Legal People ...

Bowman and Brooke is proud to announce Carmen Bickerdt and Nicholas Even have been promoted from associate to senior counsel.

Bickerdt represents both national and international clients in a variety of areas including litigation, negotiation and disputes. Her product liability experience includes asbestos defense, as well as defending cases involving personal injury, negligence and premises liability. Bickerdt has handled cases in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana and South Carolina. Currently, she is part of the team serving as regional counsel for a major automotive manufacturer in its widely publicized unintended acceleration litigation.

Even has experience in representing major corporations in cases involving personal injury and negligence. In addition to automotive product liability litigation, his diverse practice has expanded throughout the years to trucking companies and waste management companies in liability and negligence litigation.

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Maddin, Hauser, Wartell, Roth, & Heller, PC has named Ryann O’Boyle Bunch as an associate attorney. She specializes her practice in lending and finance and real estate.
Prior to joining the Southfield-based law firm, Bunch was an associate attorney at both Kelly, Whipple, Zick, and Keyes PLLC in Port Huron and Bodman PLC in Troy. She also served as an intern at the Saint Clair County Prosecutor’s Office in Port Huron.

A member of the Michigan Bar Association and St. Clair County Bar Association, Bunch earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, and her law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

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Williams, Williams, Rattner, & Plunkett PC is pleased to announce the addition of the following attorneys:

Sidney L. Frank
has been named Of Counsel to the firm. Frank has a diverse litigation and business law practice. He has been providing expert legal advice and solutions to clients for more than 40 years. Frank is a successful trial lawyer with litigation and mediation experience. He has developed an reputation for his expertise litigating and mediating cases involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act and legal issues involving construction law and surety defense matters. Based on his expertise in surety law matters, Frank, for 15 years served as a board member and Claims Committee chair of the Washington, D.C. based American Surety Association. Frank has expertise handling a wide range of business and commercial transactions, including representing clients in the purchase, sale and financing of their businesses and providing succession and estate planning.

Frank is also actively involved in business and charitable endeavors and community affairs. He has served as the past chairman of the Troy Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Troy Chamber Small Business Council. In addition, he sits on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club of Troy and the Lions Hearing Center of Michigan.
Frank earned his law degree from The University of Michigan Law School and a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations, from Cornell University.

Tamara E. Fraser
has been named an associate of the firm. Fraser is an experienced trial lawyer with a diverse civil and commercial litigation practice. She has more than 18 years of experience in providing expert legal advice and litigation solutions to clients. Fraser devotes the majority of her practice to representing business clients and individuals in resolving civil and commercial disputes and litigation matters. She has significant expertise litigating and resolving cases involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act and legal issues involving employment and real estate matters. Fraser also provides clients with commercial services outside of the litigation area, including handling general business matters and providing legal counseling and drafting corporate and personal documents.

Fraser earned her law degree from the Valparaiso University School of Law and her B.B.A. in Business Administration from The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

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Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Sheldon H. Klein is one of four panelists who will be featured during an American Bar Association (ABA), Section of Antitrust Law, webinar on Monday, Feb. 11. The title of the webinar is, “Antitrust Analysis of Information Exchanges in the Health Care Field and Beyond: The Detroit Nurses Case.”

“The Detroit Nurses case illustrates the extreme risk businesses run by exchanging compensation and other sensitive information with competitors without an understanding of the antitrust rules and risks for those exchanges,” said Klein. “The webinar will help attorneys, HR professionals and other business people understand those risks and develop strategies for managing them.”

Klein concentrates his practice in the areas of antitrust counseling and litigation, and other forms of complex commercial litigation, including class action litigation. He also has litigation and counseling experience in automotive and other manufacturing supply chain matters.

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Detroit attorney Gregory J. Reed became the first practicing attorney in the U.S. to receive the NAACP Image Award committee’s highest honor for Outstanding Literary Work – Youth Teens in the award program’s 44-year history.

Reed received the award for his book “Obama Talks Back: Global Lessons – A Dialogue with America’s Young Leaders,” a compilation of students’ letters to President Obama and his responses. Reed previously won an Image Award for his book “Rosa Parks: Dear Mrs Parks – A Dialogue with Today’s Youth.”

Reed is a graduate of Michigan State University and Wayne State University Law School.

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Attorney Robert M. Riley has joined Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP’s Litigation Department. He is located in the firm’s Detroit office.

Riley will focus his practice on commercial litigation in connection with bankruptcy and insolvency and will support the firm’s work with troubled supplier and supply chain management workouts.

