Legal People

Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Donovan S. Asmar, an associate attorney in the firm’s Troy office, has been awarded the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association’s Barristers Pro Bono Award. The award is given annually to an outstanding attorney who has practiced for fewer than ten years and who has made extraordinary accomplishments through his or her participation in pro bono activities.

Asmar is a member of Bodman’s Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He represents clients involved in commercial litigation matters. Before joining Bodman, Asmar clerked for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly who has since joined Bodman.

Asmar’s nomination, submitted by fellow Bodman attorney Michael Serra, focused on his pro bono work with a family of Iraqi asylees. The family’s journey to America followed years of persecution, imprisonment, and even torture in their native country. To accomplish permanent residency in the United States for the five family members, Asmar had to learn a new area of law and prepare detailed applications for each family member, including compiling hundreds of pages of supporting documentation.

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Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP partner Lisa B. Zimmer has been honored by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as one of its 2016 Women in the Law.

The award will be presented at a special ceremony in Troy on Sept. 15 honoring 30 leading Michigan women attorneys for their contributions.

Based in the firm’s Southfield office, Zimmer concentrates her practice on employee benefits law. She advises employers on the design, implementation and compliance of retirement programs such as 401(k) plans and pension plans. She also is a member of the five-attorney team who inspired PulteGroup to name Warner Norcross as its Law Firm of the Year for 2015 from more than 200 law firms in consideration for the recognition.

Zimmer is the former chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Employee Benefits Committee of the Taxation Section, and a member of the American Bar Association and Inforum Michigan. She helps lead the law firm’s marketing efforts as a
whole and also for the Employee Benefits Group’s marketing subcommittee, where she helps with business development initiatives. She has also been active with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

Zimmer has been included in Michigan Super Lawyers since 2010 and in Best Lawyers in America since 2011. Chambers USA has ranked Zimmer among the leading practitioners in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation field since 2008.

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Butzel Long, one of Michigan’s leading law firms, has relocated its Washington, D.C. office to1909 K. Street, N.W., Suite 500, Washington, D.C. The main telephone number remains the same – 202-454-2800.

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Goodman Acker PC recently announced the new hire of Leah Hougaboom as an associate attorney.  Hougaboom will focus on personal injury, with an emphasis on motor vehicle accidents and premises liability. Hougaboom is a graduate of Michigan State University and in 2014 earned her law degree from the Wayne State University Law School. 

Prior to joining Goodman Acker PC, Hougaboom worked as a personal injury attorney in Huntington Woods.  She is an active member of the Michigan Association for Justice and a member of the State Bar of Michigan.

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The Ayar Law Group has experienced steady growth over the past three years, prompting the need to add one new attorney and additional support staff to the firm annually.  The firm, headquartered in Southfield, added attorneys Alan Shamoun in 2014, Ramy Shabana in 2015, and recently announced the addition of Metro-Detroit native Lawrence Kajy to its Michigan offices. 

Kajy grew up in West Bloomfield and graduated from Walled Lake High School.  The son of immigrant parents, he spent the majority of his youth working in the family business (several small family-owned stores in and around Detroit), and was slated for a presumed career there until his brother unselfishly assumed responsibility for Lawrence’s role in the family business to allow him to follow his dream of becoming an attorney. 

Kajy earned his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2015.  While in law school, he interned for the public defender’s office at the 36th District Court in Detroit, representing indigent clients as a court appointed attorney, and assisted disabled veterans at the UDM Veterans Law Clinic.

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Three Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP attorneys have been selected to participate in executive leadership programs in Southeast Michigan.

The attorneys are:

Wyatt J. Istvan-Mitchell, who is senior counsel with the firm and specializes in intellectual property and patent counseling, will participate in Leadership Detroit.

Laura N. You, an associate with the firm who focuses on commercial litigation, will take part in Leadership Oakland.

Lyndsay Ott, who is senior counsel and specializes in representing both individuals and businesses in state and federal litigation, will participate in Leadership Macomb.

Select business professionals and community and government leaders are chosen each year to take part in the nine-month Leadership Macomb, Detroit and Oakland programs.  The programs give emerging leaders opportunities to learn about and explore key issues that impact Macomb, Wayne, and Oakland counties in Southeast Michigan.

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Collins, Einhorn, Farrell PC is pleased to announce that attorney Robbie J. Gaines Jr. has joined the firm’s General and Automotive Liability practice group. Gaines entered private practice following a judicial clerkship in the Third Judicial Court of Michigan with Judge Leslie Kim Smith. Gaines has worked on a wide range of civil cases with complex procedural and substantive legal issues. He has experience in no-fault, premises liability, medical malpractice, employment law and civil rights litigation.

Gaines received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science from Wayne State University in 2012 and went on to obtain a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2015.

Active in the community, Gaines is involved in a number of Detroit-based programs which help develop young students who are interested in pursuing a career in the legal field, including the Metropolitan Detroit High School Law & Leadership Program, the Cass Technical High School Moot Court Program, and the General Motors Street Law Program.

Gaines is a member of State Bar of Michigan.

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Jennifer Lord, of Pitt, McGehee, Palmer & Rivers, has been named by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as one of its “2016 Women in the Law.”

Lord, a partner with the firm, focuses her practice on all forms of workplace discrimination, breach of contract, Family and Medical Leave Act, whistleblower issues, C-level severance negotiations and class actions.

