racial Justice and Equality, and How to Realize that Commitment” during the webinar’s second session.

“This is a very important discussion that needs to take place in our community,” said McGiffert, a partner in Plunkett Cooney’s Detroit office. “I’m looking forward to this discussion with a group of people capable of bringing about significant change in their firms.”

McGiffert and her fellow panelists are members of the African American Partners Collaborative, a group of partners from major metro Detroit law firms seeking to advance opportunities for African American attorneys in the legal industry. The panelists will describe the progress their firms have made with respect to improving diversity and inclusion, and they will share practical recommendations for advancing the goals and initiatives of attendees.

Since 2002, Plunkett Cooney has had in place a Diversity & Inclusion Committee focused on the recruitment and retention of minority attorneys. Committee members also work to advance diversity training, mentoring of young attorneys, female attorney leadership opportunities, and community outreach that provides financial support and encourages employee volunteerism to positively impact race relations in the community.

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Mark Lezotte, a health care attorney with Butzel Long, moderated a panel program during Crain’s Health Care Leadership Summit, which was held virtually on Thursday, October 15. The focus of the panel discussion was “Health Care Mergers and Acquisitions.”

Panelists for the session included Joan Budden, CEO, Priority Health; Alex Calderone, managing director, Calderon Advisory Group; and, Ollie McCoy, principal, Life Sciences and Health Care, Deloitte.

Lezotte has experience in corporate, health care, tax, and exempt organization matters, including healthcare ventures, business transactions, regulatory investigations, corporate and nonprofit governance, and tax-exempt issues. He also has served in leadership roles on many other civic and nonprofit boards.

Lezotte has been active in numerous bar and professional organizations. He has been recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America” (health care law), published by Woodward/White Inc. since 2013; and has been selected to Michigan Super Lawyers, published by Thomson Reuters, since 2008.

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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that Aaron Burrell (member, Detroit) has been named a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation (MSBF).

Established in 1984, the Michigan State Bar Foundation’s Fellows Program recognizes distinguished Michigan lawyers for their professional excellence and service to the community. The Fellows Program supports the Foundation in providing leadership and grants for improvements in the administration of justice and the delivery of civil legal aid to the poor. Fellows are nominated by their peers and elected by the MSBF Trustees.  Burrell was welcomed as a new Fellow at the virtual annual MSBF Fellows Meeting on September 23.

Burrell will also be speaking at Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s Diversity and Inclusion webinar titled “The Way Forward: A Plan for Boosting Diversity and Inclusion in Law Firms” on Tuesday, October 20.

The webinar will bring together experts on the Mansfield Rule and Diversity Lab. This half-day virtual meeting focuses on creating a plan to boost diversity and inclusion within law firms. Panelists, including Burrell, will describe how their firms are at various points on the journey, and share recommendations for how attendees may advance their own firm or business initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Burrell is a business lawyer who focuses his practice in the areas of complex commercial litigation, appellate law, labor and employment law, and minority business enterprises. He has prevailed in numerous complex, commercial-litigation cases in a number of state and federal trial courts and courts of appeals. He has also successfully defended clients in a wide range of discrimination and unfair-labor-practice claims in state and federal courts and administrative agencies, and he has counseled clients on all aspects of the employment relationship.

Burrell serves on the board of directors of Western Michigan University Cooley Law School and the Oakland County Bar Association.  He has served as chair of the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly, a commissioner on the State Bar of Michigan’s Board of Commissioners, co-chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Equal Access Initiative, past president of the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association, and an affiliate representative of the National Bar Association. He is a Fellow of both the American Bar Foundation and the Oakland County Bar Foundation.

He is recognized as a “40 Under 40” honoree by Crain’s Detroit Business, an “Up and Coming Lawyer” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly and is listed as a “Rising Star” by Michigan Super Lawyers.

In addition, Dickinson Wright is pleased to announce that the firm’s litigation practices and its attorneys are recognized in the Benchmark Litigation United States 2021 Edition.

Benchmark Litigation recognized the following Dickinson Wright litigation practices and attorneys:

Michigan – Highly Recommended

Michigan

Brandon Hubbard – Local Litigation Star

Thomas McNeill – Local Litigation Star

Edward Pappas – Local Litigation Star

Geoffrey Fields – Future Star

Benchmark Litigation also recognized the following Dickinson Wright labor & employment practices and attorneys:

Michigan – Recommended

Michigan

Timothy Howlett – Local Labor & Employment Star

William Thacker – Local Labor & Employment Star

Kathryn Wood – Local Labor & Employment Star

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Maddin, Hauser, Roth, & Heller PC is pleased to announce that 15 of its attorneys have been selected to the 2020 Michigan Super Lawyers® list.

Following is a list of the Maddin Hauser attorneys named to the 2020 Michigan Super Lawyers (name, title, practice area and years selected):

• Earle I. Erman, shareholder and chairman of Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Debtor-Creditor Rights Practice Group; Bankruptcy: Business (2006-2020)

• David E. Hart, shareholder, Executive Committee member and co-chair of Financial Services and Real Property Litigation Group; Business Litigation (2007-2020)

• Mark R. Hauser, firm co-founder, CFO and Executive Committee member; Real Estate (2007-2020)

• Harvey R. Heller, shareholder, Executive Committee member and chairman of Defense and Insurance Coverage Practice Group; Professional Liability: Defense (2006-2020)

• Kathleen H. Klaus, shareholder; Professional Liability: Defense (2013-2020)

• Charles M. Lax, shareholder and chairman of Tax Practice Group; Employee Benefits (2006-2020)

