Legal People

Secrest Wardle

Secrest Wardle has welcomed two new associates to its Troy location.

Andrew B. McKeachie joins Secrest Wardle’s Troy office as an associate. He is a member of the firm’s Motor Vehicle Litigation Practice Group. McKeachie has represented a variety of clients including health systems, physicians, health professionals, and insurance carriers in professional liability matters. He has additional experience handling ordinary negligence, licensing/credentialing, and premises liability cases.

McKeachie earned his law degree from Michigan State University College of Law and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Hope College. He is licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan’s Young Lawyers and Negligence Law Sections. McKeachie is also an active member of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel Association (MDTC).

Daniel S. Schrode II joins Secrest Wardle’s Troy office as an associate. He is a member of the firm’s Motor Vehicle Litigation Practice Group. Schrode has experience representing insurance companies and their insureds in first-party no-fault and third-party auto negligence actions from the initial discovery phase through trial. He has additional experience handling criminal matters including traffic violations, misdemeanors, and felonies.

Schrode earned his law degree from Wayne State University Law School and received his Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations with a specialty in Political Economy and Business from James Madison College at Michigan State University. He is licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan’s Young Lawyers Section.

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Butzel Long

Butzel Long attorney and shareholder, Bushra Malik, has been elected chair of the Michigan Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the national association of more than 15,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law.

Malik has served on the Executive Committee for the Michigan Chapter of AILA as the vice chair, and previously served on the Executive Committee for the Michigan Chapter of AILA as the treasurer and the secretary.
Malik practices in the area of immigration law, focusing on the representation of multinational and domestic clients’ inbound and global migration needs. Her experience includes Employment based (Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Researcher, Multinational Manager, and PERMs) and Family based Permanent Residence Petitions, Non-Immigrant Petitions (H-1B/Specialty Occupation, J-1/ Exchange Visitor, L-1/Intracompany Transfers, O-1/Extraordinary Ability, TN/ NAFTA); Employer Compliance (I-9 Audits and H-1B Public Access File Audits); J-1 waivers; Compliance under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiate (WHTI); U.S. Passports; complex naturalization matters; and currency seizures.

She has experience in securing work and residence permits for numerous countries around the globe, including: China, India, Canada, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Malaysia, Hungary, Poland, Italy, and Belgium. Malik routinely represents clients at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services District Office, U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad, and various Foreign Embassies and Consulates.

Prior to joining Butzel Long, Malik was a vice consul for the United States Foreign Service, Department of State in Seoul, South Korea. She also worked with the Executive Office of Immigration Review at the Chicago Immigration Court and had externships with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in New Delhi, India, and the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service, Office of the General Counsel in Washington, D.C.

Malik is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, the South Asian Bar Association, the Michigan Muslim Bar Association, and the Japanese Business Society of Detroit.

She is currently serving as the vice chair AILA’s Global Migration Section (GMS). Malik previously served on the AILA Department of State National Liaison Committee; AILA Customs and Border Protection National Liaison Committee; was the program chair of the 2015 AILA Global Immigration Forum; and has presented at numerous AILA National, AILA GMS and AILA Rome District conferences. She also previously served as the chair of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service Liaison Committee for the Michigan Chapter of AILA. Malik speaks Hindi, Japanese, and Urdu.

Malik is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University’s James Madison College. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America (Immigration Law) and was named one of DBusiness magazine’s Top Lawyers in the field of immigration law.

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Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP has added to its intellectual property team in Detroit with the hire of associate Justin B. Foster.

He has experience in the preparation and prosecution of patent applications as well as intellectual property litigation, particularly in the electrical and computer science technology fields—a byproduct of his master’s degree in electrical engineering.

“I’ve always been into computers, math and technology, and I majored in engineering,” Foster said. “So patent law has been a perfect fit for me. I’m excited to join Dinsmore and continue my practice with such a strong firm.”

Foster is transplanting east from the Pacific Northwest, where he was most recently an associate at Klarquist Sparkman LLP in Portland, Oregon, after five years as general counsel for Stardust Materials in Vancouver, Washington. The Midwest is familiar to the 2007 Northwestern law grad who also earned his lower degrees from the University of Illinois and practiced bankruptcy law for five years at his father’s Chicago firm to begin his career.

Outside of the office, Foster is an avid runner, having completed the Chicago, Portland, and Las Vegas marathons. He also fills his time at the poker table and playing music.

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Dickinson Wright PLLC

Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that Lynn Capp Sirich (member, Troy) has been elected President of the Oakland County Bar Foundation (OCBF). Her term is effective July 1, 2019.

“I’m honored to represent the Oakland County Bar Foundation as president for the 2019-2020 term,” said Sirich. “I look forward to working with the Board of Trustees and our Fellows to continue to promote programs in our community that increase access, affordability, and understanding of the law and legal system.”

The OCBF partners with the Oakland County Bar Association (OCBA) to support worthy causes in the Oakland County community. The OCBF promotes and funds programs designed to increase access, affordability, and understanding of the law and legal system. Through support from members of the OCBA, the OCBF is able to expand its reach and grant-giving efforts.

With more than 27 years of experience in all areas of family and domestic relations law, Sirich skillfully guides her clients through this legal process, always mindful of the fact that she is assisting clients through an emotional and traumatic period of their lives with more than just their immediate divorce and child custody issues, as the business of divorce incorporates many different legal specialties.

She is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan (Family Law Section), the Oakland County Bar Association, the Wayne County Family Law Bar Association (Past-President), the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, and the Michigan Inter-Professional Association. She is a Life Fellow of the Oakland County Bar Foundation. She is recognized as a leader in her field by DBusiness Top Lawyers and was recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of “2017 Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan.”

Sirich received her B.A. from Michigan State University, James Madison College and her law degree from the Detroit College of Law. She was admitted as a Fellow to American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) this year.

In addition, Dickinson Wright is pleased to announce that attorney Scott A. Petz has been selected among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators® for 2019. 

To be considered for selection, an attorney must have litigated (for either plaintiff or defendant) a matter (1) with at least $2,000,000 in alleged damages at stake or (2) with the fate of a business worth at least $2,000,000 at stake.

Petz is a member in the firm’s Troy office where he focuses his practice in the areas of commercial and business litigation, class and collective actions, labor litigation, consumer protection, and condemnation and land use.

Petz received his B.A. from Kalamazoo College and his law degree from The John Marshall Law School.