Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that senior associate Michael J. Serra has been named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly's 2017 class of "Up & Coming Lawyers."
Lawyers Weekly honored Serra and the other members if the 2017 class at a luncheon ceremony on December 7 at the Detroit Marriott in Troy.
A member of Bodman's Intellectual Property Practice Group and IP Brand Protection Team, Serra primarily focuses on prosecuting, maintaining, and enforcing trademarks and copyrights. He has successfully litigated in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He has also handled national and international copyright, trademark, and domain name "takedowns" of infringing content, and trademark oppositions in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Outside of the office, Serra is involved in many community and volunteer organizations. He is a regular contributor to Bodman's award-winning Pro Bono Program and volunteers with the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan, which promotes organ donation throughout the state. Serra serves on the Coalition's planning committee for its annual ALIVE fundraiser. Michigan Rising Stars 2017 recognized Serra as an emerging leader in intellectual Property Law and DBusiness magazine lists him as a 2018 "Top Lawyer" for Copyright Law.
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Maura Corrigan joined Butzel Long as counsel on November 27. She will concentrate her practice in litigation and appeals.
Corrigan served as a law clerk to Michigan Court of Appeals Judge John Gillis. She then became a Wayne County assistant prosecuting attorney in 1974, and chief of appeals in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit in 1979. In 1986, she was promoted to chief assistant U.S. attorney, the first woman to hold that position. She became a partner at Plunkett and Cooney in 1989.
In 1992, Governor John Engler appointed her to the Michigan Court of Appeals. In 1997, the Supreme Court named her chief judge of the appeals court. She was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1998 and reelected in 2006. Corrigan is the only person ever to serve as chief of both the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. She served two terms as chief justice. She left the Supreme Court on January 14, 2011 to become the director of the Michigan Department of Human Services under Governor Rick Snyder.
From 2015-2016, Corrigan was a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. where she worked on poverty and child welfare issues. In that role, she testified in Congress, authored papers and book chapters, and served as liaison to state secretaries of human services.
Corrigan has participated in numerous community and professional activities. She currently serves on seven nonprofit boards. She is a past president of the Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers and the Detroit Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. She served as a public member of the Michigan Law Revision Commission from 1991-1998, as an executive board member of the Michigan Judges Association, and as a member of the Judicial Advisory Board of the Center for Law and Organizational Economics at the University of Kansas Law School. She was vice-president of the Conference of Chief Justices from 2003-2004. She is a published author in the legal and child welfare fields. She holds seven honorary doctorates from Michigan colleges and universities, among numerous honors and awards.
Corrigan earned her law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and her B.A. degree from Marygrove College.
In addition, Butzel Longattorneys and shareholders Geaneen M. Arends and Clara DeMatteis Mager have been named to Crain's Detroit Business' 2017 Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan.
Based in the firm's Detroit office, Arends concentrates her practice on corporate transactions and commercial real estate transactions. She assists clients with general business planning, entity formation and maintenance, mergers, acquisitions, private placements, woman-owned/minority-owned business certification and general business contracts.
She also advises business clients on a variety of real estate transactions, including acquisition, development and leasing of multi-family residential, retail, office and industrial properties. She has represented both borrowers and lenders in multi-million-dollar financing transactions.
Prior to joining Butzel Long, Arends was in-house counsel for a real estate investment and property management firm where, among other accomplishments, she led the audit and repositioning of the company's insurance and risk management program covering a $1 billion real estate portfolio, and she previously practiced in the real estate groups of two prominent Detroit law firms.
In 2016, Arends was elected to serve as a member of the Detroit Educational Television Foundation/Detroit Public Television (DPTV) Board of Trustees. Additionally, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Detroit Historical Society, which manages all operations of the Detroit Historical Museum and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum. She also serves on the Steering Committee for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Classical Roots Celebration.
Arends was named to DBusiness magazine's Top Lawyers 2018 in the areas of Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Law and Real Estate Law, and was previously recognized in past years by DBusiness in the areas of Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Real Estate Law, and NonProfits/Charities Law. She is an alumna of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce Leadership Detroit, Class XXVII. She also is serving her second term on the Real Property Law Advisory Board for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE).
In 2014, Arends was named to the 2014 Class of "Women in the Law" by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.
Arends is a member of the Wolverine Bar Association, Urban Land Institute Michigan, the Detroit Economic Club, for which she also serves on the reception committee, and the Association for Corporate Growth, Detroit, for which she also serves on the ACG Detroit Women's Forum committee.
Arends is a graduate of Michigan State University and of Boston College Law School. She is admitted to the State Bar of Michigan and the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan.
As the Immigration Practice Department leader, Mager has been instrumental in growing the practice.
Mager focuses her practice on business and family immigration issues including all aspects of the international movement of personnel, inbound and outbound work-authorized nonimmigrant (temporary) and immigrant (permanent) status, immigration consequences of mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructuring, employer sanctions, and immigration law audits.
She is a firm liaison to Lex Mundi, a global association of 160 independent law firms. She has served as chair and regional chair of the Lex Mundi Immigration Committee. She is very active with the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation providing legal services to select "social entrepreneurs." The Foundation is part of the global social entrepreneur movement for positive social change. She is active in the community working on pro bono immigration matters.
