Legal People

Goodman Acker P.C.
Gerald (Jerry) Acker, co-founder and senior partner of Southfield-based Goodman Acker PC, a personal injury law firm this year marking its 20th anniversary, has been elected president of the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ), and will begin his leadership term on July 1.
“As a personal injury attorney, employer, corporate citizen, husband and father, the safety and well-being of Michigan residents is of my utmost concern,” said Acker. “It’s an honor to serve alongside my peers as an officer of an organization as important as the MAJ, that at its core is dedicated to making Michigan a safer place to live, work and play.”
Acker, 56, who founded Goodman Acker PC in 1993 with partner Barry Goodman, specializes in personal injury litigation, including catastrophic automobile negligence claims, no-fault claims, medical malpractice, premises liability and nursing home negligence. Goodman also is a past president of the MAJ.
Acker earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Wayne State University Law School. He was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 1981, the U.S. District Court in 1982 and the District of Columbia Bar in 1993.
In addition to his work with the MAJ, Acker has a history of volunteerism and political activism, including roles on the National Finance Committee for President Obama’s election campaigns in 2008 and 2012. Demonstrating their commitment to community safety, Acker and Goodman recently sponsored the Detroit-based “Groceries for Guns” weapons exchange program, which was successful in getting nearly 200 guns off the streets of Detroit.
Acker also was recently recognized as one of the 2013 Michigan Super Lawyers by the Thomson Reuters publication of the same name, a recognition he has received for six consecutive years.

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Plunkett Cooney
The Detroit Regional Chamber on Friday, May 31, announced Plunkett Cooney President and CEO Henry B. Cooney as chair of its 2014 Mackinac Policy Conference.
Cooney, who has led Plunkett Cooney since 1998, has been a longtime member of the Chamber’s board of directors. The appointment to lead one of the nation’s largest policy conferences is a challenge Cooney said he is ready to undertake.
“Certainly, this is a tremendous honor for me and Plunkett Cooney,” he said. “Each year, some of the top leaders from the region and country come together to discuss the crucial issues facing the City of Detroit, the state of Michigan and our nation.”
The 2013 Mackinac Policy Conference recently concluded, drawing approximately 1,500 attendees. Following the announcement of Cooney as the new Conference chair, the Chamber released the dates for the 2014 Mackinac Policy Conference, which will take place from Wednesday, May 28 through Friday, May 30.
In addition to his service as a member of the Detroit Regional Chamber, Cooney serves on several other nonprofit boards, including the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion, Life Directions, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and the American Heart Association - Southeast Michigan.

