Legal People

Brooks Kushman Shareholder Rachel A. Smith has been appointed as Michigan Intellectual Property Law Association (MIPLA) president for the 2018-2019 term.

As president, Smith will be responsible for acting as the official representative of the association. She will provide leadership and strategic vision to the organization to aid in its growth and importance, offer guidance to the organization’s standing committees and preside over all meetings of the membership, as well as the board.

As leader in MIPLA, Smith will oversee programs that promote the organization’s mission and core values such as law school outreach programs and liaisons, community outreach, coordinating networking events, organizing CLE credit luncheons and other on-going educational opportunities for members.

Smith is a registered patent attorney and focuses primarily on domestic and foreign patent prosecution, and has an understanding of various technologies in the mechanical and electrical arts.  In particular, she has experience prosecuting patent applications in consumer electronics, automotive, medical device, and network technologies. Her practice further includes drafting patentability, infringement, validity, and freedom to operate opinions.

Smith’s practice also includes consulting clients on open source software license agreements. She works with clients to understand complex software licenses and copyright matters, and has worked with the firm’s open source team to perform software audits on complex systems.

MIPLA is an organization of intellectual property attorneys, patent agents, and law students from across Michigan who are interested in intellectual property issues. Founded in 1915, the association promotes the advancement of industry through intellectual property rights, fosters fellowship and communication within the intellectual property community, and helps enforce and maintain high ethical standards amongst practitioners in the field.

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Crain’s Detroit Business has named Justin A. Hanna, associate at Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss PC, to its 2018 “20 in their Twenties” list.

Hanna, a member of Jaffe’s Corporate Practice Group, focuses on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and commercial real estate transactions. Over the past 18 months, he has been involved in at least 19 of the firm’s M&A transactions, with an aggregate value of over $400 million. This includes managing four of his own multi-million dollar transactions.

Hanna’s accomplishments extend to the local community. In June 2017, Hanna established and led an effort on behalf of the firm that assisted 16 Iraqi nationals from the metro Detroit area who were detained as part of a push to increase immigration enforcement. Hanna collaborated with CODE Legal Aid and recruited a team of Jaffe attorneys to file emergency motions for 16 individuals who did not have representation to fight their imminent deportations. With the help of the firm, he personally ensured that all of its affected clients had the proper legal representation and opportunity to address their immigration claims in court.

Hanna also led a Jaffe effort to file an amicus brief in federal court on the Hamama v. Adducci class action, arguing the harmful effects of prolonged detention. federal Judge Mark Goldsmith subsequently agreed and required the government to hold bond hearings for a majority of the 200 detained Iraqi nationals. Thanks to Hanna’s efforts, Jaffe clients have resolved their immigration issues and earned their U.S. citizenships, and countless others have been released from detention on bond. Jaffe’s contributions towards these efforts to date equal over $180,000 worth of in kind services.

Hanna earned a law degree degree from Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. Concurrently while in law school, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in finance from WSU’s Mike Illitch School of Business. Hanna received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with a concentration in management from WSU.

He is an active member of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, the Association for Corporate Growth and CODE Legal Aid.

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Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP hosted the Real Estate Executive Council’s (REEC) “Opportunity Detroit: How to Connect, Invest & Develop In & Around Detroit” event in its Detroit headquarters on May 5. This event was the final session of REEC’s 2018 Spring Meeting.

The “Opportunity Detroit: How to Connect, Invest & Develop In & Around Detroit” event was a “pitch” session highlighting active development projects in Detroit as well as local RFP opportunities. The event also featured presentations by local minority developers and officials from the City
of Detroit, Wayne County, and City of Flint.

“Honigman is proud to host this Real Estate Executive Council event,” said Denise Lewis, leader of Honigman’s Urban Redevelopment practice group, and REEC’s 2018 Spring Meeting conference chair. “Hosting this event is just the latest example of our firm’s dedication to the reemergence and strengthening of Detroit.”

The Real Estate Executive Council is the leading national organization of executives of color in the real estate field. Its membership includes senior executives focusing on investment, management, leasing, financing and property development.