Mager serves on the Board of Directors of the French American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) Michigan Chapter, the Italian American Alliance for Business and Technology, Leonardo International Inc., and the Great Lakes Chapter of the U.S. Mexico Chamber of Commerce. She also is a member of the Federal Bar Association (previous member of the Leadership Council of the Immigration Committee), State Bar of Michigan (past chairperson of the International Law Section and previously held positions of chair-elect, secretary, treasurer, council member and chairperson of the Immigration Committee), Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, and Italian American Bar Association (board member and past president).
Mager also was a board member and past chair of the J.D./L.L.B. Advisory Board, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law/University of Windsor Faculty of Law. She is a graduate of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce Leadership Detroit XXII Class. Mager is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Immigration) and Michigan Super Lawyers (Immigration). Mager is a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rated Lawyer.
Mager is a graduate of Wayne State University and of the Detroit College of Law.
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Southfield law firm Maddin, Hauser, Roth, & Heller PC is pleased to announce that shareholder Michelle C. Harrell has been selected as one of the 2017 Most Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan by Crain Content Studio, the custom publishing division of Crain's Detroit Business. The announcement was made by the firm's president and CEO, Steven D. Sallen.
An experienced litigator, shareholder of the firm, and chair of the firm's Complex Litigation and Risk Advisory Practice Group, Harrell concentrates her practice in the areas of complex commercial litigation, real estate matters, shareholder disputes, receiverships, franchise and distribution law, hospitality law, family law, trust disputes, class actions defense, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Harrell is active in many community organizations, including Techtown's business development events, serving on the Grosse Pointe Woods Planning Commission in 2014, and serving as a blood drive coordinator for the Michigan Red Cross. She is a member of the Hydrocephalus Association, Michigan Chapter, has served as a moot court judge for Wayne State University Law School for 20 years and is a contributing author and speaker for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE). Harrell is a co-founder and member of the Board for The Detroit Bus Company, L3C (DBC) and its affiliate, the Youth Transit Alliance, L3C (YTA). She is also a Board member for Living Arts Detroit and is a chair of its Resource Development Committee.
Harrell was appointed to the State Bar of Michigan U.S. Courts Committee by the president of the State Bar and was later elected chair of that Committee. Joining the Oakland County American Inn of Court Association in 1999, Harrell earned her current status as master emeritus after leading a team of attorneys each year to present on a trending legal educational topic to the association's membership. She serves as a case evaluator for the Oakland County Circuit Court and Macomb County Circuit Court.
After litigating numerous cases, Harrell earned her designation as a commercial arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. She is also an approved Alternative Dispute Resolution appointee for Macomb County (Family Matters, Probate) and Oakland County (Civil/Commercial, Probate, and District Court).
Harrell has been recognized as a 2017 Michigan Leading Lawyer in the areas of Commercial Litigation, Land Use, Zoning & Condemnation Law and Real Estate Law: Commercial, as a 2010 Top Lawyer in Real Estate and Litigation by DBusiness Magazine, and is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
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Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC recently hired Ian Evans, Nicole Hertzberg, and Gabriel Appel as associates.
Evans is an associate in the firm's Litigation Practice Group. He will concentrate his practice on commercial litigation involving contract disputes, business torts, shareholder and member disputes, and non-competition agreements.
Previously, Evans served as a summer associate at Jaffe, a judicial intern for Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert P. Young and a law clerk at Mark D. Evans PC in Ann Arbor.
Evans earned a law degree from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Hertzberg is an associate in the firm's Estate & Wealth Planning Practice Group. She will concentrate her practice in the areas of gift, estate and tax planning, wealth transfer and trust administration.
Previously, Hertzberg served as a summer associate at Jaffe, a law clerk at Levy, Holm, Pellegrino, & Drath LLP in New York City and a judicial intern for then-Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. She also served as an Israel teaching fellow, participating in an English teaching, service learning and volunteer program in a low-income community.
Hertzberg earned a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City. Prior to this, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology with a crime and justice minor from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Appel is an associate in the firm's Corporate and Financial Services Practice Groups. He will concentrate his practice on mergers and acquisitions, and assisting emerging companies.
Prior to joining Jaffe, Appel served as a summer associate at David H. Fink and Associates in Bloomfield Hills, as well as an intern for Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Phyllis McMillen and Oakland County 43rd District Court Judge Joseph Longo.
Appel earned a law degree from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. He earned a bachelor's degree in general studies focusing on psychology, history and English from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
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Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette recently applauded Assistant Attorneys General Angela Povilaitis and Kelly Carter, both of whom were recognized last week on Crain's Detroit's list of Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan.
Povilaitis works on sex crimes cases and is the lead prosecuting attorney in the department's case against Lawrence Nassar. Carter is the head of the attorney general's Human Trafficking Unit and recently was named chair of the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission.
Carter has prosecuted more than a dozen human trafficking cases for the Department and her work and the work with the Human Trafficking Commission has been integral in passing new legislation to better protect victims of human trafficking. Carter has also provided training to local law enforcement on the crime of human trafficking.
In addition to the case against Larry Nassar and the dozens of other sex crime cases she has prosecuted during her time at the Department of Attorney General, Povilaitis recently had a notable conviction in the case of former Priest James Rapp who was sentenced to 20-40 years in prison in April 2016 for Criminal Sexual Conduct. The charges in that case on stemmed from his time as a priest, teacher, and coach at Jackson Lumen Christi High School in the 1980s.
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Published: Mon, Dec 18, 2017