• Julie C. Mayer, shareholder; Insurance Coverage (2020)

• Richard F. Roth, shareholder; Business and Corporate (2007-2013, 2015-2020)

• Steven D. Sallen, president, CEO, Executive Committee member, and co-chairman of Real Estate Practice Group; Real Estate (2010-2013, 2018-2020)

• David M. Saperstein, shareholder; Professional Liability: Defense (2020)

• Julie Beth Teicher, shareholder; Bankruptcy: Business (2010-2020)

• Stewart C. W. Weiner, shareholder; Family Law (2017-2020)

• Steven M. Wolock, shareholder; Professional Liability: Defense (2007-2020)

Additionally, two attorneys were named to the 2020 Michigan Rising Stars List:

• Kaitlin A. Brown, shareholder; Employment and Labor (2014-2020)

• Collin D. Dickey, associate; Estate and Probate (2018-2020)

In addition, Maddin Hauser is pleased to announce that the firm along with Shareholder Charles M. Lax have been recognized in the highly respected legal research publication, Chambers USA, in the area of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation.  The announcement was made by the firm’s president and CEO, Steven D. Sallen.

Lax, shareholder and chairman of the firm’s Tax Practice Group, was first ranked in 2009. He has been recognized again by Chambers USA in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice area.

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Wayne State University Law School is excited to announce the appointment of faculty members William Ortman and Sanjukta Paul to new endowed research scholar positions.

—Edward M. Wise Research Scholar – Assistant Professor William Ortman

The position honors the memory of Edward Wise, a renowned scholar and professor of criminal law, comparative law, international criminal law, and legal history, who taught at the law school from 1965 until his death in 2000. It memorializes him as a scholar and as an invaluable mentor.

Ortman’s scholarship focuses on the legal and institutional design of criminal justice. His paper “When Plea Bargaining Became Normal” (forthcoming, Boston University Law Review) was selected for presentation at the prestigious Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum this year.

His work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals including the Stanford Law Review, Columbia Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Washington University Law Review, and Michigan Law Review.

Ortman’s co-authored paper “The Defender General” (forthcoming in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review) was the subject of discussion in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Bloomberg Law and The Appeal. His co-authored paper “The Lottery Docket” (Michigan Law Review) won an honorable mention award in the AALS Scholarly Papers Competition. He was previously a Climenko Fellow at Harvard Law School.

—Romano Stancroff Research Scholar – Assistant Professor Sanjukta Paul

The Romano Stancroff Research Scholar was established by Mark Romano ’90 and Steve Stancroff ’90, partners in Romano Stancroff PC, a consumer protection law firm.

Paul is a scholar on the intersection of antitrust and the gig economy. Her book, “Solidarity in the Shadow of Antitrust: Labor and the Legal Idea of Competition,” is forthcoming by Cambridge University Press in 2021. Her work has appeared or will appear in journals including the UCLA Law Review and Law & Contemporary Problems.

 Paul is currently co-editing a comparative law collection, “Labor in Competition Law,” forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. She has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, and is a member of the Open Markets Institute’s Academic Advisory Board.

This fall, the People’s Parity Project named Paul to its judicial shortlist. She also is the recipient of the 2020 Michael J. Zimmer Memorial Award from the Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law. 

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Bodman is pleased to announce that Celeste E. Arduino, a member of the firm based in the Troy office, has been named to the 2020 Class of “Women in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Arduino is the co-chair of Bodman’s Exempt Organizations and Impact Investing Practice Group. She represents nonprofit and charitable organizations and the high net worth individuals who support them.

Arduino counsels nonprofits, including family foundations, public charities, religious organizations, and other tax-exempt and charitable organizations, on securing and retaining exempt status, advising on corporate governance issues, and counseling on general operational matters. She also counsels individuals on estate, gift and tax planning matters, charitable gifting, and provides operational and corporate advice in connection with their closely-held businesses.

Arduino participates in the Great Lakes Area Tax Exempt/ Governmental Entities Council and is co-chair of the Nonprofit Corporations Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, which reviews and updates state laws relating to the organization of non-profit organizations and reviews legislation that regulates the solicitation of charitable contributions. The American Bar Association selected her as its 2017 Outstanding Young Nonprofit Lawyer. She is listed as a 2020 “Top Lawyer” for Nonprofit Law by DBusiness Magazine and she is listed in Michigan Rising Stars 2017 under Nonprofit Organizations.

Arduino is a graduate of Leadership Detroit, Class XXXVII (2015-2016). She is co-chair or Bodman’s pro Bono Committee and serves on the Associate Evaluation and Compensation Committee and the Marketing Committee. She is an advisor to the Board of Directors of Vista Maria, a non-profit that provides care, support, treatment, and education to vulnerable youth.

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Rasul M. Raheem, past president of Straker Bar Foundation, has been elected to serve as the first chair of Wayne State University’s Black Law Alwnni Council (BLAC). The BLAC was established in 2020 to provide meaningful support for Black alumni, faculty, and students by building a community of law alumni who are engaged and committed to supporting the mission of Wayne Law.

Raheem focuses his practice in the areas of business transactions, regulatory law, and banking law. He was appointed by the mayor of the City of Detroit to the Detroit Land Bank Authority Board of Directors, a position he held through 2018. ln addition, he serves as a member of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion.

Raheem earned his law degrees from Wayne State University Law School.

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Marcus McCray has joined Ogletree Deakins’ Detroit (Metro) office as an associate. McCray represents and counsels employers on all matters impacting their employees under both federal and state labor and employment laws. He received his law degee from Emory University School of Law in 2019.