LEGAL PEOPLE

Joseph A. Golden, of Royal Oak law firm Pitt, McGehee, Palmer, Rivers, & Golden, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Macomb County Bar Association (MCBA). The announcement was made by Dana Warnez, president of the MCBA. Golden, who has practiced law for 45 years, also serves as the chair of MCBA's Masters Section and is a member of its Labor and Employment Law Committee. Golden has lectured throughout the U.S. on a variety of employment rights issues, most notably wrongful discharge, and testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Labor and Education committee on the proposed Civil Rights Bill in 1991. He is a founding member of the National Employment Lawyers Association and served this body as its president from 1991 to 1993. In addition, he has served on the governing Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Labor and Employment Law and is currently on the Executive Board of the Michigan Employment Lawyers Association, an organization Golden founded in 1992. In 1996, he was inducted as a fellow to the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Golden has been recognized by The National Law Journal as Who's Who of Employment/Labor Lawyers and honored in Best Lawyers in America continuously since 1993. He is also a member of the American and Michigan Associations of Justice. In 2012, he was inducted as a fellow to the State Bar of Michigan Foundation. In January 2013, Golden received the Distinguished Service Award from the State Bar of Michigan's Section of Labor and Employment Law. Golden earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Wayne State University and his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. * * * The Women Lawyers Association of Michigan (WLAM) presented its Mary S. Coleman Award to retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly at the WLAM 95h Annual Conference April 12. After 24 years, Kelly recently retired from the Michigan Supreme Court. She was chief justice from 2009-2011. In 2010, she and James L. Ryan, senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, established the Michigan Judicial Selection Task Force. A well-known advocate for access to justice, Kelly co-chaired the State Bar's Open Justice Commission and is on the board of the National Consortium for Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts. Kelly is a distinguished jurist in residence at Wayne State University Law School; she has established a scholarship for students interested in public service law. Kelly credits her advancement in the legal profession to her experience in the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan. "I was elected to the bench immediately after serving as president of the Women's Bar Association and WLAM. There's no question in my mind that what I learned working in those organizations was essential to my later success." In 2012, Michigan Lawyers Weekly named her "Women Lawyer of the Year." She received in that same year lifetime achievement awards from the Michigan Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Appellate Practice Section of the State Bar of Michigan, the Michigan Chapter of the American Constitution Society, the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, and the Detroit and Michigan Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. The award was presented by Justice Bridget McCormack. * * * Butzel Long senior attorney Jeremy R. Cnudde will be a featured speaker during a seminar titled, "Business Contracts A to Z" from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Southfield. The program is designed for attorneys and paralegals. Cnudde concentrates his practice on corporate transactions and federal and state tax planning and tax appeals litigation. He represents middle-market, entrepreneurial businesses with diverse backgrounds, including those in the manufacturing, aerospace and defense, distribution, retail grocery, and agricultural industries. He assists with mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, and shareholder disputes, business succession planning, buy-sell agreements and drafting of supplier and representatives agreements. He also has represented companies on corporate finance and capital acquisition matters, including private equity investments, recapitalizations, bank financing, and private placement issuance. Cnudde has experience with federal, state, and local tax planning, Michigan property tax appeals, and nonprofit/tax-exempt formation and governance matters. This includes tax-free reorganizations of businesses, partnership formation and tax planning regarding adding partners and partner distributions, state tax planning regarding sales, use and business taxes, and formation of non-profit corporations and assistance with obtaining and maintaining tax exempt status from the IRS. Over the last decade, he has developed a specialty with Michigan state tax planning and appeals, including representing numerous commercial and industrial property owners through successful Michigan property tax appeals. Cnudde is a DBusiness Top Lawyer for Tax Law and Non-Profit/Charities Law (2012 and 2013) and has received a BV rating from