Law student once worked with the future governor

By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News

Always passionate about this country’s justice system and how future generations can work together to make it stronger, Allison Koltunchik earned her undergraduate degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University, where a five-month undergrad legal internship in the Victim/Witness Unit at the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office affirmed her decision to apply for law school.

“My job gave me a lot of perspective on our justice system as a whole. I developed a passion for wanting to assist people in need and knew the law is how I wanted to fulfill that passion,” she says. “I also had the pleasure of working under Governor Gretchen Whitmer while she was our interim chief prosecutor in Ingham County. It was an honor to work under someone who then became our state governor.”

Working for nearly two years in a variety of positions at Nyman Turkish in Southfield, Koltunchik particularly enjoyed working on the Hearing Team and working directly with the attorneys on appeals cases for clients.

“I enjoyed the rewarding feeling when assisting a client in receiving their Social Security disability benefits,” she says. “My favorite phone call to make was calling a client to tell them they had been approved for benefits, knowing this was the phone call they’d been waiting for, for two or more years.

“I learned how important it is to truly be an advocate for your clients. In times when people feel like they can’t fight on their own any longer, they rely on you to ensure you’re working as hard as you can to get them the benefits they need and deserve.”

Her interest in law school was piqued after taking an MSU writing class with Professor Christopher Smith, an attorney who taught upper level writing courses.

“Our semester revolved around drafting our own proposal for a new law, in which I gained perspective on legal writing I’d never experienced before,” she says. “I’ve always been interested writing and knew this was a field I’d enjoy and succeed in, given the extensive writing the legal field requires.”

The first person in her immediate and extended family to attend law school, Koltunchik is now a rising 3L at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She is grateful for the opportunity and is thoroughly enjoying the experience, despite the challenges of the pandemic and last year’s pivot to remote learning.

“Detroit Mercy Law has given me a law school family I never knew I needed—from forming study groups to gaining lifelong friends, I’m grateful for the community Detroit Mercy Law has given me,” she says. “Especially during the early stages of COVID-19, I was thankful I could count on classmates to cheer each other on and check in on one another during that scary time. Without my wonderful friends and accommodating professors, remote learning would be that much more difficult. Having many people I can rely on and talk to is such a great feeling.”

With an interest in a variety of fields—including personal injury law, business/commercial law, health law, real estate law, civil rights law, and entertainment law, Koltunchik is keeping an open mind on many fields of law and is looking forward to the future and her eventual area of practice.

“A saying I like to live by is, ‘Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.’ I hope to be an attorney who can do the same for my clients,” she says. “I want to be an attorney that makes people feel important, that I’m someone they can confide in and trust, but I’ll also work hard to give them a successful outcome in their case. If I can do that as an attorney and as an individual, I’ll feel success, no matter what field of law I end up in.”

Koltunchik was the 2021 recipient of the A. Vince Colella Civil Rights Scholarship, established by Colella—a co-founder of personal injury and civil rights law firm Moss & Colella—at his alma mater in 2019.

“I was truly honored to have been chosen for the scholarship,” she says. “I had the pleasure of meeting Vince once COVID restrictions had decreased, and it was such a great experience getting to meet someone in the legal field that is both so kind and well-respected. It was an honor to receive an award from someone as successful as Vince.”

A past volunteer for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Koltunchik has a passion for helping children with various diseases and life-threatening illnesses. While serving as this past year’s vice president of Lawyer’s Lending Hands at Detroit Mercy Law, the group worked in various fund-raising events for The Rainbow Connection that grants wishes for Michigan children with life threatening illnesses and supports their families with anything they might need during this difficult time.

“Our two largest events were a T-shirt fund-raiser and an event at a Detroit restaurant,” she says. “I’m thankful to have been a part of both these events, and raise funds for such a great cause.”

She also served as an Upper Classmen Student Mentor for incoming 1L students; and in the fall will start her clinic experience.

A native of Livonia, where she currently lives, Koltunchik relishes the lively atmosphere Detroit has to offer.

“Since I was young, I’ve grown up going to Tigers games and other sporting events, concerts, and restaurants downtown,” she says. “I’ve loved watching the city flourish as I’ve gotten older and I appreciate the many cultural aspects Detroit has to offer.”

Away from her studies, she enjoys travelling, concerts, spending time with friends and family, riding her bicycle, and being at her family’s lakeside cottage in northern Michigan. “My favorite thing to do is to sit outside at the lake with my family and friends while listening to some country music,” she says.