Daily Briefs

 Belveal appointed as co-chair of the SBM’s Pro Bono Initiative

Jennifer Zbytowski Belveal, a partner in Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn’s Litigation Department and leader of its White Collar Crime and Investigations Practice Group, has been appointed as co-chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Pro Bono Initiative. The Bar committee encourages and coordinates free or discounted fees for low-income individuals in need of legal assistance. She has served on the Pro Bono Initiative committee since 2011.

Belveal, who also serves as Honigman’s Associate General Counsel and chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, focuses her law practice on both white collar criminal defense and complex commercial litigation involving many aspects of business, real estate, health care and environmental laws.
 
She is a Michigan State Bar Foundation Fellow and an Oakland County Bar Foundation Fellow. She also serves on the board of trustees of Detroit Public Television and on the executive board of the Giving Hope Women’s Giving Circle.

Belveal earned a J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School and is a member of the Order of the Coif.  She received a B.A., with high honors, from Michigan State University’s Honors College.
 
 

Snyder appoints Audrey Van Alst to 84th District Court

 
Gov. Rick Snyder announced the appointment of Audrey Van Alst, of Cadillac, to the 84th District Court serving Wexford and Missaukee counties.
 
 “Audrey is an accomplished legal professional with nearly two decades of experience serving the people of her community,” Snyder said. “I am confident she will be an excellent judge.”

Van Alst currently serves as the director of the friend of the court for Wexford and Missaukee counties, where she manages a 12-person staff that helps the family division with child custody, parenting and child support cases. She previously worked for 16 years as a lawyer in private practice, specializing in family law, including divorce, paternity, child custody and adoption. During her time in private practice, she served as Wexford County Attorney Magistrate. She worked in the Wexford County public defender’s office representing indigent defense clients, including juveniles, and parents and children in abuse cases. Van Alst also taught criminal justice at the Baker College Cadillac campus for two years.

She is a member of the Michigan Bar Association and the Wexford/Missaukee Bar Association. She earned a degree from the Thomas
M. Cooley Law School and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Central Michigan University.

Van Alst fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge David Hogg and must seek election in November 2014 to serve a full term.

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