Legal People

Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC is pleased to announce that Matthew P. Breuer has joined the firm. He will practice out of the firm’s Royal Oak office.

Breuer concentrates his practice in the area of business transactions and corporate matters, including mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations of business entities and real estate. He counsels clients regarding all aspects of various business transactions including stock purchase acquisitions, business asset purchases, joint ventures, consulting/independent contractor arrangements, employment agreements, investment/governance agreements, financing transactions, licensing agreements, assignment of membership interests/stock, and real property leasing and purchase transactions.

Breuer has advised various limited liability companies, partnerships, corporations, estates, closely held businesses, and high-net-worth individuals with identifying and structuring corporate transactions, entity formation and governance, reorganization of business structures, drafting and reviewing of organizational documents, monitoring of data rooms and document databases, performing due diligence and entity dissolution. He also has experience reviewing commercial financing agreements, drafting restructuring documents, as well as negotiating with counsel of various financial institutions.

Breuer has assisted clients with commercial and residential real estate acquisitions by drafting purchase agreements and land contracts, corresponding with title companies, drafting lease agreements, and reviewing closing packages.

Breuer received his law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 2012 and his B.A. from Michigan State University in 2009. He is a member of the American Bar Association and its Business Law Section, and the State Bar of Michigan’s Young Lawyers Section, including currently serving as an Executive Council member, and as the Executive Council Diversity Committee co-chair. Breuer is licensed to practice in the State of Michigan.

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Retired Brigadier General and current Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Associate Dean and Professor of Law Michael C.H. McDaniel was inducted into the alumni ROTC Hall of Fame for the Seneca Battalion of the U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at St. Bonaventure University, located  in Olean, New York, on April 1. Following the induction ceremony, McDaniel presented the keynote during the university’s annual ROTC Military Ball.

During his remarks McDaniel advised the audience of cadets, alumni and guests that “what makes our military great is still our people, the men and women in uniform, and always will be.

“It is because of the values not just instilled in us, but required of us, as students of St. Francis, here, at St. Bonaventure University, because we take an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, not a loyalty oath to the Commander in Chief, and because our Army values are based on that legacy,” he said. “The oath to the Constitution is in the Constitution, significantly placed at the end of the body and before the Bill of Rights. The oath then is to defend both the system of co-equal republican government and the rights of the individuals. And so we fight, voluntarily, for the principles in the Constitution and because of the promise to all Americans embodied in the Constitution.”

McDaniel, a 1975 St. Bonaventure graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in history, then earned his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1982.  Having been an active participant in the Army ROTC program for two years as an undergraduate student, he applied for and received a direct commission from the Michigan National Guard as a Judge Advocate General Corps officer in November 1985.

He began his career as the staff judge advocate for the Camp Grayling Joint Training Center, then served as trial counsel and then staff judge advocate for the 46 Infantry Brigade, 38th Infantry Division, and as detachment commander (Michigan) for the 38th Infantry Division. He served as a military judge, then, upon promotion to colonel, as state judge advocate.

His civilian career as a trial attorney with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office began in January 1984. From 1998 to 2003, he was the assistant attorney general for litigation in the Executive Division of the Michigan Department of the Attorney General. His duties included the review of all civil and criminal actions proposed to be initiated by the department in state or federal trial courts, and evaluation of all proposed settlements of every court case.

Appointed by the governor as Michigan’s first Homeland Security adviser in 2003, he served in that capacity until July 2009. In this position, McDaniel was the liaison between the governor’s office and all federal, state and local agencies for homeland security, with responsibility for developing statewide plans and policy on homeland security preparedness. During this assignment, he served concurrently as the assistant adjutant general for homeland security in the Michigan National Guard.

From August 2009 to January 2011, McDaniel was the deputy assistant secretary for homeland defense strategy, force planning and mission assurance at the Department of Defense.  He advised the DOD secretary, undersecretary of Defense for Policy, and assistant secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and America’s Security Affairs on all homeland defense-related strategies (quadrennial defense review, homeland defense & civil support strategies, the mission assurance strategy, and domestic counterterrorism and counter-narcotics strategies, among other efforts).

McDaniel graduated from the U.S. Army War College and earned a Master of Strategic Studies in 2005. He also earned a master’s in security studies (homeland security) from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2007. He was promoted to brigadier general in 2007 and his final military assignment was as assistant adjutant general for Army Future Missions, Michigan National Guard, from January 2011 until October 2012. He retired in December 2012.

Professionally active, McDaniel served as a member of the National Governors Association’s Homeland Security Advisors Council, where he was elected to the Executive Committee in 2006 and 2008. He was named by the Office of Infrastructure Protection, Department of Homeland Security, as chair of the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council in 2007. He joined the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School faculty as a full-time constitutional law professor in 2011 and was promoted to associate dean in 2016.

McDaniel’s military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit (1 OLC), Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon (with 2 devices) and the Michigan Distinguished Service Medal (Fifth Award).

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Dawda, Mann, Mulcahy, & Sadler PLC announced that member John Mucha has been recognized as a 2016 Michigan Top Lawyer. Managing Member Ed Dawda made the announcement.

Mucha is one of only 12 attorneys in the state of Michigan recognized under the Corporate Law category.

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Harness Dickey is pleased to announce the recent addition of patent attorney Scott Barnett to its Metro Detroit headquarters.  Barnett, who joins the firm from the Chicago office of Troutman Sanders, will continue to focus his practice on complex, high-stakes intellectual property prosecution and litigation matters for clients around the globe.

Barnett brings nearly ten years of intellectual property experience to the firm, including five years of litigation experience in which he presented oral arguments before District and Appellate Courts, and successfully represented numerous clients before the Patent Trial and Appeals Board and Trademark Trial and Appeals Board.  He has been recognized as a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” for Intellectual Property (2015-2017), as well as a Leading Lawyers “Emerging Lawyer” for Intellectual Property, Patent, and Copyright & Trademark Law (2015-2017).

Barnett’s practice will focus on patent prosecution and litigation for clients in the software, electrical, and mechanical industries.  He will also counsel clients on matters relating to trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.

A native of Clarkston, Barnett earned a law degree with a Certificate in Intellectual Property Law from The John Marshall Law School and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University.

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Resnick Law PC, a business and bankruptcy law firm, welcomes attorney Lauren Saad to the firm as an associate. Saad comes to Resnick Law with several years of experience successfully defending clients in the areas of professional negligence, real estate, commercial litigation, auto negligence and general negligence. Additionally, Saad has a strong research background.

Saad received her law degree from Wayne State University Law School in May 2014 and is admitted to practice in the State of Michigan, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Prior to joining Resnick Law, Saad gained experience as an associate attorney at a national civil litigation firm and prior to that, began her career at one of Detroit’s largest law firms.