Martindale-Hubbell. * * * Miller Canfield announces that lawyer Michael P. McGee has been named chief executive officer. McGee, a principal and public finance lawyer in the Detroit headquarters office, joined the firm in 1985. He has served on the firm's management board and was its hiring chair. "It's a privilege to be the CEO of Miller Canfield, a great legal institution with a long history of service and innovation," said McGee. "I'm grateful for this opportunity and honored to lead the creative, dedicated and talented professionals who comprise our firm." McGee follows Michael W. Hartmann who steps down after serving six years as CEO and before that, three years as chair of the managing directors. Hartmann will resume his practice as a commercial litigator while serving as the firm's in-house general counsel. During his tenure as CEO, Hartmann oversaw Miller Canfield's expansion in Toronto, Chicago, China and Mexico. "Mike Hartmann has done an outstanding job as our firm's leader during a time of unprecedented change in the legal marketplace," said McGee. "The firm owes him a debt of thanks for a job well done." McGee has nearly three decades of public policy experience and a broad legal background. He has acted as bond counsel to governmental issuers of all types in financing public infrastructure. He is named a Best Lawyer for his work in Public Finance Law and is recognized as an expert in public entity law, public/private partnerships and intergovernmental cooperation. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, M.P.P. from the Institute (now Ford School) of Public Policy Studies, and A.B. from the University of Michigan with an emphasis on economic analysis. His board service includes the Citizens Research Council of Michigan and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments where he was SEMCOG's vice chairman. Additionally, Miller Canfield has re-elected Megan P. Norris to serve a two-year term as a managing director. She is part of a five-person management administration that works with the CEO to oversee the firm's offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Poland and China. Norris is a principal in the Detroit office where she is leader of the firm's Employment and Labor Group. She counsels clients on employment matters including discipline and discharge, discrimination, harassment and tort claims. Norris is a nationally recognized expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and has been recognized for her work in Best Lawyers, Chambers USA and Michigan Super Lawyers. She earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She is former chair of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners. * * * Andrew B. Wachler presented, "Medicare Claims Appeals: The Adjudicator's Perspective," to American Health Lawyers Association members at AHLA's Institute on Medicare and Medicaid Payment Issues in Baltimore, MD. The Institute is a comprehensive program on legal issues related to reimbursement. Wachler co-presented with representatives from each level of the administrative appeal process, including Judge Nancy Griswold, the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Griswold explained that despite a record level of appeal receipts, OMHA expects a significant increase in audit activity due to the continued expansion of post payment audit programs and increases in beneficiaries under the ACA. Wachler and Griswold also discussed CMS's Administrative Ruling 1455-R and Proposed Rule 1455-P, which provide changes to Medicare's Part A and Part B payment policy when a hospital inpatient claim is denied for medical necessity. 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. * * * Sommers Schwartz PC is pleased to announce that senior shareholder Kenneth T. Watkins has agreed to give back to his alma mater by participating in Northwestern University's alumni mentoring program. Watkins matriculated Northwestern University from 1980 to 1984 and earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Communication Studies. As a student-athlete, Watkins was a four-year letterman playing running back as a freshman and sophomore. He converted to defensive back during his final two years on the NU Football team. In 1984, Watkins signed a free agent contract with the Detroit Lions. Later, in 1985, he signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Watkins earned his law degree at Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law) in 1992. He also joined Sommers Schwartz law firm in 1992 and is presently a senior shareholder at the firm. Watkins joined the Northwestern University Alumni Mentoring program to assist football student-athletes in preparing for personal and professional success after college. This initiative establishes a one-on-one relationship between Northwestern Football alumni and aspiring youth. Watkins gives back to the Metro-Detroit community by speaking at Detroit Public School Career Days and serving on the Urban Solutions Inc. Board of Directors; providing multiple scholarships to inner-city youth annually. He was also recognized for his contributions to the legal profession in the inaugural edition of Who's Who in Black Detroit. Watkins' legal practice