Legal People

Two Bodman PLC attorneys, Bridget M. Hathaway and Sarah L. Cylkowski, received Outstanding Young Lawyers Awards from the Detroit Bar Association Barristers at the annual Summer Breeze Gala held at the Detroit Yacht Club on July 19.

Hathaway received the Barrister of the Year Award, which recognizes a Barristers board member who has exhibited special commitment to service through his or her work as part of the Barristers. Hathaway has served as a member of the Barristers board of directors since 2014 and has chaired the organization’s School Partnership Committee. She was recently appointed to a second three-year term and will serve as board secretary for the coming year. Hathaway received her award from 2016-2017 Barristers President Kimberly Yourchock.

Cylkowski received the Barristers Pro Bono Award, which recognizes an attorney who has made extraordinary accomplishments through participation in pro bono activities early in his or her career. Cylkowski is a frequent contributor to Bodman’s pro bono program, having devoted more than 367 hours to pro bono work since joining the firm as an associate in 2012. She has made a significant impact through her involvement in cases seeking resentencing of inmates who received mandatory life sentences as juveniles, becoming the firm’s point person for those cases. She received her award from her nominator, Bodman attorney Jeffrey G. Raphelson.

Hathaway and Cylkowski are senior associates and members of Bodman’s Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Both practice in Bodman’s Detroit office.
In addition, Bodman is pleased to announce it has been ranked “Highly Recommended” in Trademark Law by the internationally-recognized journal Managing Intellectual Property.  Bodman is the only Michigan law firm to be “Highly Recommended” in Trademark Law, the highest category.

The journal also recognized Susan M. Kornfield, chair of Bodman’s Intellectual Property Practice Group and leader of the firm’s IP Brand Protection Team, as a “Trademark Star” for her extraordinary work in intellectual property. 

Managing IP described Kornfield as “one of the preeminent copyright experts in the Midwest.” She is also listed as a distinguished IP practitioner in The Best Lawyers in America, Michigan Super Lawyers, and Dbusiness magazine’s “Top Lawyers.” She is the current Best Lawyers in America Trademark “Lawyer of the Year.”  Kornfield handles both transactional and litigation matters and has been selected as an expert witness, mediator, and arbitrator in intellectual property disputes.

Bodman’s Brand Protection Team offers comprehensive trademark services, including global trademark clearance and prosecution, brand portfolio management, trademark enforcement, anti-counterfeiting, actions before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, false advertising and product claims.  Recently, the Brand Protection Team “took down” nearly 1,000 individual URLs that infringed on a client’s trademark. This enforcement action took place over a period of weeks and without ever going to court.

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Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently announced the reappointments of Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Martha Anderson to the Community Corrections Board.

The 13-member board serves in an advisory capacity to the director of the Michigan Department of Corrections and is charged with making suggestions to improve many aspects of community corrections programs throughout the state.

Anderson was first elected to the Oakland County Circuit Court in 2002 and has been re-elected twice. She was a Friend of the Court referee in the county for 23 years prior to her election. Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Wayne State University and a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She will continue to represent circuit court judges.

Members serve four-year terms expiring March 31, 2021. Their appointments are subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

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Choi T. Portis has been selected by the Detroit Bar Association as this year’s winner of the Barristers President’s Award, which recognizes a young attorney whose early career has exhibited high standards of service to the profession, his or her clients and the public. Portis, associate general counsel for the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, was presented the award during the Detroit Bar Association’s Summer Breeze event on July 19 at the Detroit Yacht Club.

In her position with the Water and Sewage Department, Portis handles in-house litigation, internal personal injury and property damage claims, damage claim appeals, billing disputes and contract review. She also serves as counsel to the department director regarding various legal issues, serves on the Damage Claims Appeals committee and supervises the department’s Environmental and Safety team.

In addition to her work with the city of Detroit, in February, Portis started Portis Legal PLC, a small solo firm designed to provide low-cost, transactional legal services to clients. She primarily focuses on business entity formation, contract formation and review, but also offers copyright and trademark registration services as well.

Portis is an executive council member of the State Bar of Michigan Young Lawyers Section, and serves on the organization’s Diversity Committee. She is also the district representative for the state of Michigan, and a vice director of Diversity and Inclusion for the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Portis serves as a mentor to many, tutoring bar candidates through the Wolverine Bar Association Minority Bar Passage Program. She was recently honored as a member of the Michigan Chronicle’s “40 Under 40 Class of 2017.”

