PHOTOS COURTESY OF DREW COOPER & ANDING, RHOADES McKEE and WARNER NORCROSS
by Cynthia Price
and from local reports
Jon Muth is not the only attorney who is drawing attention to the excellence of Grand Rapids’ legal community. Three other attorneys got the nod for inclusion in Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2011 Leaders in the Law list of 25 attorneys statewide.
Selection criteria include the ability to achieve success in practice while maintaining strength of character; exemplifying the noble tradition of the legal profession; and passion and aggressiveness on behalf of both clients and the legal community.
Stephen Drew, a founding partner of Drew, Cooper and Anding, has had impressive successes in challenging cases involving civil rights, personal injury, sexual harassment, police misconduct, and employment law. He earned his undergraduate and law degree from the University of Michigan, and has gained the reputation as a fierce litigator. He is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers of the American Bar Association, He has also received a Champion of Justice Award from the Michigan Bar Association, as well as having served as president of the Grand Rapids Bar Association and the Floyd Skinner Bar Association, and as an executive board member of the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association.
On the occasion of winning another honor during the Legacy Ball last month, Drew stated, “Our system of justice needs to remain a place that everyone, no matter their wealth, or lack of it, has access to present a meritorious claim or defense to their community...I am glad that I have been able to play a role in securing those rights for my clients.”
Rhoades McKee attorney Paul A. McCarthy is chair of the firm’s litigation practice group, McCarthy is a trial lawyer with an emphasis on matters involving valuation for closely held businesses, commercial litigation, shareholder/member disputes, directors and officer liability actions, and the defense of accountant and attorney malpractice actions.
McCarthy won two important decisions in 2010, one before the Michigan Supreme Court, which agreed that pre-injury waivers are unenforceable — a decision that was particularly important to him as a father of three. The other involved an $8 million verdict to rectify an inappropriate corporate sale in a complex business litigation matter.
He serves as a Panel Member of the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission and as Steering Committee member of the Hillman Advocacy Program.
Douglas A. Wagner has been the managing partner of Warner Norcross & Judd LLP for six years. He concentrates his practice on litigation, with an emphasis on product liability defense, consumer product regulations and commercial contracts.
During his tenure as managing partner, he opened two new offices for Warner Norcross, and oversaw the firm’s inclusion in AmLaw 200, a list of America’s top 200 law firms.
Wagner is no stranger to awards and honors. He is recognized as a Top Litigator by Benchmark Litigation, and is a fellow in the Litigation Council of American, American College of Trial Lawyers, American Bar Foundation and Michigan State Bar Foundation. He was a founding master of the Grand Rapids Inns of the Courts. He has also received awards on Warner Norcross’s behalf for growth, diversity and workplace excellence from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Crain’s Detroit Business, The Detroit Free Press and others. He is also a past president of the Federal Bar Association of the Western District of Michigan.
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