Legal People

Foster Swift attorneys Michael R. Blum, Lisa J. Hamameh, and Frank T. Mamat have been named to the 2019 Top Lawyers list by DBusiness magazine. All three attorneys practice from the firm’s Southfield office.
Blum is listed in the area of Labor and Employment Law and practices in the areas of labor law, employment law for both private and public employers, employment litigation and alternative dispute resolutions.
Hamameh is listed as a Top Lawyer in two categories: Land Use and Zoning law and Municipal Law. She complements her practice in the related areas of municipal law, representing cities, townships and villages; liquor licensing law; as well as condominium and homeowners’ association law.

Mamat is also listed in the area of Labor and Employment Law. Mamat focuses his practice on complex labor issues with a special focus on union matters, contract negotiations, OSHA and MIOSHA matters and unfair labor practice litigation among others.

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Numerous Butzel Long attorneys have been named Top Lawyers in metro Detroit 2019 by DBusiness magazine. The list appears in the November/December 2018 edition. The local attorneys and their practice areas are listed below:

Bloomfield Hills office
• Mark E. Crane, Family Law
• Carey A. DeWitt,  Labor and Employment Law, Trade Secrets
• Debra A. Geroux, Health Care Law
• Beth S. Gotthelf, Environmental Law
• D. Stewart Green, Real Estate Law
• Robert A. Hudson, Corporate Law, International Trade Law
• Susan L. Johnson, Environmental Law
• Sheldon H. Klein, Antitrust Law, Litigation – Antitrust
• Max J. Newman, Bankruptcy and Creditor /Debtor Rights Law
• Thomas Radom, Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights Law
• Joseph E. Richotte, Appellate Law
• Craig S. Schwartz, Labor and Employment Law
• Robert H. Schwartz, Health Care Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Thomas L. Shaevsky, Employee Benefits Law
• Daniel B. Tukel, Labor and Employment Law

Detroit office
• Linda J. Armstrong, Immigration Law
• James C. Bruno, Corporate Law, International Trade Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• George B. Donnini, White-Collar Criminal Defense
• Arthur Dudley II, Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Law, Securities Law
• David F. DuMouchel, Professional Malpractice Law, White-Collar Criminal Defense
• Eric J. Flessland, Construction Law, Litigation – Construction
• Bernard J. Fuhs, Franchise Law, Trade Secrets
• John P. Hancock, Employee Benefits Law, Litigation – Labor and Employment Benefits
• Justin G. Klimko, Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Law, Securities Law
• Phillip C. Korovesis, Litigation – Commercial
• Mark R. Lezotte, Health Care Law, Nonprofit/Charities Law
• Clara DeMatteis Mager, Immigration Law
• Paul M. Mersino, Trade Secrets
• Donald B. Miller, Labor and Employment Law, Product Liability
• Reginald A. Pacis, Immigration Law
• James S. Rosenfeld, Labor and Employment Law, Litigation – Labor Employment Benefits
• Bruce L. Sendek, Litigation – Antitrust, Litigation – Commercial
 • Ivonne M. Soler, Family Law
• Nicholas J. Stasevich, Corporate Law, International Trade Law
• James E. Wynne, Product Liability

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The Serra Donovan Law Group is merging with the Birmingham law firm of Lippitt, O’Keefe, Gornbein PLLC.

In addition to its headquarters at 370 E. Maple Road in Birmingham, the expanded Lippitt, O’Keefe, Gornbein practice group will maintain offices in Rochester, Michigan, to serve clients acquired in the merger.

Managing Partner Brian O’Keefe noted that William Donovan will join Lippitt O’Keefe Gornbein with the title of senior counsel. Reese Serra will serve as a special advisor to the firm.

Donovan holds the Martindale-Hubbell National Law Registry’s highest rating, is a U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General and is a licensed real estate broker. His clients include major companies in telecommunications, insurance, real estate, construction, medicine, health care and manufacturing.

A graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, Donovan has served the legal needs of clients in Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties for more than 40 years.

In addition to serving as a special adviser to Lippitt, O’Keefe, Gornbein, Serra plans to pursue various other entrepreneurial opportunities. While at Serra Donovan, his practice had included work in telecommunications, real estate, mergers-and-acquisitions and business re-organizations.

