Legal People

The Dobrusin Law Firm is pleased to announce that managing shareholder Kristen Pursley has been named a judge in the 2018 North American MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (IIC), a platform for recognizing and rewarding organizations that are promoting technology as a vehicle for positive change in a world where automation poses potential challenges for employment.

The brainchild of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, the IIC was launched two years ago to celebrate businesses and nonprofits around the world that are using technology to solve a grand challenge - to create not only prosperity, but shared prosperity by reinventing the future of work in the digital era. This year, the IIC has expanded to a global tournament model, collaborating with partners in five regions - North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Detroit, where MIT has partnered with the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, is hosting the challenge's North American region.

"Being part of the Pontiac community, we see firsthand what happen when low- and middle- income workers are left behind - or even harmed by advances that otherwise benefit business, economy, and society," said Pursley. "I am so pleased to be part of this initiative which promotes 'digital heroes' organizations harnessing technology to create a more equitable economy, as we face some of the most disruptive changes in human history."

Pursley represents clients who are tier-one suppliers for the automotive industry, medical diagnostic and device manufacturers, and consumer product and packaging producers. She was a Michigan Lawyers Weekly 2013 Women in the Law honoree, a SuperLawyers® Rising Star for 2013-2017, a Best Lawyer in Patent Law for 2016-2017, a DBusiness Top Lawyer for 2017, and a member of the Oakland County Executive's 40 Under 40 class of 2015. Pursley is also a recent graduate of Leadership Oakland and is an Oakland County Bar Foundation Fellow. She graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and received a law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Pursley and other judges will choose 12 regional challenge winners to be acknowledged and awarded cash prizes at the IIC North American Celebration held in Detroit in September. Four regional champions will win $20,000 each and eight finalists will each win $5,000. Following the celebration event, four North American winners will advance to the IIC Global Grand Prize Tournament, hosted at MIT in Cambridge, MA, in October. Four global grand-prize winners, chosen from the regional winners around the world, will be awarded $1 million in prize money.

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Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers is pleased to announce the addition of Anne Randall to their team of birth injury attorneys. With 30 years of experience representing healthcare institutions and medical malpractice professionals, Randall brings her medical-legal background to the team.

"We're helping moms, families, and babies, which I love. I absolutely love kids," Randall remarked. She's eager to begin helping families and working on challenging medical malpractice cases at Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers.

"I was very excited about it," said Randall, who has known Jesse Reiter for some time. "I'm looking forward to working with somebody who's a premier birth trauma attorney, helping families, and getting the ability to work on cases that are really challenging and interesting," she commented.

Randall is well respected in the legal community and is regularly invited to speak at seminars, conferences, and lectures about healthcare and medical malpractice. She currently serves as a case evaluator for the Oakland County Circuit Court and has previously been a member of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel and DRI (the leading organization of defense attorneys). Additionally, Randall has received recognition for her work from Martindale-Hubbell, Super Lawyers, and DBusiness.

Outside of practicing law, Randall enjoys traveling, cooking, reading, gardening, and spending time with her family. She routinely volunteers on service projects that focus on youth and education.

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Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Nicholas P. Scavone Jr., chair of the firm's Real Estate Practice Group, has been appointed chair of the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan.

With more than 3,500 members, the Real Property Law Section is one of the largest groups within the State Bar of Michigan. The section provides education and information on real property law issues through seminars, publications, and networking events, as well as advocacy in the Legislature and in precedential cases involving real property law.

Scavone represents clients in a wide variety of complex commercial real estate transactions, including purchases and sales, leasing, construction, real estate secured financings and mortgage warehousing facilities.

The position of chair is another in a series of leadership roles for Scavone, who previously served as vice chair of the Real Property Law Section Council. He is also a long time member of the section's Michigan Land Title Standards Committee, which publishes Michigan Land Title Standards, an authoritative reference on the law of land titles and other aspects of Michigan real property law.

Scavone is listed in The Best Lawyers in America© 2019 under Banking and Finance Law and Real Estate Law, Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2018 under Michigan - Real Estate, and in Michigan Super Lawyers 2018 under Real Estate. He has been selected as "Top Lawyer" for Real Estate by DBusiness magazine from 2009 to 2018.

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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Suzanne Sukkar has been re-appointed to the State of Michigan's Middle-Eastern American Affairs Commission by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. Her term will expire in 2022.

The Middle-Eastern American Affairs Commission is comprised of 15 members whose directive is to monitor, evaluate and provide recommendations to the Governor and the state's Department of Civil Rights regarding issues facing the Middle-Eastern American Community. They will also work to enhance economic opportunity, prevent discrimination, and spread awareness of Middle-Eastern American culture.

Sukkar is a U.S. Business Immigration attorney at the law firm of Dickinson Wright. Her practice focuses on global workforce mobility, employment-based sponsorship and visa matters, immigration audit and compliance for corporate and individual clients across a vast array of industries. Sukkar renders expert strategic and tactical counsel to a broad clientele base including visa matters for client's employees at all levels of the corporate organizational structure, from the highest level executives, to the entry-level business professional, investors, extraordinary ability workers, outstanding researchers and professors, musicians, artists and athletes, and more. She developed a niche expertise in the area of E treaty trade and investor visas, consular processing, and start-up ventures. Through strategic planning and by offering creative solutions, she has assisted with the seamless transfer of numerous workers world-wide. She is also an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Sukkar's honors include being named Best Lawyers of America in Immigration Law since 2015, as well as, Super Lawyers in Immigration Law since 2012, DBusiness Top Lawyers, and Leading Lawyers 2018. In addition, she has been selected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and Michigan State Bar Foundation. In June 2015, she was appointed to the State of Michigan's Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder. She also serves on the Board of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce. Since 2005,

Sukkar has served on the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan state and regional boards and is currently a past president. Sukkar received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her law degree from Wayne State University Law School.

