Collins, Einhorn, Farrell
Collins, Einhorn, Farrell PC proudly announces the selection of its partner Richard A. Joslin to the Board of Advisors for Crittenden Research Inc., headquartered in Novato, California. Sought for his experience in providing liability defense to professionals in the medical, legal and insurance fields, Joslin will be providing insights on the outlook of insurance and how it impacts professionals.
Over the past 22 years, Joslin has focused much of his practice on the defense of healthcare, legal and insurance professionals, and maintains an active general liability defense practice which includes claims arising out of auto and trucking accidents, complex premises liability matters and product liability.
“Crittenden Research is one of the leaders in analyzing and predicting changes within the insurance industry,” says Joslin. “I’m very excited to join their Board of Advisors.”
Crittenden Research provides members with relevant, timely and often overlooked information that can be used to help members plan strategies that keep them and their companies ahead of the competition, delivered through reports, directories, special real estate briefs, special insurance briefs and e-mails. In addition, Crittenden Research holds regular conferences that bring together respected industry leaders to discuss various topics relevant to the insurance industry.
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Jackson Lewis LLP
Jackson Lewis PC is pleased to announce shareholder Emily M. Petroski has been elevated to litigation manager of the firm’s Detroit and Grand Rapids offices.
Petroski’s practice focuses on employment litigation, as well as counseling clients in an effort to provide effective and creative solutions to the complex array of workplace disability, leave and health management issues faced by employers. As a member of Jackson Lewis’ Disability, Leave and Health Management Practice Group, which assists employers in meeting the legal and practical challenges posed by federal and state laws protecting injured, ill, and disabled employees, Petroski counsels clients with the goal of either avoiding litigation entirely, or otherwise improving outcomes before administrative agencies, courts and juries.
Petroski has experience advising clients and handling claims under the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Title VII, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, the Persons With Disabilities Civil Rights Act, and Michigan’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act. Her experience includes handling charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, as well as successfully litigating and defending lawsuits. She also has experience in alternative dispute resolution, including facilitation, mediation, and arbitration.
Petroski received her law degree from the University of California, Davis. She earned her B. A. in history from Stanford University.
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Michigan Compensation Appellate Commission
Gov. Rick Snyder recently announced the reappointments of Lester Owczawski, Jack Wheatley, and George Wyatt III to the Michigan Compensation Appellate Commission.
Gov. Rick Snyder recently announced the reappointments of Lester Owczawski, Jack Wheatley, and George Wyatt III to the Michigan Compensation Appellate Commission.
The nine-member commission, reorganized by Executive Order 2011-6, reviews appeals decisions in cases involving the areas of unemployment insurance benefits and workers’ compensation.
Owczarski was appointed to the commission in 2011. He has served on the Workers’ Compensation Board of Magistrates as a legal assistant, on the Michigan Liquor Control Commission as an administrative law judge, and as a member of the Michigan Employment Security Board of Review. Owczarski earned a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy.
Wheatley was appointed to the commission in 2011. He served as an attorney specializing in workers compensation, utility regulation and labor law with Lacey & Jones LLP. He also worked as a special assistant to the attorney general representing the state in workers’ compensation second injury fund cases.
He served as director of the Michigan Unemployment Agency and director of the Bureau of Workers’ Disability Compensation. Wheatley earned a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from Wayne State University.
Wyatt was appointed to the commission in 2011. He has more than 30 years of experience in workers’ compensation litigation, serving in private practice in Saginaw, East Lansing, Flint, and Eastpointe. Wyatt earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and law degree from Vanderbilt University. Wyatt is also the appointed chair of the Compensation Appellate Commission.
Appointees will serve four-year terms expiring July 31, 2018. Their appointments are subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
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Potestivo & Associates P.C.
Potestivo & Associates PC is proud to announce it has been selected as one of “The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For™” in the Metro Detroit area for the 2014 state-wide competition. The firm will be honored at a ceremony in September, where a representative from the firm will accept the award.
“This is a great honor for our firm,” said President and Managing Attorney Brian A. Potestivo. “We are thrilled to accept an award that recognizes the happiness, satisfaction, and development of our diligent employees.” The firm was assessed based on factors such as effective communication, work-life balance, and other employee-related categories. Potestivo & Associates PC has received similar awards in the past, including being named one of “Crain’s Cool Places to Work,” as well as ranking in the “Detroit Free Press Top 100 Workplaces.”
In addition, Potestivo & Associates PC is pleased to announce the hiring of Erica Julian. She was promoted to Foreclosure Manager on Monday, Aug. 4, and is located at the Rochester Hills office.
Julian attended Western Michigan University, where she majored in Special Education and minored in Elementary English.
She began her career at Potestivo & Associates PC in 2008 as a junior foreclosure coordinator. Since then, Julian has been promoted to pre-foreclosure coordinator, assignment coordinator, and foreclosure lead. She most recently served as one of the firm’s foreclosure supervisors before assuming her current role.
Julian has been consistently recognized for her hard work and dedication to the firm, and her knowledge and experience are integral to the Foreclosure Department’s daily operations. She views her time at Potestivo & Associates PC as one of her largest professional achievements, as her experience at the firm has allowed her to learn the Michigan foreclosure process from the ground up.
