LEGAL PEOPLE

Vicki R. Harding, a partner with Pepper Hamilton LLP, has been elected to the Board of Governors of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL) for a three-year term. Harding is a partner in the Detroit office of Pepper Hamilton. She focuses her work on commercial transactions with an emphasis on real estate and bankruptcy issues. She also is a member of the firm's Sustainability, CleanTech and Climate Change Team. ACREL is an organization of U.S. real estate lawyers. Admission is by invitation only after a rigorous screening process. * * * Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP is pleased to announce that Aaron E. Bass has joined the firm as an attorney in its Real Estate Department. He will be located in the firm's Detroit office. Bass will concentrate his practice on general real estate matters, including development, financing, restructuring and leasing. Prior to joining Honigman, he was an attorney at Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss in Southfield. Bass earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.B.A. with an emphasis in Finance and Accounting from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He has been admitted to practice in Michigan. In addition, J. Adam Rothstein, a partner in Honigman's Real Estate Department, has been appointed as Michigan State Director for the International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc. (ICSC) for a one-year term beginning on May 20, 2012. In this volunteer role, Rothstein will advocate for the interests of owners, developers, investors, marketers and other retail specialists across the state of Michigan. Founded in 1957, ICSC is a global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 55,000 members in over 90 countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, retailers and brokers, as well as academics and public officials. As the global industry trade association, ICSC links with more than 25 national and regional shopping center councils throughout the world. Rothstein concentrates his practice on counseling shopping center, hotel, self-storage and office building owners and investors, nationally, in acquisitions, dispositions, financings and major tenant leasing. He also advises real estate owners and operators in joint ventures, syndications and investment fund creation. Rothstein has been named in Best Lawyers in America (2006-2012), in Michigan Super Lawyers (2006-2011) and in DBusiness magazine's Top Lawyers (2010 and 2011). He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan. * * * Kimberly K. Seibert, an attorney who focuses her practice in the areas of motor vehicle negligence and no-fault law, recently joined Plunkett Cooney as a member of the firm's Insurance Law Practice Group. A member of the firm's Detroit office, Seibert also gained experience in the areas of premises liability, employment discrimination, governmental immunity, search and seizure, labor law, arbitration and constitutional litigation while working as an administrative and appellate research clerk of the firm. She also worked as a judicial intern for Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Matthew S. Switalski prior to joining Plunkett Cooney. Admitted to practice in Michigan's state and federal courts, Seibert is a member of the Women's Bar Association- Oakland Region of WLAM, Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, the Oakland County, Macomb County and Federal bar associations and the State Bar of Michigan. Seibert received her law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 2011 and her undergraduate degree from University of Michigan in 2008. * * * Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC is pleased to announce that Michael J. Beals and Brandon J. Booth have joined the firm. They will both practice out of the firm's Royal Oak Office. Beals focuses his practice on corporate organization, corporate and business planning and transactions, real estate, and trust and estate planning. He provides counsel for established enterprises as well as startup ventures. Beals works extensively on corporate and business formation and organization matters involving capital structure, corporate governance, buy-sell and exit transactions, and trust and succession strategies. Throughout his career, he has been retained to develop creative solutions to complex corporate, business, and commercial matters. Beals' experience includes structuring, negotiating, and drafting corporate organization and succession plans as well as matters involving contract and equity relationships, business growth and strategic plan development, purchase and sale, and commercial transactions. His combination of legal and business management skills assists entrepreneurs in building the proper foundation to grow their business. Beals also regularly represents entrepreneurs and business entities in the following matters: negotiation and documentation of equity and contract-based partnership and joint venture transactions; structuring and documenting private placement offerings and transactions to secure equity and debt financing for privately-held entities involved in a wide range of industries, including automotive, real estate, health care, and technology; planning and negotiating executive compensation and equity arrangements in connection with business growth planning, acquisitions, and transactions; commercial real estate and lease transactions; partnership and buy-sell transactions for physicians and physician groups; planning and documentation of succession and corporate governance planning for family-owned and privately-held businesses; and dispute resolution and management of litigation processes and outcomes. In 1991, Beals established Michael J. Beals PC, and in 1999 he co-founded Beals Hubbard PLC. He received his B.A. from Michigan State University in 1983 and his law degree from Detroit College of Law in 1986. He is licensed to practice in the State of Michigan. Beals is an adjunct professor for a Business Planning elective at Thomas M. Cooley Law School and was chair of the Board of Directors of The First Tee Detroit Inc. from 2006-2011. Booth concentrates his practice in the areas of construction law and business transactions. He has experience in corporate organization and compliance, mergers & acquisitions and early dispute resolution. Booth provides general corporate representation to various privately-held businesses and investors with a particular focus on the construction and healthcare sectors. Booth also assists clients with employment classification disputes with various Federal and State regulatory agencies. Prior to practicing law, Booth worked as a project engineer for Barton Malow Company, a national general contractor, where he managed various aspects of bond programs for Southfield, Birmingham, and Grosse Pointe School Districts. While pursuing his undergraduate degree, Booth worked for Michigan State University's office of Campus Planning and Administration as a contracts assistant where he assisted with preparation and modifications of design service and construction management contracts. Booth received his B.S. in Construction Management from Michigan State University in 2006 and his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2010. He is licensed to practice in the State of Michigan. Booth is a member of the American Bar Association, Construction Association of Michigan, and the Michigan Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America. * * * Frank T. Mamat, a shareholder at Foster, Swift, Collins, & Smith PC, was re-elected as chairman of the board of the American Society of Employers Educational Foundation. The American Society of Employers is a not-for-profit employer association serving Michigan's business community. The American Society of Employers provides programs and services that enable member organizations to address their most challenging issues. Mamat's practice areas include: labor relations, construction law, employment litigation, ERISA, employment, labor & benefits, civil rights and discrimination- unlawful harassment. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. Mamat is the president of the Detroit Area Construction Association. He serves as president of the Labor Employment Relations Association (Detroit) and the 400 Club of Oakland County and many other community organizations. * * * Wayne State University Law School is pleased to announce international law expert Charles H. "Chip" Brower II will join the faculty at the start of the 2012-13 academic year as a professor of law. He will teach courses in the fields of international arbitration, international business transactions and contracts, and will enhance Wayne Law's burgeoning Program for International Legal Studies. Brower is Croft Professor of International Law and Jessie D. Puckett, Jr. Lecturer in Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law. An elected member of the American Law Institute, Brower has taught and written about human rights, international business transactions, international commercial arbitration, the law of armed conflict and public international law for more than a decade. In addition to his academic work, Brower is an arbitrator who is on the commercial panel of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), vice chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), chair of the ITA's Academic Council, a member of the board of directors of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society and a founding member of its Academic Advisory Council. Brower is co-editor-in-chief of World Arbitration and Mediation Review and a reporter for NAFTA developments at KluwerArbitration online. In previous years, Brower has held appointments as visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, Tillar House fellow at the American Society of International Law (ASIL), and visiting professor and scholar-in-residence at American University. He also has been an advocate for the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica in advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice, a member of the AAA's observer delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Working Group II (Arbitration and Conciliation), a member of the ASIL's Executive Council, co-chair of the ASIL's 97th Annual Meeting and co-chair of the ITA's 18th Annual Workshop. Brower received his bachelor of arts from the University of Vermont and his law degree from the University of Virginia. Published: Mon, Apr 9, 2012