LEGAL PEOPLE

The mother-daughter team of Linda and Alison Orlans recently launched Orlans PC, the second largest Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified women-owned law firm in the United States. Linda Orlans will serve as executive chair and Alison Orlans will assume the role of president and chief executive officer. Orlans PC is the result of a merger of Orlans Associates PC (Troy), Orlans Moran PLLC (Waltham, Mass.), and Atlantic Law Group LLC (Leesburg, Va.). Combining teams and resources allows Orlans PC to enhance client service by refining processes, leveraging shared technology and increasing collaboration. Clients now have the benefit of national firm capabilities and resources with localized, face-to-face service. The merger also allows the firm to maintain top compliance standards to meet the growing needs of existing clients, while leveraging a broader range of capabilities to attract new clients. "The future goes to those prepared to change ahead of the times," Linda Orlans said. "The legal world is changing and our mission is to be on the forefront and help affect that change for the better. This unified law firm represents a dramatic step forward in creating a more capable, more responsive and more efficient entity to serve a growing client base." Orlans PC provides legal services to local and national banks, credit unions, consumer loan finance companies, loan servicers, investors, government agencies, landlords, municipalities, utilities, title insurance companies and private individuals. It operates in eight jurisdictions including Washington, D.C., Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Virginia, and is headquartered in Troy, Mich. The firm is certified by (WBENC), as women owned and operated. Linda Orlans launched Orlans PC in the Detroit area in 1998, and has expanded over the years to serve hundreds of clients in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Over the past decade, the number of women-owned law firms has grown five times faster than the national average, and Linda has been at the forefront of a new wave of woman-owned law firms opening across the country. "Legal expertise fused with lean six sigma principles has allowed us to build a different kind of firm, where our attorneys can perfect legal processes, collaborate, and focus on results," said Alison Orlans. "This merger allows us to think more creatively and more entrepreneurially about the services, support and process we put in place for our clients." - - - Local attorneys Scott K. Lites and Elaine M. Pohl were recently named Department Leaders of Plunkett Cooney. These responsibilities took effect on April 1. Lites will serve as the leader of the Business Law Department, which includes attorneys practicing in the areas of banking, bankruptcy, business law, creditors' rights, commercial litigation, estate planning, probate law, environmental law and healthcare. Pohl will serve as the firm's Department Leader for attorneys practicing in the areas of insurance coverage and appellate Law. Chair of Plunkett Cooney's finance committee and a longtime member of the firm's board of directors, Lites focuses his practice in the areas of corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and finance. He has experience representing clients in all aspects of commercial transactions, including negotiating and drafting complex real estate, corporate and financing agreements. Lites is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the American Health Lawyers Association. He received his law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and is a member of the board of directors of that institution. A partner in Plunkett Cooney's Insurance Coverage Practice Group, Pohl maintains a national practice where she counsels insurers in complex property and casualty insurance coverage disputes, including litigated and nonlitigated matters. Admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Michigan, Pohl received her law degree from Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington. She is a former chair of the Insurance and Indemnity Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She currently serves as the chair of compendia for the Insurance Law Committee of the DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar. In addition, Plunkett Cooney welcomes attorney Alexander R. Baum to its Transportation Law Practice Group. A member of the firm's Bloomfield Hills office, Baum focuses his litigation practice in the areas of motor vehicle liability and no-fault law. His clients include businesses and individuals involved in first- and third-party automobile negligence claims and in matters involving uninsured and underinsured motorist benefits. He also works with some of the nation's leading insurance providers to resolve complex and catastrophic motor vehicle accident claims. Admitted to practice in state and federal courts in Michigan, Baum is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association, Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, and State Bar of Michigan. Baum received his law degree from Wayne State University School of Law in 2012. He earned his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University in 2009. - - - Andrew B. Wachler, of Wachler & Associates PC, delivered a pair of presentations in Maryland at the end of March. On March 27, Wachler and Chief Administrative Law Judge Nancy Griswold, Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, presented a talk on new regulatory changes to the Medicare appeals process before an audience of interested attendees at the Health Care Compliance Association's Research Compliance Conference. "Government contractors are denying and recouping hundreds of millions of dollars a year from health care providers. Health care providers must understand the new rules of engagement to adequately appeal and defend against these denials," said Wachler. On March 31, again with Griswold, Wachler addressed recent legal and regulatory changes to the appeals process to the American Health Lawyers Association at that group's conference in Baltimore. - - - Joseph R. Morrison Jr., a senior associate attorney at Bodman PLC, has been appointed to the New Enterprise Forum board of directors. Morrison is a member of Bodman's Business, Data Privacy and Security, and Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practice groups. New Enterprise Forum is an organization devoted to connecting entrepreneurs with management expertise, joint venture partners, business services, capital, and other resources critical to growing their business. At the heart of the process is the Program Committee, a group of dedicated professionals who volunteer their time to work with entrepreneurs. Each entrepreneur is assigned between four and seven Program Committee coaches, including a Board member to act as their mentor, to aid in development of a ten-minute pitch and a business plan executive summary for their fledgling company. NEF also provides entrepreneurs with a wealth of resources to give their startup the best chance of success, from access to angel and venture funds to incubators and other entrepreneurial support organizations. Morrison has a background working with entrepreneurs and startups in the Ann Arbor and Detroit areas. Before joining Bodman, he served as corporate counsel and consulting manager to an IT startup based in Ann Arbor, where he helped scale the company to 50+ employees and $3 million in revenue. He is a member of the Institute of Continuing Legal Education Business Law Advisory Board and New Lawyers Advisory Board. He was named a "Rising Star" by Michigan Super Lawyers 2016. - - - Reiter & Walsh PC attorneys Jesse M. Reiter and Emily G. Thomas along with Bridget Siniakov published an article on fetal monitoring in the Winter 2017 Birth Trauma Litigation Group's Newsletter. The Birth trauma Litigation Group (BTLG) is part of the American Association for Justice. The article is titled "Management of Category II Fetal Heart Tracings: Timing Delivery to Avoid Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)." Published: Mon, Apr 17, 2017