Mark Gilchrist of Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge is the new President of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SMITH HAUGHEY RICE AND ROEGGE
By Cynthia Price
Legal News
Mark Gilchrist has followed in the footsteps of colleagues at Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge in becoming president of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel (MDTC).
The organization has been around since 1979, and it exists to “ facilitate greater exchange of views and advance the interests of civil defense,” although Gilchrist points out that MDTC has been expanding to include both sides of the bar in commercial litigation.
MDTC maintains an affiliation with the national organization DRI the Voice of the Defense Bar (formerly Defense Research Institute), on whose website MDTC appears as the only Michigan defense litigation organization.
During its existence, four Smith Haughey attorneys have served as president: Patrick Geary, William Jack, Joseph Engel, and now Gilchrist.
The MDTC Executive Director, Madelyne Lawry, comments, “SHRR is one of the leading defense firms and has an outstanding statewide reputation. When that firm is referenced it is often as the go-to firm for expertise on a wide rage of topics. Both sides of the bar, plaintiff and defense attorneys, respect SHRR expertise and lawyers, and MDTC has benefited from their support.
“In fact one of their senior partners, Bill Jack..., is one of the favorite speakers at MDTC events and has historically received the highest rankings from attendees who have had the privilege of hearing him speak,” Lawry continued.
Bill Jack is also one of the few attorneys in Michigan to win the Respected Advocate award from both sides of the bar, as Gilchrist points out. Each year, the MDTC and its fellow plaintiff-bar organization, the Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ), choose one attorney from the opposing bar to honor as a Respected Advocate.
Though the award is given out at the State Bar annual meeting in September, it is decided beforehand, and Gilchrist said he is pleased to announce that it will go to Thomas Behm of Gruel, Mills, Nims and Pylman, who is also the incoming president of the Grand Rapids Bar Association.
“I think that’s terrific news,” Gilchrist said. “It will be exciting to give that to him.”
Coincidentally, one of the founders of Behm’s firm, William Mills, received the Respected Advocate Award from MDTC in 2009, the same year as Bill Jack received it from MAJ.
Gilchrist is himself well-respected as an advocate, enough to warrant a Rising Star designation in 2011 in the areas of Professional Liability Defense, Criminal Defense, and General Person Injury Defense.
A graduate of Michigan State University with his B.A., The George Washington University with his M.A., and Wayne State University School of Law for his Juris Doctor, Gilchrist specializes in legal malpractice defense.
“It’s probably 60 to 70 percent of my practice, including some grievance work, and I enjoy it tremendously,” Gilchrist says. “I like that area of the law, and I really like my clients,” he adds with a smile.
Other than that, his practice covers several bases, including injury defense, commercial work, and some criminal defense. “When I first started at Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge, I saw criminal defense as a niche to serve our clients,” Gilchrist explains. “I don’t necessarily advertise it, but we do offer our clients that service.”
He adds that he is seeing a trend towards an increase in the number of legal malpractice claims while other types of tort cases such as medical malpractice or premises liability seem to be on a “clear decline.” Most of his clients come from Lansing and West of Lansing, but due to Smith Haughey having offices in Traverse City and Ann Arbor, his practice really is Michigan-wide.
Though he is not a mediator himself, Gilchrist says, “I’ve used mediators; the vast majority of my cases go through the mediation process. It’s pretty rare in terms of what I do to go to arbitration, but it’s not unheard of. In terms of commercial work, I think more and more commercial contracts will have mandatory arbitration clauses in the future. It’s a streamlined process, quicker and with more certainty — there are fewer procedural requirements and it kinds of accelerates the process.”
Though Rockford area resident Gilchrist is an avid sports fan and enjoys the outdoors and related activities, particularly with his two daughters, he
recognizes that being President of MDTC means giving up some of his leisure time.
“It’s a fair amount of extra work – I mean, it’s certainly daily, a decision to be made or questions on how do we want to do this,” he says, but after rising through the succession of executive committee positions, he looks forward to his year as president.
Lawry, who has been E.D. of the organization since 1992, says she is enthusiastic as well. “Mark is the voice of reason, very astute and quick to summarize the needs of the organization.” she comments. “He has an amazing ability to get everyone on board and get the job done.”
The admiration is mutual. “Madelyne is wonderful, and she’s the mainstay of the organization,” he says.
Naturally, one of Gilchrist’s first responsibilities is to “focus internally on the organization itself, make sure it stays healthy, that the membership remains at a sufficient level and conferences are well-attended,” as he puts it.
With membership at 550, MDTC is equal to its all-time high, and Gilchrist wants to keep it that way. He also needs to spread the word that membership is now open to all commercial litigators.
The annual conference, which just took place in May, was very successful.
MDTC also sends out an electronic newsletter and updates, and hosts a number of continuing education webinars and events. The next big event on the roster is an invitation to “Meet the Judges” on Oct. 2 in Novi.
Perhaps most exciting to Gilchrist is promoting the expanded role in legislative and administrative policy advocacy. “[Taking an advocacy role is] a policy the board adopted,” explains Lawry. “Members have been made aware it this through the MDTC Quarterly, and electronic member updates.”
Gilchrist compliments his predecessor, Ray Morganti of Siemion Huckabay, on setting the tone for such advocacy this past term. “On the Court of Claims legislation, he led us in offering issue positions, and he went to Lansing when there was the trailer bill that better defined how the Court of Claims was going to work.”
He continues, “So far, we’ve been very successful in interjecting our voice into those processes, offering our expert knowledge. We’ve been invited to be heard.”
Gilchrist intends to focus his efforts on that work, which falls to the MDTC Executive Committee. “With this structure, we’re able to craft opinions quickly when things crop up in the legislature. We do work closely with the Negligence Section of the State Bar, but that includes both plaintiff and defense council, so sometimes our objectives are the same and sometimes they’re not.
“Our main advocacy goal is centered on what will benefit our membership,” he adds.
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