Portis is admitted to practice in the State of Michigan and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She earned her law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.

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Longtime prosecutor and defense lawyer James W. Burdick was elected this month to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2018.

The Judicial Tenure Commission is the independent state agency responsible for investigating complaints of judicial misconduct and judicial incapacity, and for recommending discipline of judges by the Michigan Supreme Court. Its jurisdiction includes all active judicial officers, as that term is defined in the Michigan Court Rules.

Burdick specializes in federal criminal litigation and health care licensing, discipline and reinstatement. In addition to his practice, served on and chaired  federal panels evaluating applicants for the position of United States magistrate judge and for sitting magistrate judges applying for renewal of their tenure.

He has chaired a State Bar Grievance Panel since the 1980s and previously served as a member of the Michigan Board of Medicine, hearing and deciding discipline and licensing issues for physicians.

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Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Director of Academic Services and Associate Professor Emily Horvath was chosen by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as one of its 2017 Women in the Law. Each year, the Women in the Law program honors 30 high-achieving women lawyers in Michigan and their accomplishments.

Horvath joined WMU-Cooley Law School faculty in 2005. In addition to teaching Wills, Estates & Trusts at the law school, Horvath also serves as the director of Academic Services, where she works with students and faculty to develop programming to improve student success on the bar exam. In 2014, she received the distinction, Most Outstanding Professor of the Fraternity in the Nation, from Delta Theta Phi, International Law Fraternity.

Horvath is an advocate for human rights. She has served as co-chair of Michigan Pride to plan and execute the annual Statewide Pride March, Rally & Festival for LGBT rights. She also has served as president and chair of “Ways & Means” of the Zonta Club East Lansing Area (ZCELA), a group of individuals dedicated to improving the legal, political, economic, educational, health and professional status of women at the global and local level through service and advocacy.

Before joining WMU-Cooley as a faculty member, Horvath was an associate attorney with the firm of White, Schneider, Young, & Chiodini PC. In this position, she developed an estate planning practice for the 13-member law firm, including planning for young families, domestic partners and estate tax avoidance. Her legal career began in 1999 at the firm of Willingham & Coté PC, first as a paralegal, and later as an associate attorney.

A luncheon celebrating the Class of 2017 Women in the Law will be held Thursday, Sept. 7 at the Detroit Marriott Troy. The Woman of the Year, selected by a vote of the class, will be announced at the event.

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Michigan Community Resources’ (MCR) Board of Directors has unanimously voted to appoint Shamyle Dobbs to serve as its chief executive officer, filling the vacancy created when Jill Ferrari stepped down to return to real estate development.

Dobbs assumes the CEO role after serving with Michigan Community Resources for 10 years, most recently as the chief program officer. A native New Yorker and graduate of New York University, Dobbs moved to Michigan in 2001 to complete her Masters of Social Work at the University of Michigan and went on to receive a law degree from Wayne State University Law School. Dobbs has more than 17 years of experience in nonprofit management and extensive experience in Strategic Planning, Organizational Capacity Building, Program Development, Project Management, Cross-Sector Relationship Management, Community Or­ganizing, and Engagement.

As CEO, Dobbs will lead and execute the goals and strategic vision of the organization. This includes cultivating funding, opportunities and relationships for the organization’s core service areas, community legal resources, community planning resources, and community education and outreach resources.

Founded in 1998, the mission of Michigan Community Resources is to support and empower nonprofit community organizations in Michigan that serve low-income individuals and communities, with an emphasis on community economic development, by providing pro bono legal services and technical assistance. Its programs include legal assistance, educational training & publications, urban planning services, and community outreach.

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Associate Professor Rachel Settlage has been appointed director of clinical education at Wayne State University Law School.

Her appointment as director of clinical education is effective this month. Settlage joined the Wayne Law faculty in 2009 when she founded the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic, for which she has served as director. She also has been promoted to associate professor, with tenure. Settlage succeeds Lawrence C. Mann, who has served as interim director since last fall and will return to his position as associate director of professional skills.