He earned his law degree from Wayne State University Law School and a B.A. in political science and French from the University of Michigan. He is admitted to practice in Michigan, Illinois and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Riley joins Honigman from the Michigan Supreme Court where he most recently served as a law clerk and transition director for Justice Bridget Mary McCormack and previously served as a senior law clerk for Justice Marilyn Kelly for four years.

In addition, Serhat T. Krause has joined Honigman’s Real Estate Department as a partner. He is located in the firm’s Detroit office.

Krause has experience in representing borrowers and lenders in many aspects of real estate financing transactions, including refinancings and recapitalizations, and purchasers and sellers in acquisitions and dispositions of individual and portfolio real estate assets, including hotels and retail properties.

He earned his law degree from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, an M.A. in peace studies from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. in political science and international studies from Koc University in Istanbul. He is admitted to practice in New York and his admittance to practice in Michigan is pending.

Krause joins Honigman from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP’s New York office.

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Associate attorneys Jeffrey S. Hengeveld and Carrie Kennedy were recently named partners of Plunkett Cooney PC.

Hengeveld, who works in Plunkett Cooney’s Bloomfield Hills office, is a member of the firm’s Professional Liability Practice Group. His practice includes the representation of attorneys, accountants, insurance agents and real estate professionals who become the target of professional liability litigation. In addition, Hengeveld consults professionals on ethics issues and provides advice on licensure actions pending before the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission and other regulatory agencies.

Hengeveld received his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University (MSU) and went on to earn his law degree from the MSU College of Law. He is the recipient of numerous academic and service related honors, including mention by Michigan Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in the area of professional liability defense.

A member of Plunkett Cooney’s Transportation Law Practice Group, Kennedy focuses her practice in the areas of motor vehicle liability and no fault law. She regularly defends litigation involving motor vehicle liability claims resulting in deaths, catastrophic injuries and related property damage. In addition, she provides insurance coverage opinions to insurance providers involved in such disputes.

Kennedy, who works in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office, is a member of several professional organizations, including the Michigan Brain Injury Association. She also provides related training to her clients and speaks at various conferences and seminars on auto liability and no fault law.

Kennedy is a graduate of Thomas M. Cooley Law School and she received her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University.

Additionally, attorney Frank D. Paolini recently joined Plunkett Cooney as a member of the firm’s Banking, Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights Practice Group.

A member of the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office, Paolini focuses his practice in the areas of loan origination and troubled asset workouts.

Prior to joining the firm, Paolini participated in Plunkett Cooney’s 2011 Summer Associate program in both the banking law and commercial litigation practice groups. In addition, he externed in the Public Integrity, Homicide, and Community Prosecutions Divisions of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

A member of the State Bar of Michigan, Paolini earned his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2012. Paolini earned  his undergraduate degree from University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2009.

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Daniel J. Kelly
of Giarmarco, Mullins, & Horton PC has been recognized as a Top Lawyer by DBusiness and has also been named a Michigan Super Lawyer. Kelly concentrates his practice in the areas of municipal and school law. He has successfully defended numerous municipalities, school districts, police agencies, police officers, employers, and insurers at all levels of the litigation process in front of the state, federal, and appellate courts. With his trial experience, Kelly has been asked to serve as a court-appointed mediator and lecturer on numerous issues involving governmental entities, risk management, and liability exposure.

Given his 20 years of litigation experience on behalf of municipalities and school districts, recently Kelly has focused his training on preventative techniques to avoid the costs of litigation. He has completed two associate programs in Risk Management and Risk Management for Public Entities certified by AICPCU/IIA. Additionally, he has completed the training and certification by the Michigan Supreme Court as a court appointed mediator/facilitator.

Recently, he was invited, accepted, and completed Michigan State University’s prestigious one year fellowship in Government Leadership. His experience in both the law and as an elected Township official of the Independence Township Board and Planning Commission, gives him a unique perspective for the representation of public entities.

Kelly earned his BS from Western Michigan University, and his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He is admitted to practice in the State of Michigan, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Michigan Supreme Court.

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Viviano Law has announced the addition of George Netschke as an attorney with the firm, specializing in commercial litigation.

He will be working with the firm’s construction industry, banking and real estate clients.

Netschke joins the firm after serving as an attorney with Plunkett Cooney. His subspecialties include construction law, representing owners, contractors and design professionals in both commercial and personal injury matters, and, banking and creditor’s rights where he represents regional and national financial institutions.

Netschke is a graduate of the Wayne State University Law School and earned his BA in International Relations from the James Madison College at Michigan State University.

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