Outside of the office, Julian continues to participate in the community, including volunteering for Relay for Life and the American Red Cross Association. She is also actively involved with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which works to find cures for breast cancer.
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Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP
For the eighth year in a row, Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP has been named one of Metro Detroit’s 101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work For.
Warner Norcross, which has offices in Southfield and Macomb County, was evaluated on the basis of communication, community initiatives, compensation and benefits, diversity, employee development, employee engagement and commitment, recognition and retention, recruitment and selection, and work-life balance.
The firm’s Grand Rapids office has also been recognized as a Best & Brightest Company in West Michigan. Warner Norcross recently received recognition from The Detroit Free Press for the sixth year as one of Michigan’s Top Work Places.
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The Health Law Partners, PC
Steven Bender has joined The Health Law Partners (The HLP) as a partner in their Southfield office. Carey Kalmowitz, a founding shareholder at The Health Law Partners made the announcement.
Bender’s practice involves large-scale health care mergers and acquisitions, physician alignment strategies and network design, and the development and creation of accountable care organizations. He has experience providing legal counsel for hospital systems, physicians and senior health care leadership. Bender provides legal advice on regulatory compliance and enforcement issues including Stark & Anti-Kickback, Civil Monetary Penalties, the False Claims Act, Antitrust, clinical integration, physician compensation, governance, privacy and security.
Prior to joining The HLP, Bender served as managing counsel for CHE Trinity Health, where he oversaw all legal services for the physician network and ambulatory care service line, which has annual gross revenues of approximately $6.5 billion. Additionally, Bender provided legal counsel on the design and development of CHE Trinity Health’s Accountable Care Network, as well as all physician practice and corporate mergers.
Bender earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Michigan, and continued his education at Michigan State University’s College of Law. He previously served as chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Health Care Law Section, and is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association.
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Plunkett Cooney
Plunkett Cooney healthcare attorney Marta J. Hoffman was recently selected to participate in the 2014-2015 Leadership Development Program for the Hospital and Health Systems Practice Group of the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA).
“It’s an honor to be selected for this program,” said Hoffman, a senior member of the Healthcare Industry Group of Plunkett Cooney. “I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues at AHLA and hope to be able to contribute as much to the organization as I stand to benefit from my selection.”
The American Health Lawyers Association is the nation’s largest, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) educational organization devoted to legal issues in the healthcare field. Based in Washington D.C., the association has more than 12,500 members. Its Leadership Development Program was established by the Hospital and Health Systems Practice Group in 2009. The program’s goals include providing opportunities for participants to collaborate on practice group projects and to foster skills well suited for other AHLA leadership positions.
Hoffman was an active contributor to AHLA even before her selection into the leadership program. She was a contributing author of the 340B (drug discount) toolkit recently published on AHLA’s website for its membership, contributed to several of AHLA’s public interest publications for Active Duty Military, and was a past contributing author and editor of “Institutional Review Boards: A Primer,” published by AHLA in 2010.
Hoffman, who works in Plunkett Cooney’s Bloomfield Hills office, is licensed to practice in Michigan and Ohio. A former in-house attorney for two large multi-hospital and healthcare systems, her private practice includes work in the areas of healthcare, corporate law, and employment law. She represents a variety of healthcare clients, including hospitals, physicians, nonprofit corporations, extended care facilities, ambulance companies, and federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs).
Hoffman has experience in the areas of corporate healthcare, regulatory matters, physician and physician practice related issues, teaching hospital and faculty group arrangements, service line arrangements, physician and mid-level provider employment agreements, recruitment agreements, leases, graduate medical education, ambulatory surgery center matters, capital acquisition and leasing, clinical research and IRBs, managed care and finance issues, compliance, HIPAA/HITECH and privacy related rules, risk management, and recipient rights issues.
In addition to her involvement in the AHLA, Hoffman recently chaired the leadership council of the Healthcare Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She is also a member of the Michigan Society of Health Care Risk Management, where she previously served in several leadership roles.
Prior to pursuing her legal career, Hoffman worked for 12 years as a registered nurse, specializing in critical care, emergency nursing and hospital supervision of nursing and other staff. She received her associate degree from Monroe County Community College in 1981 and went on to receive her undergraduate degree from the University of Toledo in 1988. She received her law degree in 1992 from the University of Toledo College of Law.
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Legal Aid and Defender Association, Inc. (LAD)
Legal Aid and Defender Association Inc. (LAD) has two new attorneys, Joan E. Morgan and Joycelyn Ward.
Morgan is a deputy defender in LAD’s Federal Defender Office and works in LAD’s office in Flint. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
Ward is a staff attorney in LAD’s Civil Law Group. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and Wayne State University School of Law. She receive LAD’s Pro Bono Spirit Oakland County award in 2013.
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Wachler & Associates PC
Andrew B. Wachler of Wachler & Associates PC was profiled in the July/August 2014 edition of Ambassador Magazine. He was interviewed by publisher Denise Ilitch and featured in a two-page article based on the interview.
“The Affordable Care Act is changing the way health care is delivered and the practice of health care law…[W]e are challenging health care plans, which have terminated doctors without cause in order to reduce the number of physicians in their network,” Wachler told Ilitch. He added that, “a patient’s right to see their primary care physician trumps the proprietary interest of the health plan to reduce its network without honoring the patient’s freedom of choice.”
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.