is focused on litigation in the areas of medical malpractice, birth trauma, wrongful death, spinal cord and brain injury cases. He resolved one of the largest 7-digit medical negligence cases in Macomb County Circuit Court in 2008 and closed out resolutions above a million dollars in Oakland County and Lucas County Circuit Court in Ohio in 2009 and 2010. Watkins prosecuted to resolution an alleged mismanaged spinal surgery case for over $2M and has been named to the exclusive Multi-Million Dollar Verdict Forum in 2012. He has been listed among the Michigan Super Lawyers® since 2010 and was also recognized in The National Trial Lawyers' top 100 Trial Lawyers 2012. * * * Clark Hill attorney Thomas M. J. Hathaway was honored by the Shamrock Bar Association with the 2013 Richard Hathaway Distinguished lawyer award during the April 16 meeting. The Shamrock Bar Association is composed of judges and lawyers from Detroit Catholic Central High School, where Hathaway graduated. Hathaway is a member of Clark Hill PLC's Labor and Employment Group, and is resident in the firm's Detroit office. He counsels clients on all aspects of management public and private sector management, and executives in personnel and labor issues and business litigation, including employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower, trade secret and non-compete matters and counseling on business and personnel matters. He is a member of the Digital Risk Management (DRM) Team, where he assists clients in e-discovery, internet and social media issues, litigation and policies, and digital records audit matters. Nationally known as a premier lawyer displaying "superb skills and an excellent trial demeanor" (Chambers USA: Leading Lawyers for Business), Hathaway has also been named a Super Lawyer by Law & Politics Magazine and is also nationally ranked by the Best Lawyers in America. An active community supporter, he is a board member and former chair of Life Directions, which works with at risk youth and young adults. * * * Eric M. Jones has joined Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP as an attorney in the firm's Corporate Department. He will be located in Honigman's Detroit office. Jones represents private equity and venture capital funds and their portfolio companies, as well as public companies, in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financing and general corporate matters. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, an M.A. in economics from Central Michigan University and a B.A. in economics from Alma College. Jones is admitted to practice in Illinois and his admission to the State Bar of Michigan is pending. Jones joins Honigman from Paul Hastings LLP in Chicago. * * * Oakland County Circuit Judge Michael Warren was honored with the Americanism Award from the Daughters of the American Revolution of Michigan recently at the group's State Awards Day in Lansing. The award states that it was presented to Warren "... in recognition of outstanding accomplishments and contributions. For his tireless work in promoting Patriotism for the American People, especially through Patriot Week." "I am very humbled to receive this wonderful Americanism Award," reflected Warren. "It inspires me to work even harder to defend the Constitution, promote among our students an in-depth understanding of our founding First Principles and history and to educate our students and citizens about the need to understand and protect our liberties." Immediately prior to the lunch, Warren addressed a gathering of K-12 state essay award winners, as well as ten graduating high school senior recipients of the 2013 Michigan Good Citizens Awards. "There are two ideas you need to leave with," he remarked to the students. "First, that America is unique in all of human history. Second, that you are responsible for its survival and preserving our liberties." Warren was appointed to the Oakland County Circuit Court in 2002 by Governor John Engler and currently serves in a leadership position as the presiding judge of the Civil/Criminal Division of the Court. He was recently re-elected to a six year term in November, 2012. Alarmed that large portions of our students and the general public are ill-informed, Warren and his then 10-year-old daughter Leah created Patriot Week in 2009. The week is anchored by the key dates of Sept. 11 (the anniversary of the terrorist's attacks) and September 17 (Constitution Day, the anniversary of when the United States Constitution was signed). Patriot Week is a grassroots effort to celebrate and honor America by commemorating its First Principles (the rule of law, equality, unalienable rights, the Social Compact, limited government, and the right to alter or abolish an oppressive government), key historical figures, founding documents and symbols. It is intended to fill the void left by the commercialization or disregard of our existing holidays. Warren believes that citizens cannot overstate the importance of the need to reinvigorate the understanding and appreciation of American history to ensure that all remain a free people. Detailed information about Patriot Week is available at www.patriotweek.org. Published: Mon, Apr 22, 2013