In addition, Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Adam D. Grant has joined the firm's Detroit office as Of Counsel.

Grant focuses his practice in the areas of commercial and business litigation, financial services litigation, and tax litigation. He has represented banks, businesses, and mortgage lenders/servicers in litigated matters before state and federal courts in Michigan and Illinois. He also has experience representing broker/dealers in actions before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and in representing manufacturers in products liability matters. Grant's tax litigation experience includes achieving a unanimous victory on behalf of Detroit Public Schools in the Michigan Supreme Court on a contested tax issue (Briggs Tax Services v. Detroit Public Schools, 485 Mich. 69 (2010)).

Grant is admitted to practice in Michigan, Illinois, and the District of Columbia, and is a member of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Holocaust Memorial Center of Metropolitan Detroit, where he serves on the Center's Executive Committee. Grant has been recognized as a leader in his field by Michigan Super Lawyers as one of its "Rising Stars." He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

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Thirty Plunkett Cooney attorneys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.

In addition to inclusion on the list this year, the following local Plunkett Cooney attorneys received the "Lawyer of the Year" honor from Best Lawyers, a designation awarded to only a single attorney in each practice area in each community:

- D. Jennifer Andreou - Medical Malpractice Law Defendants (Troy)

- Robert G. Kamenec - Appellate Practice (Troy)

Below is a list of local Plunkett Cooney attorneys who have received the 2019 Best Lawyers designation:

BLOOMFIELD HILLS:

- Michael P. Ashcraft (partner) - Legal Malpractice Law. Ashcraft has the distinction of being named to the Best Lawyers list for 10 years.

- Douglas C. Bernstein (partner) -  Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law / Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law / Real Estate Law.

- William D. Booth (of counsel) - Personal Injury Litigation. Booth has the distinction of being named to the Best Lawyers list for over 30 years.

- Charles W. Browning (partner) - Insurance Law. Browning has the distinction of being named to the Best Lawyers list for 10 years.

- Lawrence R. Donaldson (of counsel) - Professional Malpractice Law.

- Michael A. Fleming (partner) - Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law.

- Jeffrey C. Gerish (partner) - Appellate Law.

- Gregory Gromek (partner) - Personal Injury Litigation.

- Robert G. Kamenec (partner) - Appellate Practice. Kamenec has the distinction of being named to the Best Lawyers list for 10 years.

- Mark S. Kopson (partner) - Health Care Law.

- David A. Lerner (partner) - Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law.

- Mary Massaron (partner) - Appellate Law. Massaron has the distinction of being named to the Best Lawyers list for 10 years.

- Saulius K. Mikalonis (senior attorney) - Environmental Law.

- Stanley C. Moore III (of counsel) - Employment and Labor Law Management.

- Kenneth C. Newa (partner) - Insurance Law.

- Scott H. Sirich (partner) - Construction Law and Litigation.

- Thomas P. Vincent (partner) - Commercial Litigation.

DETROIT:

- D. Jennifer Andreou (partner) - Medical Malpractice Law.

- James R. Geroux (partner) - Workers' Compensation Law. Geroux has the distinction of being named to the Best Lawyers list for 10 years.

- Laurel F. McGiffert (partner) - Medical Malpractice Law.

- Claudia D. Orr (senior attorney) - Employment Law.

- Stanley A. Prokop (partner) -  Insurance Law.

- Mary Catherine Rentz (partner) - Insurance Law.

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Detroit-based management side labor and employment law firm Nemeth Law PC announces that three firm attorneys have been selected by their peers as Leading Lawyers in Michigan for 2018-2019. The list is included as an insert in the inaugural edition of DBusiness magazine's Detroit 500.

Firm founder Patricia Nemeth was selected in the areas of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), employment management and labor management; shareholder Terry Bonnette was selected in employment management and labor management; and shareholder Susan Koval was listed in employment management. Additionally, Nemeth was again named to the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board.

Nemeth is an arbitrator and a certified mediator for all types of civil litigation, including employment. Her areas of legal expertise include all aspects of traditional labor and employment litigation law, including complex employment investigations and analyses, discrimination/harassment, age, disability, sex, race, whistleblowers, wrongful discharge, union organizing activities and union issues, and multi-party lawsuits. She founded Nemeth Law as a solo practitioner in 1992.

The firm is the largest woman-owned law firm in Michigan to exclusively represent management in the prevention, resolution and litigation of labor and employment disputes.

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Brian H. Rolfe was elected as president and chief operating officer of Kemp Klein Law Firm joining Ralph A. Castelli Jr. who will remain as CEO and chairman of the board in managing the firm.

Rolfe focuses his practice on helping business owners, families and individuals solve their legal problems. He handles high dollar complex litigation and has successfully taken numerous trials to verdict, set precedent in contract interpretation matters and has extensive experience in the federal courts.

With his background in business litigation, Rolfe serves his business owner, professional and pro athlete clients well in divorce proceedings to ensure their rights are fully protected.

Published: Mon, Sep 10, 2018