Legal People

Sean H. Cook, partner at Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP, has been elected for a three-year term to the Taxation Section Council of the State Bar of Michigan. From his office in Southfield, Cook focuses his practice in tax, mergers and acquisitions, closely held businesses, trusts and estates, and general corporate law. He works closely with businesses on complex tax matters and has worked with both for-profit and non-profit companies. A certified public accountant, Cook chairs the firm’s Tax Practice Group.

•            •            •

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, a full service law firm, invests in Metro Detroit, doubling its space in the new Troy office. Located at 900 Wilshire Drive, Dinsmore will now occupy Suite 300 of Wilshire Plaza North. When the two phases of the project are complete, the office will span nearly 17,000 square feet.
Dinsmore’s new office lease was named one of the three largest commercial real estate deals in Troy for the first half of 2016. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, a global commercial real estate advisory firm, analyzed Metro Detroit and compiled its findings in a report that showed continuing expansion in the commercial real estate market across the area.

“The Metro Detroit area is full of activity, and it’s an exciting time. Companies in all stages, from established names to startups, are locating here to take advantage of everything the city has to offer, and these businesses need legal counsel,” said Tom Anderson, Detroit office managing partner. “The new office gives us the room to expand our local practice, effective of the firm as a whole, offering legal advice and support in corporate, litigation, public finance and other areas. Our goal is to enhance our service offerings for area businesses to match the deep bench Dinsmore offers.”

Dinsmore moved to Wilshire Plaza North when the lease expired at the former Continental Plaza location. During construction, the office moved to a temporary space while phase one of the project was complete. Attorneys and staff moved into 12,000 square feet, and there will be an additional 4300 square feet with the second phase in six months. The new location is designed to encourage collaboration.

Dinsmore merged with Gifford Krass in September 2015, establishing two locations in Michigan and one in Connecticut. Thirteen attorneys work out of the Troy office focusing on intellectual property, employment, labor and benefits, and litigation. The new address for Dinsmore’s Metro Detroit office is: 900 Wilshire Drive, Suite 300, Troy, MI 48084. All phone numbers and fax numbers remain the same.

 •            •            •

Secrest Wardle Municipal Attorney William P. Hampton received the Distinguished Municipal Attorney Award from the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys (MAMA) on Thursday, Oct. 13,

The Distinguished Municipal Attorney Award is given for outstanding contributions to the practice of municipal law on behalf of cities and villages throughout Michigan, and
acknowledges the highest level of professional accomplishment while also serving their colleagues through professional organizations such as MAMA and the International Municipal Lawyers Association. 

The award ceremony and luncheon took place in Lansing. In attendance from Secrest Wardle’s Troy office were Mark E. Morley, senior partner and co-managing partner; Derk W. Beckerleg, executive partner and managing partner of the Municipal Law Practice Group; Jennifer C. Hill, associate; and Hampton’s wife Lanie Anderson.

Hampton has practiced law for more than 50 years and is recognized as a leading authority in the area of municipal law.  He has served as general counsel for the City of Bloomfield Hills (39 years), City of Auburn Hills (35 years), Charter Township of Bloomfield (35 years), and Charter Township of West Bloomfield (35 years).  He developed Secrest Wardle’s Municipal Law Practice Group from its inception into the renowned municipal law practice group it is today.

Derk W. Beckerleg, stated that Mr. Hampton is, “... known for his stringent standards in providing his clients with the best representation available. He has served as a mentor to the municipal attorneys at Secrest Wardle throughout his career.”  Beckerleg and Hill nominated Hampton for the award. “Mr. Hampton is known for his strong leadership skills, offering direction and sharing knowledge not only with the municipal attorneys at Secrest Wardle, but with other municipal attorneys and colleagues as well. Mr. Hampton has used his invaluable experience and extensive expertise to develop, and execute time and again, proven defense strategies for municipalities, counties, school districts, universities, and state agencies across the state of Michigan.”

MAMA President and Kalamazoo City Attorney Clyde Robinson reviewed highlights of Hampton’s career in presenting the award. He has continually shown exceptional leadership skills throughout his positions as commissioner of the State Bar of Michigan and as an Oakland County Circuit Court judge, including a term as a presiding judge. He was also elected to three terms in the Michigan House of Representatives, where his tenure included service as majority and minority leader.

“I am humbled and honored to receive this award and be recognized by my colleagues,” said Hampton about his recent success.

The Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys (MAMA) is a chartered section of the Michigan Municipal League, which is a Michigan nonprofit corporation. MAMA was established in 1935 as an affiliated organization of the league. The association is governed by a board of directors elected by the member municipal attorneys.

Membership consists of every city and village attorney, who represents a member of the Michigan Municipal League, their deputies and assistants, and league staff members duly admitted to practice law in the State of Michigan.