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Butzel Long
Butzel Long attorney Shanta S.W. McMullan has been elected to serve a one-year term on the Board of Directors of the Wolverine Bar Association.
McMullan, based in the firm’s Detroit office, concentrates her practice in labor and employment law. She represents employers in judicial and administrative proceedings, and provides employment counseling regarding compliance with federal and state employment laws (including FMLA, FLSA, ADA and Title VII). She is admitted to practice in the State of Michigan, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Ninth Circuit.
In addition to the Wolverine Bar Association, McMullan is a member of the American Bar Association and the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association. She participated in the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association’s first Inns of Court program and the local Federal Bar Association’s (FBA) diversity committee, where she has been instrumental in the organization of an annual law day program at the federal court. She also serves as a co-chair of the FBA’s summer programs committee, where she organizes educational opportunities for law students.
In 2011, McMullan was selected to participate in Inforum’s inaugural NextUP Emerging Leaders Program, Flight 1SE, a leadership training program. Inforum is the leading professional organization focused on creating strategic connections and accelerating careers for women throughout Michigan and the Midwest.
Moreover, McMullan served for four years as a mentor and Board Member of Student Mentor Partners, an organization that provides mentoring and tuition assistance for underprivileged metro-Detroit high school students.
McMullan is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School (2007).
During law school, McMullan was a law clerk at the University of Michigan’s Office of the General Counsel, the Library of Congress’s Office of the General Counsel, and at the National Football League’s (NFL) General Counsel’s Office. She also was a judicial extern for U.S. District Court Judge Arthur J. Tarnow, Eastern District of Michigan. Prior to entering the legal field, she was a coaching staff assistant for the Detroit Lions.
Additionally, several Butzel Long attorneys in Michigan are recognized in the Chambers USA – America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2013 The Client’s Guide. Some of the firm’s key practice areas are included as well:
• Corporate/ Mergers & Acquisitions
• Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
• Labor and Employment
• Litigation: General Commercial
The following local Butzel Long attorneys are highlighted in Chambers USA 2013:
• Stephen A. Bromberg – Real Estate.
• Robert G. Buydens – Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation.
• David F. DuMouchel – Litigation: White-Collar Crime and Government Investigations (Band 1).
• John P. Hancock Jr. – Labor and Employment.
• Patrick A. Karbowski – Real Estate.
• Justin G. Klimko – Corporate/ Mergers and Acquisitions (Band 1).
• Daniel B. Tukel – Labor and Employment.
Klimko is president and managing shareholder of Butzel Long and serves on the firm’s Board of Directors. He is based in the firm’s Detroit office. Klimko has experience in securities regulation, corporate financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general corporate matters, fields in which he has practiced since 1980. Klimko has experience in securities regulation matters for publicly and privately held companies.
Bromberg is counsel to Butzel Long and based in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. He served as a director and president of Butzel Long. Bromberg has represented borrowers and institutional lenders, purchasers and sellers, non-profit entities and contractors and owners in all kinds of office, commercial shopping center, apartment and subdivisions matters, major construction and zoning matters and workouts, reorganizations and foreclosures, with years of specialization in real estate transactions and litigation.
Buydens is a shareholder in Butzel Long’s Detroit office. He concentrates his practice in the area of employee benefits including preparation of pension, money purchase, employee stock purchase, and profit sharing plans for individuals, partnerships, corporations and multiple-employer organizations, as well as the preparation of master plans for profit and non-profit corporations. Buydens has experience in providing advice on and drafting welfare benefit plans, including self-funded health care plans, flexible benefit plans, disability plans, and life insurance plans. He is experienced in executive compensation which includes the preparation of deferred compensation plans, management incentive plans, bonus plans and stock option plans. Buydens has been active in the multi-employer and multiple-employer pension area and is experienced in advising clients on plan terminations and withdrawals from multi-employer and multiple-employer plans.
DuMouchel is a shareholder practicing in Butzel Long’s Detroit office. He chairs the firm’s Corporate Compliance, Internal Investigations and Criminal Defense practice. DuMouchel’s practice is limited to white collar criminal defense, professional licensure and criminal health care, criminal IRS investigations of both taxpayers and professionals, SEC enforcement of corporate executives, public corruption, as well as grand jury investigations, internal corporate investigations and compliance.
Hancock is a shareholder based in Butzel Long’s Detroit office. His practice focuses on collective bargaining negotiations and arbitrations as well as counseling of both public and private employers. He also has performed extensive employment litigation and OSHA litigation. Hancock has served as chief negotiator in numerous collective bargaining negotiations for public schools, municipal and public utilities as well as clients in various other businesses ranging from casinos to steel plants to hospitals and country clubs. A good portion of his practice is devoted to counseling clients on employment issues.
Karbowski is a shareholder practicing in Butzel Long’s Bloomfield Hills office. His practice includes both transactions and litigation, with concentrations in the areas of real estate and general business. Karbowski has served as the Chairperson of the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan and is an ex officio member of its governing Council, as well as a member of many of its committees including its Pro Bono and ADR Committees. He is a member of the Real Estate Advisory Board for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He has also served as an adjunct professor of law teaching Real Estate Transactions at the Ave Maria School of Law.
Tukel is a shareholder practicing in Butzel Long’s Detroit office and serves as chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Law Department. His practice is devoted to representing both public and private employers in state and federal discrimination and wrongful discharge litigation, as well as traditional labor matters such as collective bargaining and union organizational drives. Tukel regularly counsels employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, in statutory compliance and in creating, implementing and administering employee handbooks and other personnel policies and practices.

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Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP is pleased to announce that Cameron J. Evans, a partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment Department, has been appointed vice chair of the Local Rules Advisory Committee for the Federal Bar Association, Eastern District of Michigan Chapter. The appointment is for a one-year term beginning on July 1, 2013 and ending on June 30, 2014. He has been a member of the committee since July 2012.
Evans is also the leader of Honigman’s Employment Litigation and Employment Counseling and Strategic Workforce Planning Practice Groups. He is a nationally recognized employment attorney with experience representing employers in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies and in private arbitrations regarding employment-related litigation, including class and collective action litigation. He also has jury trial experience in both federal and state courts. In addition, Evans is a National Football League Players Association Certified Contract Advisor (NFL agent) with an expanding sports law practice.
He earned his law degree from Wayne State University Law School, and a B.A, from the University of Michigan.