She is currently representing thousands of Michigan citizens in a class action lawsuit against the State of Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency. The lawsuit, filed last year in Michigan Court of Claims, alleges the state made unconstitutional fraud accusations against unemployment claimants based on determinations made by a suspect computer program. The lawsuit also seeks restitution for claimants who were illegally assessed huge penalties, had wages garnished and tax returns seized by the state.

Lord is a member of the Michigan Employment Lawyers Association, National Employment Lawyers Association and Michigan Association for Justice. She is also a member of State Bar of Michigan (Labor & Employment Section), Oakland County Bar Association (Circuit Court and Professional Development Sections), and Federal Bar Association.

She is active with the Institute for Continuing Legal Education as an author and presenter. In addition, Lord is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected by Michigan Super Lawyers. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Law School.

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Butzel Long attorney Jennifer Dukarski has been named a “2016 Honoree for Michigan Women in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.   She is one of 30 female attorneys who will be honored during a luncheon on Sept. 15 at the Marriott Hotel in Troy.

Dukarski focuses her practice at the intersection of technology and communications with an emphasis on emerging and disruptive issues: digital media, cybersecurity, infotainment, vehicle safety and connected and autonomous cars.

In her practice, she has negotiated contracts for autonomous vehicle components, reviewed contracts involving wireless updates to in-vehicle technology, assisted companies in achieving successful Petitions for Inconsequential

Noncompliance with NHTSA and has addressed multiple vehicle component recalls. She has become a national leader in legal issues facing emerging automotive technology and is the leader of Butzel Long’s connected car working group.  She also has spearheaded the reporting efforts for two national data breaches and focuses on the threat vectors facing automotive component design.

A self-titled “recovering engineer,” Dukarski serves as counsel to the OESA’s Product Development Council and has spoken on First Amendment issues ranging from newsgathering in the digital age to the impact of the FBI iPhone strategy. 

She has been a panelist at the North American International Auto Show for the last two years, covering a broad variety of legal concerns focused on the autonomous and connected car.  She has appeared on several television programs, including Autoline and AutoBeat, and in many print interviews (including CIO Magazine, PC World, Bridge Magazine, Computer World and Automotive News) discussing automotive technology and its related legal issues.

Prior to joining Butzel, Dukarski gained automotive manufacturing and design experience as a result of high-level quality management and engineering positions.  She has worked extensively on successful automotive product launches, managing vendors and Tier One manufacturing facilities.  A Six Sigma Master Black Belt, she applies her experience to create innovative approaches to the protection of IP assets and disruptive technology. 

Dukarski has experience with field recalls and was a representative to the University of Michigan’s CIREN (Crash Injury Research & Engineering Network) and UMPIRE (University of Michigan Program for Injury Research and Education).  Working as a design engineer, she received multiple Record of Invention Awards for contributions to patents and trade secrets. 

She is among Michigan Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” and DBusiness “Top Lawyers.”  In addition, she is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).  She serves as a Working Group member with IEEE PAR 1912 (Privacy and Security Architecture for Consumer Wireless Devices) which is focused on setting standards for privacy and security protocols.  She also coaches and mentors women engineers in their automotive careers.

Recently, she was appointed to serve as the liaison to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Young Lawyers Committee on the Forum on Communications Law Governing Committee. 

Dukarski is an adjunct professor in the Paralegal Program, Intellectual Property at Baker College.  She is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She’s also a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy College of Engineering and Science.

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Secrest Wardle is pleased to announce that two new attorneys have joined the firm.

Lisa A. Neville has joined Secrest Wardle’s Troy location. Neville is a member of the firm’s Motor Vehicle Litigation Practice Group.  She comes to Secrest Wardle from GEICO Insurance Company, where she was staff counsel defending PIP and third-party motor vehicle litigation matters. 

Neville is admitted to practice law in the State of Michigan and the United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan.  Neville earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Oakland University in Sociology with a concentration in Criminal Justice.  She received her law degree from the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in 2012.

Lauren A. Sterrett has also joined Secrest Wardle’s Troy office. Sterrett is a member of the firm’s Motor Vehicle Litigation Practice Group. Sterrett previously practiced in Metro Detroit, representing clients in a variety of no-fault litigation matters.

Sterrett earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Political Science from the University of Michigan.  Sterrett completed her law degree at Michigan State University College of Law.

Sterrett was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 2015.  She is also admitted to practice in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. 

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Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP is pleased to announce that Taylor B. Hauck and Sydney Koch have joined the firm as associates in its Detroit office.

Hauck focuses her practice on commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, sales, financing and leasing. She is admitted to practice in Illinois and her admission to the State Bar of Michigan is pending. Hauck comes to Honigman from the Chicago office of Katten, Muchin, Rosenman LLP.

She earned her law degree from Stanford Law School.  Hauck received her B.S. from Tulane University. She also attended CET and C.V. Starr-Middlebury School in Beijing and Kunming, China, where she participated in a Mandarin language immersion program.

Koch is a business immigration attorney who assists clients with employment-based immigration matters. She handles immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications. Koch is admitted to practice in Michigan. She joins Honigman from the University of Michigan International Center, where she served as an immigration specialist. Koch earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law.  She received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan.