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Miller Canfield has announced that it has elected a new managing director and new principals. The announcement was made by Miller Canfield CEO Michael McGee at the firm’s 2016 Annual Meeting in Detroit.

The firm elected litigation and dispute resolution attorney Amy M. Johnston to serve as a managing director. Johnston is a graduate of the University of Michigan and of University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Miller Canfield’s newly elected local principals are:

• Jeffrey S. Aronoff with the firm’s Public Finance group in Detroit. He is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School.

• James M. Crowley with Public Finance group in Detroit. He is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School.

• Christina J. Marshall with the Product Safety group in Troy. She is a graduate of University of Akron Law School.

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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorneys Gregory W. Moore, Peter J. Domas, Serene K. Zeni, and Alexandra A. Hall have joined the firm’s Troy office. They join the firm from Clark Hill PLC.

Gregory W. Moore joins the firm as a member and a co-leader of its Behavioral Health Care law group. Throughout his career, Moore has focused on representing and counseling providers of all types and sizes including: behavioral health care compliance, facilities and networks, behavioral health care information networks, medical groups, federally-qualified health centers, trade associations, nonprofit and for profit hospitals, as well as international and domestic medical tourism companies. He has been recognized as a thought leader and innovator when it comes to the integration of behavioral health care and physical medicine. With 25 years of experience serving clients in the industry, his practice covers the full spectrum of regulatory, transactional and litigation services. He counsels clients on payment reform and other health care reform matters, joint ventures, managed care, regulatory compliance, labor and employment matters, government investigations and qui tam litigation, as well as international collaboration and business ventures including cross-border health delivery.

Moore has achieved a prestigious AV rating by Martindale Hubbell and has been continuously selected by his peers as a Super Lawyer in Health Care Law as well as Labor and Employment Law. He was also selected by his peers as a Michigan Lawyers Weekly, Leader in the Law for 2016. He has lectured all around the globe on topics relevant to the health care industry with particular emphasis on health care reform, global health care delivery, and behavioral health care matters. He is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and its Behavioral Health Task Force, the State Bar of Michigan, the Indiana Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. Moore received his B.A. from Indiana University-Bloomington and his law degree from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

In January 2009, Moore along with his partner Russell A. Kolsrud, who is also joining Dickinson Wright in its Phoenix office, created a Behavioral Health Care Law Practice Group, the first of its kind in a national law firm.  With more than 50 years of combined experience, Moore and Kolsrud continue to guide their behavioral health care clients through the complicated and exciting changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act.  They have been and continue to be leaders in educating and counseling clients as Parity and the integration of behavioral health and physical health take center stage.

Serene K. Zeni joins the firm as of counsel. She represents health professionals and organizations to establish and maintain quality, risk management, and compliance programs in a variety of settings. Her clients seek her assistance in an array of matters whether it is simple contract review and negotiation to aiding an entrepreneur in the health field to establish and structure a new organization.  Zeni also has extensive experience in administrative law matters whether it is defending a professional’s license against state prosecution or addressing controversies with state and federal agencies. While she concentrates her practice on health care, she also aids her clients in real estate transactions and estate planning. Zeni is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association; the Health Law Section, the Estate Planning Section, and the Real Estate Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She received her B.A. from the University of Michigan, and her law degrees from Wayne State University Law School and Loyola University School of Law.

Peter J. Domas joins the firm as Of Counsel. His practice is devoted to representing clients in the healthcare industry, and assisting them in navigating the complex statutory and regulatory environment unique to healthcare corporate, transactional, and litigation matters. He also counsels clients on the development and maintenance of effective internal compliance programs with a special focus on federal and state fraud and abuse laws, reimbursement regulations, and HIPAA.  Domas is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Healthcare Financial Management Association-Eastern Michigan Chapter, and the State Bar of Michigan. He received his B.B.A from University of Michigan-Flint, M.S. from Walsh College, and his law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Alexandra A. Hall joins the firm as an associate. She practices in all areas of health care law and represents a variety of health professionals and organizations.  Hall advises clients on issues ranging from reimbursement, state and federal fraud and abuse laws, HIPAA, and licensure matters. Hall assists a variety of health care providers with complex statutory and regulatory issues, including the establishment of internal quality assurance and compliance plans.  Hall also has significant experience in supporting health care providers with the Medicare appeals process.  Hall is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan. She received her B.A. from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and her law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law with a Certificate in Health Law.

In addition, Dickinson Wright is pleased to announce that attorney James Spica has been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation is an honorary organization of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Membership in The Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Members are nominated by their peers and elected by the Board of the American Bar Foundation.