Prior to coming to Wayne Law, Settlage was a clinical fellow with the University of Baltimore School of Law’s Immigrant Rights Clinic. She also practiced law at the Asylum Program of Southern Arizona; was a senior researcher at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian; and served as a foreign affairs officer/senior editor at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Settlage’s publications are in the areas of immigration and human rights law. In 2014 she co-authored a book, “Immigration Relief: Legal Assistance for Noncitizen Crime Victims.” She earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, her M.S.F.S from Georgetown University and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Detroit-based management side labor and employment law firm Nemeth Law PC is pleased to announce that Heidi Junttila has joined the firm as a senior attorney.

Junttila has a comprehensive background in labor and employment law. Immediately prior to joining Nemeth Law, she worked as an attorney for the City of Detroit, successfully representing the city in civil employment litigation and labor law disputes, including a complex discrimination lawsuit that involved multiple parties.  In a separate lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, following extensive discovery, Junttila prevailed on all claims when Judge Victoria Roberts granted summary judgment in its entirety.  In state court, Junttila received summary disposition in favor of her client and was granted an award of sanctions for the plaintiff’s frivolous filing.

In addition to litigation, Junttila has experience representing clients in hearings before administrative agencies including the EEOC, MDCR, MERC and PERA. She has worked closely with multiple labor organizations to resolve disputes and has also handled arbitration hearings involving significant monetary and/or policy implications.

Beyond her legal experience, Junttila worked as a project manager for a major automotive company where she managed a multi-million-dollar project budget and implemented planning strategies while working simultaneously with plant management, labor relations and multiple suppliers.

Junttila graduated from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She received her law degree from the Wayne State University School of Law.

Junttila is licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan, the U.S. District Courts of Michigan, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan’s Labor and Employment Law and Litigation Sections.  Additionally, she is a member of the Labor and Employment and Women in the Law Sections of the DRI, the Voice of the Defense Bar (TM).

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Dykema recently announced the addition of Ayanna Clinton as the firm’s chief human resources officer. Clinton replaces Dykema’s former Chief Human Resources Officer Kim Amodeo, who retired in April.

Clinton, who brings more than a decade of human resources experience with her to Dykema, joins after serving as chief human resources officer of Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia—a large hospital in the Tenet Healthcare system—where she was responsible for all Human Resources operations. Clinton, who is a Detroit native, also previously served as director of human resources at the Detroit Medical Center, which eventually became part of the Tenet Healthcare system. Clinton ‘s areas of expertise include executive coaching, strategic planning, talent development, and helping to support growing organizations through periods of change. She was honored by the Michigan Chronicle in 2015 with a Women of Excellence Award.

“I am elated to join the very talented team at Dykema,” said Clinton. “In addition to providing exceptional legal services. Dykema embodies a culture of caring about its colleagues, clients and the communities it serves.”

Prior to her career in Human Resources, Clinton practiced as an attorney after earning her law degree from The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her B.S. from Iowa State University.

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The Legal Marketing Association Detroit member Roy Sexton has joined Kerr Russell—a 55-attorney full-service law firm—as its first-ever marketing director. Sexton is a former member of the Midwest Chapter Board of Directors and Strategies Editorial Committee, and was a panelist at the 2015 LMA Annual Conference. He returns to the world of legal marketing after a one-year hiatus in the health care industry.

Sexton has held leadership positions in marketing, communications, and strategic planning at Trott Law, St. Joseph Mercy Health System, Oakwood Healthcare (now Beaumont), and Deloitte. He is a graduate of Wabash College with an MA from The Ohio State University and an MBA from The University of Michigan.

Sexton sits on the boards of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Ann Arbor and encoremichigan.com and recently completed his tenure on the Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association State Board of Governors as well as his service on the board of Ann Arbor’s Penny Seats Theatre Company.

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Rain BDM, a business development and marketing consultancy that helps law firms and attorneys across the country build outstanding client relationships, is pleased to announce that Ashley Quinn has joined the consultancy. The announcement was made by Rain BDM Chief Consultant and Founder John Reed.

In the role of social media marketing consultant, Quinn will be responsible for curating clients’ blogs, conceptualizing and orchestrating their email and e-newsletter marketing campaigns, and managing targeted social media advertising campaigns across a wide array of digital channels.

Quinn was most recently the website and content consultant for Real Estate One. She earned bachelor of arts degrees in English and Sociology at Oakland University.