LEGAL PEOPLE

Southfield-based Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC announced that William E. Sider has been elected chief executive officer for a three-year term. He succeeds Richard Zussman, who had held the position since 2004 and will continue as a member of the firm's Board of Directors and a practicing attorney in the Real Estate Group. As Jaffe's new CEO and a member of its Board of Directors, Sider will be responsible for the growth, strategic development, and day-to-day operations of the 200-person firm. He will also continue to practice law as a member of the Tax Practice Group, specializing in acquisitions, debt restructurings, dispositions and joint ventures. Sider represents private equity firms, venture capitalists, publicly traded real estate investment trusts, technology companies and entrepreneurs. He earned his high distinction from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. He also earned his LL.M in Taxation from New York University School of Law. Sider is a member of the State Bar of Michigan Taxation Section and American Bar Association Taxation Section. * * * Attorney Daniel C. Brubaker has been named chief commissioner of the Michigan Supreme Court, the court announced recently. The appointment means that Brubaker will oversee the work of the Supreme Court Commissioners, the court's permanent legal staff. Commissioners review applications for leave to appeal to the court, and provide research and recommendations to the court on a wide variety of matters. Brubaker began his legal career in 1992 with the Grand Rapids law firm of Mika, Meyers, Beckett, & Jones PLC where he was an associate in the firm's litigation department; he became a member of the firm in 1999, specializing in family, labor, and local government law. He served on the firm's management committee for two years, administering a firm of 40 attorneys, as well as staff. Brubaker joined the Supreme Court Commissioners' Office in 2003. His responsibilities included reviewing other commissioners' research reports and supervising that office's extern program. He also served on the Michigan Judicial Institute's editorial advisory committee on post- conviction proceedings and headed a project to improve handling of motions for relief from judgment in the Supreme Court. A 1987 graduate of Albion College, Brubaker earned a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1992. A past president of the Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, Brubaker has served on the Lowell Area School Board since 2004. He has also served on the board of the Lowell YMCA, Flat River Outreach Ministries, and the Lowell City Council and Planning Commission. He is active in the Lowell First United Methodist Church and the Iglesia Metodista Unida La Neuva Esperanza (New Hope United Methodist Church), an inner-city Spanish-speaking church in Grand Rapids, where he serves on the Nominations Committee. * * * Erman, Teicher, Miller, Zucker, & Freedman PC was recognized by U.S. News - Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" in its annual rankings. The law firm in Southfield was listed for this honor as a Detroit Tier 1 and National Tier 3 in the practice areas of Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights and Insolvency and Reorganization Law. In Bankruptcy Litigation, Erman Teicher also earned recognition as a Detroit Tier 1 firm. Additionally, it was selected as a Detroit Tier 2 firm in Corporate Law. * * * Plunkett Cooney attorney Mark S. Kopson, who leads the Healthcare Industry Practice Group for Plunkett Cooney will be among the featured speakers at the American Conference Institute's Second Advanced Forum on Managed Care Disputes and Litigation May 21 to 23 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel in Philadelphia. A partner in the firm's Bloomfield Hills office, Kopson will join a panel discussion, titled: "Managed Care Contracting 101 - Dissecting the Fundamentals for Litigation," which will explain the importance of managed care contracts and how to identify key provisions that may trigger or raise red flags during litigation. Panel members also will present plan and provider perspectives on frequently litigated issues, including medical necessity, termination and amendment and provide suggestions on how to minimize litigation risk. Headquartered in New York, American Conference Institute (ACI) is an organization that operates as a think tank, monitoring trends and developments in all major industry sectors, the law, and public policy. Kopson has practiced health care law for more than 24 years with special emphasis on matters related to managed care, including negotiation and drafting of managed care contracts, payor-provider dispute resolution, provider reimbursement, and related compliance issues. He has practical experience in the formation and counseling of physician and physician-hospital organizations, accountable care organizations, joint ventures and integrated delivery systems and in litigation and alternative dispute resolution, including both mediation and arbitration. Kopson also serves as a dispute resolver for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Service of the American Health Lawyers Association. Kopson serves as the vice-chair of Membership for the Payors, Plans and Managed Care of the American Health Lawyers Association (served as past chair of the Managed Care Affinity Group, Physician Organizations, Fraud and Abuse, Antitrust, Health Information and Technology, and Hospitals and Health Systems). He is also a member of the Health Care Law (former chair of the Payors Subcommittee and member of the Substantive Law Committee) and Business Law sections of the State Bar of Michigan; as well as the Business Law, Health Law and Law Practice Management sections of the American Bar Association. * * * Denise J. Lewis, a partner at Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP, has been appointed to the Board of Trustees for St. John Providence Health System, one of the largest providers of inpatient care in Michigan and one of the largest employers in metro Detroit. Lewis has shown her commitment to the metro Detroit community through her service on the boards of several nonprofit organizations over the years, and she has contributed her skills and talents to these organizations in working for the betterment of the community. She is currently on the board of the Detroit Zoological Society and serving as vice chair, and she is a member of the board of the McGregor Fund, serving as chair of the Audit Committee. In addition, she is a member of