Varnum expands southeast Michigan office locations
The Varnum law firm that has offices in Ann Arbor and Lansing and several other Michigan locations, opened an office in Birmingham on Aug. 12.
Mike Romaya, a senior attorney in Varnum’s finance group, serves as lead partner.
Joining Romaya are Anthony Akins, Tom Bergh, Brad Defoe, Barbara Buchanan, Lena Gionette and Casey Koppelman. Practice areas include finance, litigation, labor and employment, employee benefits, trusts and estates and corporate services. Estate and business planning attorney Stephen C. Rohr, who recently joined Varnum from Miller Canfield, will also practice in the Birmingham office.
Varnum’s client base in Southeast Michigan has grown more than 50 percent in the past five years; and the new office also serves an expanding attorney roster. Since last year, 12 of 18 attorneys who have joined the firm are based in the southeast Michigan offices.
Varnum is the fourth largest Michigan law firm, according to the 2019 directory of law firms published by Michigan Lawyers Weekly, and is the only West Michigan-based firm included in Crain’s 2019 list of 20 largest law firms, based on number of attorneys in Southeast Michigan.
Law firm achieves Mansfield 2.0 CertificationPlus status
Brinks Gilson & Lione, one of the nation’s largest intellectual property law firms, and with a Michigan office in Ann Arbor, has achieved Mansfield 2.0 Certification Plus status by considering at least 30 percent of candidates from diverse backgrounds for leadership positions and in its senior-level recruiting, and because a large number of women and minorities were represented in its key leadership roles and lateral hires in the past year.
“Ensuring that our attorneys and firm leaders are drawn from a diverse pool of candidates, and making every effort to maintain diversity throughout our leadership team, is key to serving our global clients,” said Gus Siller, president of Brinks Gilson & Lione. “And as a workplace, we know our attorneys and staff can only feel included when we are honoring who they are from more than a business standpoint. Achieving this status two years in a row shows we are on the right track, and we are extremely proud.”
Created by the research think tank Diversity Lab, the first iteration (Mansfield 1.0) was aimed at law firms that considered minorities and women lawyers for at least a third of their leadership roles. Mansfield 2.0, launched in July of last year, added LGBTQ+ lawyers to the list. Mansfield 2.0 also measures consideration for participation in client pitch meetings, and requests that participating firms’ appointment and election processes are transparent to all firm lawyers.