 •            •            •

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently announced the appointment of Paul Cusick to the Wayne County Circuit Court.

Cusick has worked as an assistant attorney general in the Criminal Division of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office since 2011 handling complex healthcare fraud and violent crime prosecutions. He previously served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, handling cases of homicides, assaults, armed robberies and juvenile matters.

During law school he served as a judicial intern for Judge Michal Callahan and then moved to the Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic in 2006 as a law clerk.

Cusick is a member of the Michigan Supreme Court Committee on Model Criminal Jury Instructions and the State Bar of Michigan Character and Fitness District Committee.  He is a board member of the Michigan Federalist Society, a member of the Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers and a member of the State Bar of Michigan.

Cusick earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 2004 and his law degree from Wayne State University Law School Law in 2007. 
He fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Maria Oxholm.

Cusick must seek election in November 2018 for a full six-year term.

 •            •            •

Jeremy D. Bisdorf, a partner in the Southfield and Ann Arbor offices of Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC, has been appointed to the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) Technology Law & Training Advisory Board. Jaffe CEO Bill Sider made the announcement.

As a member of the ICLE advisory board, Bisdorf will be responsible for advising ICLE about the practical impact of new legal developments and reviewing ICLE’s proposed courses, books, and technology projects to see if they match practitioners’ needs.

Bisdorf is a member of Jaffe’s intellectual property, corporate, health care and franchising/licensing practice groups. Jeremy specializes in providing strategic legal advice and business consultation services to clients in order to maximize the value of their patents, trademarks, copyrights and other proprietary information. Jeremy services a number of clients in the medical device, software, e-commerce, health care and franchising industries.

In addition to his advisory board position with ICLE, Bisdorf is a member of the American Bar Association Business Law and Intellectual Property Sections and a past chairman and current member of the State Bar of Michigan Information Technology Law Section.

Bisdorf is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Business Administration. He earned his law degrees from the University of Michigan Law School and Wayne State University Law School.

 •            •            •

Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney James Spica has been elected a Trustee of the American Trust for the British Library.

The American Trust for the British Library is a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to promote and support the work of one of the world’s greatest research libraries.
Formally separated from the British Museum in 1973, the British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and the largest library in the world by number of items catalogued. The American Trust for the British Library was founded in 1979 and is supported through the generosity of its wide membership in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Spica was elected to the Trust’s Board at its 2016 Annual Meeting held on October 17 at the Century Association in New York City.

Spica is a member in Dickinson Wright’s Detroit office. He specializes in trust law and trust banking. He is the principal author of the Michigan Personal Property Trust Perpetuities Act of 2008 and of the multi-statute Michigan “trust decanting” regime enacted in 2012. He is an American Bar Association (ABA) Advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a member of the ACTEC State Laws Committee, a past 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 clerked for United States Tax Court Judge Richard C. Wilbur (1985) and taught jurisprudence, 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).

Apart from the American Trust for the British Library, Spica’s bibliophilic associations include the Associates Board of Governors of the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan, the Board of Directors of the Grosse Pointe Library Foundation, the Grolier Club of New York, the Classical Association of New England, the Johnson Society of London, the Selden Society, and the Virgil Society. His service on non-profit boards and board advisory committees also includes the Board of the Interlochen Center for the Arts (which he has represented in the Harvard Business School’s Governing Nonprofits for Excellence program), the Tannahill Council of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Planned Giving Council, and the Legal-Financial Network Committee of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

 •            •            •

Tiffany Snow has joined Varnum’s labor and employment practice group. She is based in the firm’s Detroit office.

Snow received her law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. She attended Michigan State University for her undergraduate degree.

Snow has a background in sales and marketing, and she worked as a senior account manager at a regional IT staffing and consulting company for many years prior to entering the legal profession. She was responsible for sales of recruiting and staffing services for Fortune 500 companies and other large corporations in the information technology, accounting and engineering fields.

 •            •            •

Super Lawyers Magazine has recognized 13 attorneys from the law firm of Kotz, Sangster, Wysocki PC as Michigan Super Lawyers and Michigan Rising Stars.

Those practicing out of the firm’s local offices, and the areas of practice for which they have been recognized, are:

Super Lawyers
• John T. Below – Employment and Labor.
• George F. Curran – Environmental Law.
• Dennis K. Egan – Securities Litigation.
• Philip A. Grashoff – Environmental Law.
• Robert C. Kotz – Business/Corporate.
• Jeffrey M. Sangster – Construction Litigation.
• Keith J. Soltis – Health Care.
• Gregory L. Wysocki – Mergers & Acquisitions.

Rising Stars
• Jovan Dragovic – Health Care.
• Anthony Sciara – Business Litigation.