Potestivo & Associates PC is pleased to announce the hiring of Brian C. Gurta. He joined the attorney team on Friday, July 1, and is located at the firm's Rochester office as an associate attorney serving the Landlord and Litigation Departments.
Gurta completed his B.S. at Grand Valley State University in 2011, where he majored in Psychology and minored in Business and Legal Studies. He went on to earn his law degree at Wayne State University Law School in 2015.
Gurta has gained a lot of experience in just a short amount of time. Including being a legal intern at Quicken Loans, and more recently a litigation law clerk for Potestivo & Associates PC, his experience demonstrates that he is befitted to the legal needs and objectives of Potestivo & Associates PC.
Gurta belongs to the Detroit Veterans Bar Association and volunteers for the AmeriCorps Urban Safety Project. He has also earned his commission as an officer in the Michigan Army National Guard and United States Army.
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Goodman Acker PC announced that Michelle Aaron has joined the Southfield based firm as an associate attorney. Aaron will focus on personal injury and premises liability. She received her law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in 2008 and undergrad from Michigan State University in 2005. While at WMU-Cooley, Aaron worked as an intern on the Innocence Project which is a non-profit legal organization that is committed to exonerating wrongly convicted people through DNA testing.
Prior to joining Goodman Acker PC, Aaron worked as a criminal defense attorney and general civil litigation as a solo practitioner. Aaron is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the Oakland County Bar Association.
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Professor Karen McDonald Henning is the recipient of the 2016 James T. Barnes, Sr. Memorial Faculty Scholar Award at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. The award, named in honor of alumnus James T. Barnes Sr. of the class of 1940, recognizes a faculty member's outstanding scholarship, teaching excellence, and public service.
Henning brings passion and commitment to her research and writing, which have made her well-known as a scholar and presenter across the United States. That commitment is mirrored in her devotion to teaching, as she is a leader in teaching innovation at Detroit Mercy Law.
Henning is a prolific scholar. Her publications include a critical article on prosecutorial immunity and her work on the co-authored text "Criminal Pretrial Advocacy." In particular, she developed the complex set of simulated litigation materials that accompany the text, which is separate from the equally complex "Teacher's Manual." In 2016, Henning completed a major revision of the text and its accompanying materials, and she completed and secured publication of her latest article on "good faith" exceptions under the Fourth Amendment in St. John's Law Review. She has also presented papers to national audiences on her teaching areas and on legal pedagogy.
Henning teaches Applied Legal Theory and Analysis, Advanced Advocacy, Federal Jurisdiction, and a Judicial Clerkship seminar. She serves as chair of the Admissions Committee, coordinates the Writing for Publication Program, and coaches national Moot Court teams for Detroit Mercy Law.
Henning received a Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After graduating from law school, she clerked for United States Court of Appeals Judge Collins J. Seitz, Third Circuit. She then joined the litigation department of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom in the Washington, D.C. office and worked on a variety of matters before federal appellate and trial courts and administrative agencies. She subsequently served as an appellate attorney in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. She began teaching at Detroit Mercy Law in 2007.
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Karen Smyth, from the law firm of Lipson, Neilson, Cole, Seltzer, & Garin PC, was featured on panels of professional liability industry professionals at the 2016 Claims and Litigation Management Boston Conference held on July 14-15.
Smyth, a partner in the firm's Bloomfield Hills office and president of the Michigan Claims and Litigation Management Chapter, discussed "Cyber Attacks on Professionals-How Far Will They Raise The Standard of Care?" This session explored types of attacks against professionals that give rise to claims by their clients, how to prevent and then defend lawsuits relating to such attacks, and the quandary of the standard of care: The more we improve how we deal with attackers the higher the standard becomes for everyone.
Smyth has experience in the defense of professional liability cases, including legal malpractice, medical malpractice, and employment practices litigation. She is a graduate of the Litigation Management Institute.
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Collins, Einhorn, Farrell PC is pleased to announce that attorney Andrea M. Mannino has joined the firm's Automobile Liability and Insurance Coverage practice groups. Mannino will focus her practice primarily on coverage litigation and first- and third-party automobile litigation, handling litigation from the discovery phase through trial. Mannino has experience working with general liability, automotive litigation (primarily in the area of no-fault claims) and premises liability matters. Her experience also includes work with catastrophic claims and drafting coverage opinions.
In 2010, Mannino graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She then went on to obtain her law degree from Michigan State University College of Law in 2014.
Mannino is a member of the American Bar Association, the Italian American Bar Association of Michigan, and the Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar of Michigan.
Mannino is committed to philanthropy. She has been involved in several international charity efforts, including mission trips overseas. She is also an active member in organizations like the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, where she serves as a team captain for their annual "Light the Night Walk." Mannino has spent time volunteering as a camp counselor for Royal Family KIDS, a non-profit program providing camps, clubs and mentoring to abused and neglected children growing up in foster care.
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The Michigan Defense Trial Counsel announced its new officers and board members:
- President Hilary A. Ballentine of Plunkett Cooney.
- Vice President Richard W. Paul of Dickinson Wright PLLC.
- Treasurer Joshua K. Richardson of Foster, Swift, Collins, & Smith PC.
- Secretary Irene Bruce Hathaway of Miller, Canfield, Paddock, & Stone PLC.
- Immediate Past President Lee Khachaturian of Law Offices of Diana Lee Khachaturian
- New board member Michael J. Jolet of Hewson & Van Hellemont PC.
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Holli Targan, an attorney and partner with Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC, has been elected as a director of the Merchant Acquirers Committee (MAC) Board of Directors for a two-year term. Targan previously participated for 12 months on the MAC board as an advisor to the MAC president.
Comprised of more than 900 members from over 250 companies, MAC is the premier risk, underwriting and compliance educational organization in the payment processing space. The non-profit organization is dedicated to providing universal risk management solutions through ongoing communication and cooperation among acquirers, card associations and enforcement agencies.
Targan is chairperson of Jaffe's Electronic Payments Group, and specializes in credit and debit card processing, fintech, ATM and payment systems law. As counsel to companies in the payments industry domestically and internationally, she advises clients on compliance, contract issues, strategic direction, and merger and acquisition transactions, assisting in buying and selling portfolios and companies.
Targan is a frequent author and speaker at industry forums. She is founder and a member of the Board of Directors of W-net: Women's Network in Electronic Transactions, a past president of the Electronic Transactions Association, and past chairman of the Certified Payments Professional Commission. Additionally, she has been named a Best Lawyers Best Lawyer in America, PaymentSource's Most Influential Women in Payments, Super Lawyers Michigan Super Lawyer, DBusiness Top Lawyer, and Transaction World Magazine's Mover & Shaker.