Spica is a member in Dickinson Wright’s Detroit office. He focuses his practice on estate and tax planning, trust banking, and trust litigation. He is the principal author of Michigan’s Personal Property Trust Perpetuities Act of 2008 and of the tripartite trust-decanting regime enacted as 2012 Michigan Public Acts Nos. 483, 484, and 485. He is the American Bar Association (ABA) Advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws’ Drafting Committee on Divided Trusteeship and served on the ad hoc committee of the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section that drafted the Section’s response to the Treasury Department’s request (IRS Notice 2011-101) for comments on the tax implications of trust decanting.

Spica is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a member of the ACTEC State Laws Committee, a former member of the Council (governing body) of the Probate and Estate Planning Section of the State Bar of Michigan (2006-2015), and a current member of the Probate and Estate Planning Advisory Board of the Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He has an LL.M. (in Taxation) from New York University, was clerk to the Honorable Richard C. Wilbur on the United States Tax Court (1985), and taught taxation, trusts, and decedents’ estates as an assistant/associate professor of law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (1989-2000, tenured 1996).

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Butzel Long immigration law attorney Reginald A. Pacis will co-present a workshop on immigration compliance issues during an Association of Chinese American program on April 4 at the Chinese Community Center in Madison Heights.

Pacis focuses his practice in immigration law and has handled a variety of immigration matters including H-1B specialty occupation cases, L-1 Intracompany transfers, Labor Certification matters, Immigrant Visa Petitions/Adjustment of Status applications and interviews, TN Free trade cases, H-1B Department of Labor Investigations, I-9 employer verification compliance, and U.S. Port of Entry airport and land port interviews.

He was named Immigration Lawyer of the Year 2013 in the field of Immigration Law by The Best Lawyers in America and has been listed in Best Lawyers for several years. Pacis is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Samahang Pilipino Ng Oakland Filipino organization. He served two consecutive one-year terms from 2003 to 2005 as chairperson of the Michigan Chapter of AILA and was a member of the AILA National Board of Governors for those terms. Pacis previously served as Secretary (2001 to 2003) and Membership Chairperson of the Michigan Chapter of AILA (1998 to 2003).

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Alan S. Gorosh, counsel for Ford Motor Company, was recently inducted into the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at a ceremony in New Orleans, LA. He is the only in house automotive attorney in the country to ever receive this distinction.

He was also honored by DBusiness Magazine as a Top Lawyer in the Corporate Counsel specialty. 

Gorosh joined the Office of the General Counsel in 1980 and is currently working in the Human Resources-Healthcare Management Group. 

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Brooks Kushman is pleased to announce it has been recognized as the Patent Litigation Firm of the Year in the Midwest by Managing Intellectual Property (IP) Magazine.

In addition to the firm’s litigation recognition, shareholder Frank Angileri has been named Michigan’s IP Litigator of the Year for the second consecutive year. The awards were presented at the Managing IP North American Awards dinner on March 17th in Washington, D.C.

Angileri, who also serves as co-chair of Brooks Kushman’s Post-Grant Proceedings practice, was recognized for his litigation and Patent Trial and Appeal Board work throughout the year. Under his direction, the firm filed more than 30 inter partes review proceedings in 2015. Angileri was also lead counsel for an automotive supplier that received a significant settlement in a patent litigation suit in 2015 (I.E.E. International Electronics & Engineering, S.A. and IEE Sensing, Inc. v. TK Holdings Inc. and Takata-Petri A.G., Case No. 10-cv-1348).

Managing IP awards national U.S. and Canadian firms, U.S. regional firms and outstanding IP litigators to recognize outstanding in-house teams, individuals and milestone cases of the year.

Brooks Kushman also ranked amongst the top Trademark Prosecution Firms of the Year both in the Midwest and nationally.

In addition, Brooks Kushman shareholder Marc Malooley was featured in Crain’s Detroit Business’ March 21, 2016 article, “Joint development agreements smooth way for auto tech partnerships.”

In the article, Malooley discusses that automakers are partnering with smaller start-ups to advance technology at a faster pace.

“In some cases, it doesn’t matter if the company is bigger or smaller, because they have a technology the automakers can’t replicate in house or get elsewhere,” Malooley said in the article. “Now, the relationship is not so one-sided.”

Malooley has nearly 20 years of intellectual property (IP) experience, focusing on a variety of IP matters including patents, trade secrets and IP license agreements. He represents clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to sole inventors, and assists them in all aspects of IP protection. He earned a law degree from Indiana University, Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Wayne State University.

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Bowman and Brooke is proud to announce that Tom Branigan has been re-elected as managing partner of the firm’s Detroit office. In addition, Jeffrey Gorcyca has also been re-elected as co-managing partner.