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Maddin, Hauser, Roth, & Heller PC is pleased to announce that Earle I. Erman received the Federal Bar Association’s 2018 Barbara J. Rom Award for Bankruptcy Excellence. This award honors individuals who have exhibited the highest level of overall excellence in the practice of bankruptcy law.  The announcement was made by the firm’s President and CEO, Steven D. Sallen.

Erman is a shareholder in the firm’s Creditor Rights, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Practice Group. Widely recognized as one of Michigan’s top bankruptcy and insolvency lawyers, Erman’s practice focuses on insolvency-related matters inside and outside of bankruptcy. Erman served as a member and bankruptcy trustee of the Panel of United States Trustees for the Eastern District of Michigan and has successfully handled a wide range of creditor-related matters, contract disputes, mediations, receiverships, representation of debtors, creditors’ committees, secured and unsecured creditors, and other parties in bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy matters.

AV rated in Martindale Hubbell, Erman has been named in the Best Lawyers in America® since 1995, has been recognized in the Michigan edition of Super Lawyers® and was listed as a Top Lawyer by DBusiness Magazine. He is also board certified in Business Bankruptcy by the American Bankruptcy Board of Certification.

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Plunkett Cooney continued the expansion of its medical litigation practice with the recent addition of attorney Justin J. Hakala.

An associate attorney in Plunkett Cooney’s Bloomfield Hills office, Hakala focuses his practice primarily in the area of medical malpractice liability defense. He represents physicians, health systems and hospitals in healthcare litigation and defends claims of alleged professional liability in cases involving birth trauma, cardiac arrest, nursing home care, missed diagnoses and ophthalmology. He has successfully served as first- and second-chair in numerous jury trials.

In addition to his medical malpractice practice, Hakala defends product liability cases. He has experience with mass tort cases involving defective medical devices and other products. Notably, Hakala is the author of the 2016 book titled: “Product Liability in Michigan,” which draws upon his years of experience as a plaintiff attorney as well as his perspectives for the defense.

Named a Rising Star in medical malpractice by Michigan Super Lawyers magazine since 2013, Hakala earned his law degree from the Wayne State University Law School in 2009. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 2004.

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The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers is proud to announce the election and induction of Gary S. Fealk as a new Fellow. Election as a Fellow is the highest recognition by ones colleagues of sustained outstanding performance in the profession, exemplifying integrity, dedication and excellence.

Fealk practices in all areas of labor and employment litigation on behalf of employers at The Murray Law Group PC in Bingham Farms. He has particular experience in the area of union/management relations including collective bargaining, labor arbitrations, administrative proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board and Michigan Employment Relations Commission and defense of multi-employer benefit fund collection actions. Fealk also has experience in defending discrimination, retaliation and harassment claims in state and federal courts and before the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fealk also represents employers in cases involving non-competition agreements, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Fealk is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan and the American Bar Association, the Eastern District of Michigan Federal Bar Association and the Oakland County Bar Association Employment Law Committee. He is also a member of the American Employment Law Council. Fealk has served as an editor of the Michigan Employment Law Letter since 2015. He has also a contributing author of Developing Labor Law, 6th Edition, and Cumulative Supplements, ABA-BNA, 2004-present, Employment Litigation in Michigan, 2nd Edition (ICLE 2004) and Cumulative Supplements, and Employment Discrimination Law, 5th Edition (2012) and Cumulative Supplements, ABA-BNA.

Fealk graduated from The University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University.

The twenty-third installation of Fellows was held November 10, 2018, in San Francisco, California, coincident with the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section’s Continuing Legal Education Conference. With the current installation, the College is represented by more than fourteen hundred members in forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and eight Canadian Provinces.

The College was the vision of a number of the Fellows. The idea was to further establish this profession in all its aspects as one uniquely important to the world of labor and employment law, individual rights, collective bargaining and dispute resolution. The College was established in 1995 through an initiative of the Council of the Section of Labor and Employment Law of the American Bar Association. It operates as a freestanding organization recognizing those who, by long and outstanding service, have distinguished themselves as leaders in the field.