Grand Rapids attorney to receive SBM Business Law Section's Outstanding Business Lawyer Award

Tania (Dee Dee) Fuller, managing partner of Fuller Law in Grand Rapids, has been named the recipient of the 13th Annual Stephen H. Schulman Outstanding Business Lawyer Award by the State Bar of Michigan Business Law Section. 

Fuller has managed her own firm since 2004 after spending several years as a business lawyer with Miller Johnson in Grand Rapids. In these roles, Fuller has been involved in a number of transactional projects for clients of all sizes, including mergers and acquisitions, contract law and more. She also provides estate planning services for some of her clients which Fuller calls an “anomaly” for most business lawyers.

In fact Fuller has become the first lawyer from a small, solo practice to have been given this prestigious award, named after Professor Stephen Schulman, who taught several business law courses during a lengthy tenure at Wayne State University Law School. She graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School after spending several years as a risk manager at Meijer Inc. Before that Fuller earned her BA from Aquinas College.

“I had a lot of management responsibility at Meijer but I was always interested in the technical side of business law,” Fuller said. “I really enjoyed my time at Miller Johnson. Going out on my own was a bit scary but it allowed me to have a little more control over the projects I wanted to work on.”

Fuller is a past chair of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, and presently serves as the Section’s Nominations Director, is active with the Section’s Program’s Committee and also the Unincorporated Enterprises Committee. She is a past chair of the Grand Rapids Bar Association Business and Taxation Section and has served as an adjunct professor at Cooley Law School. Fuller has lectured and spoken on numerous business law and estate planning law subjects over the years.

 “It’s impossible to be a good lawyer without following the changes in the law and the Business Law Section has helped immensely with that,” Fuller said. Her involvement has also allowed Fuller to be a part of writing statutes and having a direct impact on how business law is written in Michigan. That involvement has given her a voice and a reputation of being a part of addressing critical business solutions.

 “There are some amazing lawyers who are involved in the Section, and they are all so bright and willing to help,” said Fuller, who mentioned past winners Justin Klimko and Dan Minkus among the statewide business lawyers who have been positive resources in her career. “As a solo practitioner I have had some cases where I have required some outside help. With my involvement in the Section I have this whole network of lawyers I can turn to that are partners for me as needed.”

Fuller will be introduced at the Schulman Award Ceremony, held in conjunction with the Business Law Institute and the Section’s Annual Meeting on October 5 at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Grand Rapids.

Earlier in her career she was involved in the Leadership Grand Rapids program, which gave her a better feel for operating as a professional in the community. But Fuller’s true community passion is tied to her experience as a Rotarian, where she and other leaders have worked to support local, national and global crises from natural disasters like hurricanes, to helping to eradicate polio and supporting the global need for potable water. She has been active with Rotary since 2004, and is currently president of her local Rotary Club.

“The almost 15 years I have served as a Rotarian have been amazing,” Fuller said. “It’s one of the best ways I know where one person can help to make a major difference. My involvement has become a true passion.”

The Business Law Section established the Stephen H. Schulman Outstanding Business Lawyer Award in 2006, to be presented annually. The prestigious award honors Michigan business lawyers who consistently exemplify the characteristics the Business Law Section and seeks to foster and facilitate: the highest quality of professionalism, the highest quality of practice, and an unwavering dedication to service, ethical conduct, and collegiality within the practice of law.

Past recipients of the Schulman Award include Cy Moscow, the late Martin Oetting, Hugh Makens and Jim Bruno in 2006; Charlie McCallum and Verne Hampton in 2007; Ann Baker in 2008; Justin Klimko in 2009; Alex DeYonker in 2010; Jim Cambridge in 2011; Jeff Ammon in 2012; Dan Minkus in 2013; Diane Akers in 2014, Larry Schultz in 2015; Timothy Damschroder in 2016; and John Trentacosta in 2017.