Branigan represents clients from a broad array of business and industry sectors including automotive, banking and financial services, chemical, franchising, hospitality and insurance. He has tried more than 30 complex and high-exposure cases to verdict in both state and federal courts on a nationwide basis and is known for bringing a solution-focused, analytical approach to problem solving and a leadership style that is in alignment with the objectives and culture of his clients.

Branigan has a proven track record of aggressive and cost effective management and resolution of all facets of complex and high exposure litigation including trials, class actions, multidistrict litigation, appeals, arbitrations and mediations. He received his law degree from Michigan State University College of Law.

Gorcyca is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer that has spent the last two decades representing Fortune 500 companies, institutions and other corporations in the litigation fields of automotive and heavy machine product liability, medical device, chemical/toxic torts, commercial, personal injury (including auto negligence and premises), pharmaceutical and medical malpractice. He has tried more than ten high-exposure, catastrophic injury cases in front of juries across the United States and argued before both federal and state appellate judges.

Gorcyca is licensed in Michigan and Illinois, as well as a barrister-at-law and solicitor in Ontario, Canada. He received his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

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Cass Community Social Services (Cass) is proud to announce Kimberly K. Hudolin has been named to the newly created position of deputy director; she is Cass’ first deputy director in its 14-year history. Hudolin was introduced to Cass in the early 1990s as a volunteer for its Rotating Shelter program, and later served lunches and made sandwiches at the agency’s Scott Building.

As deputy director, Hudolin will oversee Cass’ daily operations, allowing Fowler to have more time to focus on community outreach, fund and friend-raising. Hudolin acknowledges the agency’s strong programs and dedicated staff, and will work to support and enhance both.

“I always intended to volunteer more with Cass when I eventually retired, and the creation of the Deputy Director position enabled me to join the team on a full-time basis even earlier than I’d hoped,” Hudolin said. “I had a great legal career, but I’m thrilled to be able to create a second career doing such significant work with the Cass team.”

Prior to joining Cass, Hudolin worked for General Motors as an attorney on the executive level. During her 19-year tenure she worked in a variety of positions in the transactional/corporate finance areas. Before GM, Hudolin spent 10 years as Partner/Associate at Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn in Detroit.
Hudolin has a long history with nonprofits, and is currently serving as the volunteer Board Chair for both Michigan Community Resources and the Staff Parish Relations Committee of Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Detroit.

Hudolin is also a member of the State Bar of Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School. While at General Motors she was the recipient of the 2013 TeamGM Transformers Award, the Chairman’s Honors Award in 2002 and 2008 and a 2008 Corporate Secretary Magazine finalist for best corporate secretary or legal counsel in an M&A transaction. 

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Syeda Davidson of Burgess, Sharp, & Golden organized and moderated “Representing Survivors of Assault.” Lawyer speakers included: Heidi Sharp of Burgess, Sharp, & Golden; William Knight of Lakeshore Legal Aid; and Ashley Lowe of Wayne State University Law School. Non-lawyer speakers were Jessica Bertollini of #happyperioddetroit and Sarah Dobbyn of Turning Point.

Davidson also presented to Affirmations’ Cross the Line (XTL) Youth Workforce Development Program regarding employment discrimination as it relates to LGBT youth.

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Wayne State University Law School Associate Professor Noah Hall, an expert in environmental and water law, has been appointed special assistant attorney general for Michigan, joining the special counsel team for the Flint water investigation.

The special counsel team will investigate to determine if any state laws were violated and then potentially could prosecute under civil and criminal law options.
As Hall explained: Appointing the team was necessary because the Michigan attorney general must advise and ultimately defend the state and its agencies in this matter. Attorney General Bill Schuette has established an “iron-clad conflict wall” between the attorney general’s office and the special counsel team, allowing both sides to do their job properly.

Todd Flood, a former prosecutor, is leading the team. Andrew Arena, former director of the Detroit FBI office, also has been appointed to the team.

“I’m honored to serve the people of Michigan in the most important environmental law and public health case in the state’s history,” Hall said. “What happened in Flint is not simply a tragedy; it was the result of government failure and a breakdown of the environmental law system. For the system to work, government needs to do its job, and failings need to be held accountable. Lawyers can’t make sick people healthy or bring back lives lost. But my hope is that our work brings justice, helps right the wrongs committed and prevents something like this from ever happening again.”

Hall joined the Wayne Law faculty in 2005. He has taught courses including Administrative Law, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law and Water Law.

Previously, he taught at the University of Michigan Law School and was an attorney with the National Wildlife Federation where he managed the Great Lakes Water Resources Program for the nation’s largest conservation organization. Hall also worked in private practice for several years, representing a variety of business and public-interest clients in litigated and regulatory matters. He has extensive litigation experience and numerous published decisions in state and federal courts. He continues to represent a variety of clients in significant environmental policy disputes.

He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School and University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, concentrating in environmental policy.