the board of the Public School Academies of Detroit (PSAD) and the Investment Committee for Invest Detroit. As a member of Honigman's Real Estate Department, Lewis has had a leading role in some of the most significant real estate development projects for the Detroit area's business community, including the Raleigh Michigan Studios; Compuware headquarters; the General Motors Renaissance Center; the Tech Town research park; the Book Cadillac Hotel; the Marathon Oil refinery expansion; and campus development for the College for Creative Studies. Lewis represents national and regional developers in complex transactions that include public-private partnerships, urban redevelopment and mixed-use development. She also handles multi-tiered transactions involving shopping centers, office buildings, restaurants, single-family residences, hospitals, apartment complexes and industrial facilities. Lewis has received recognition in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business from 2005 to 2011; in Best Lawyers in America in 2010 to 2012; and in Michigan Super Lawyers as one of Michigan top 100 lawyers from 2006 to 2011. Lewis received the National Association of Women Business Owners' Top Ten Michigan Business Woman Award in 2008 and earned the "Powerful Women in the Legal Field" Award from the Rhonda Walker Foundation in the same year. She was recently honored by the Detroit Historical Society's Black Historic Committee for her role as the first African American and first female director of the City of Detroit's Personnel Department. Lewis also was named one of 20 "Women in the Law" for 2010 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. Lewis earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, an M.A. from Wayne State University and her B.A. from Columbia University. * * * Paul S. Magy, a principal of Kupelian, Ormond, & Magy PC, will be awarded the 2012 International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Trustees Distinguished Service Award during the Believers and Achievers dinner on May 21 at the ICSC Annual Convention (RECon 2012) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The award is the highest recognition given by ICSC and follows years of outstanding service to the organization by Magy. Magy has served as chairman on a variety of state and national committees for ICSC and is a past Michigan State Director. Magy earned this award while being an active principal and attorney with KOM with his law practice specializing in commercial real estate transactions and litigation. * * * Butzel Long attorney and shareholder James S. Rosenfeld was a featured panelist during a webinar on May 2 presented by the American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law and the ABA Center for Continuing Legal Education. The webinar was titled, "Effectively Mediating Employment Cases." Rosenfeld is a life member in the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference and a Fellow of the State Bar of Michigan Foundation. He is a member of the Labor and Employment Law and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections of the State Bar and the Labor and Employment Relations Sections of the Federal and American Bar Associations, as well as the ABA's ADR in Labor and Employment Law Committee. He has previously served as a member of the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly and president of the Barristers of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association and is currently a member of the latter's Board of Directors. Rosenfeld has completed 40-hour General Civil Case Mediator Training and has been a mediator on the American Arbitration Association Mediation Panel. He has served as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School teaching alternative dispute resolution and frequently lectures and conducts training for employers and supervisors on various employment issues. He has been a speaker and author on panels for the ABA's ADR in Labor and Employment Law Committee, in 2007 and 2008. Rosenfeld has published several articles on labor and employment law matters. Rosenfeld is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (1986) and Harvard College (A.B., 1981). Rosenfeld is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in Labor and Employment and has been ranked by Chambers USA. * * * Charles Becker has been elected as board chair of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI) and Alan S. Schwartz, who has served for the past four years as chair of the KCI board, will become its vice chair. As chair and vice chair of the KCI board, Becker and Schwartz will collaborate with other board members to continue the Institute's strategic goal of becoming one of the top 10 comprehensive cancer centers in the nation. Schwartz has been a long-time board member of the Karmanos Cancer Institute. He has been recognized as a top lawyer in the area of Corporate/M&A law by Chambers USA America's Leading Lawyers for Business from 2003 to 2011. His law practice includes business and succession planning, acquisitions and sales of businesses and general corporate representation. Schwartz has been with Honigman, Miller ,Schwartz, and Cohn LLP for more than 40 years, where he previously served as its chairman and CEO and currently serves as the firm's vice chairman. * * * Andrew B. Wachler of Wachler & Associates presented "Latest Developments in Medicare and Medicaid Audits: MICs, MACs, RACs and ZPICs" at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice's 2012 Home Care & Hospice March on Washington& Law Symposium in Washington, DC. Wachler and colleagues conduct 'Advanced Workshop on Medicare Claims Appeals' at AHLA 2012 Medicare and Medicaid Law Institute In addition, Wachler; along with attorneys James P Kelly and Gregory N. Etzel, conducted a workshop based on their paper on Medicare claims appeals, which compiles years of consolidated knowledge on the subject garnered during their health law careers. Wachler also presented "The Developing Audit Landscape: MICs, MACs, RACs and ZPICs" at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's Management and Leadership Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Wachler has been practicing health care law for more than 25 years. He counsels health care providers and organizations nationwide in a variety of health care legal matters. In addition, he writes and speaks nationally to professional organizations and other entities on health care law topics such as Medicare appeals, Stark and fraud and abuse, HIPAA, and other topics. Published: Mon, May 7, 2012