Legal People

Potestivo & Associates PC, a legal services provider to the default servicing industry, is proud to announce it has been selected for the seventh year in a row as one of “The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” in the Metro Detroit area for the 2019 state-wide competition. The firm will be honored at a upcoming ceremony, where a representative from the firm will accept the award.
“We are very proud to, once again, be named among the Best & Brightest Companies. It is truly an honor to be the recipients of this award for the seventh year in a row. This award recognizes the high standard that we set for ourselves, to create and maintain a positive work environment,” President and Managing Attorney Brian Potestivo.

The “Best and Brightest Companies to Work For™” competition identifies and honors organizations located throughout specific regions.  The organizations must display a commitment to excellence in their human resource practices and employee enrichment.

Potestivo & Associates’ headquarters are located in Rochester, Michigan, and maintains full service operations in Chicago.

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The Wayne County Circuit Court is pleased to announce the Michigan Supreme Court has appointed two additional judges to the Wayne County Circuit Court’s Business Court. Judges Muriel D. Hughes and David J. Allen join Judges Edward Ewell Jr., Lita M. Popke, and Brian R. Sullivan, each of whom was recently reappointed to the Business Court for a six-year term. The two judges were added at the request of Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy M. Kenny.

Since assuming the duties of chief judge in January, 2019, Kenny has worked closely with Judge Patricia Perez Fresard, chief judge pro tem and presiding judge of the Civil Division, to assess the needs of the Business Court docket. The commitment to providing the highest level of service to business litigants in a court with almost three times the overall civil docket of the next highest volume court supported a proposal to add two judges to the Business Court.

Judge David J. Allen was appointed to the Wayne County Circuit Court in 2003. He has served in the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the Court. Allen has served on the Court’s Executive Committee, Security Committee, and Strategic Planning Committee. He is an adjunct professor of law at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, previously having taught at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Allen serves on the boards of two of the largest providers of social services in southeast Michigan: the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit and ACCESS. He is a lifelong resident of the City of Detroit and, together with his wife, has raised three young men.

Judge Edward Ewell was appointed to the Wayne County Circuit Court in 2003. He served in the Criminal Division for eleven years: serving five years as presiding judge. For the past six years, he has served in the Civil Division as a Business Court judge. Ewell is very active in the community serving on the Boards of Henry Ford Health Systems, the Youth Connection, Wayne State University Alumni Association, Wayne State Law School Board of Visitors, the Association of Black Judges of Michigan, the Detroit Bar Association, Sobriety House, and chairman of Corinthian Baptist Church Deacon Board. Ewell graduated from the University of Michigan and then pursued a Master’s of Science degree from Atlanta University. He later graduated from Wayne State University Law School. After clerking for U. S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon J. Keith, Eastern Distrcit of Michigan, Ewell became an associate at the law firm of Pepper, Hamilton, & Scheetz; a federal prosecutor in the United States Attorney’s Office; and general counsel for Wayne County
Judge Muriel D. Hughes has served on the Wayne County Circuit Court bench since 2006. Hughes served in the Family and Civil Divisions of the Court. Before becoming a judge, she practiced law for 23 years specializing in general litigation, real estate, probate and alternative case resolution. She also served as a Wayne County public administrator. In addition to her law license, she held a real estate sales and a real estate broker’s license. Recently, Hughes was re-elected by her peers for another two year term to the Board of Directors for the Michigan Judges Association and serves on the Civil/Business Law Committee. She has served as a member of the Michigan’s Solutions on Self-Help Task Force to expand coordinated assistance for self-represented individuals. Hughes has appeared as a speaker for the Michigan Judges Institute, ICLE No-Fault Seminar, and for the Detroit Bar Association.

Judge Lita Masini Popke has been a judge in the Wayne County Circuit Court since 2000. Popke’s prior service includes chief judge pro tem (2009 – 2013), Executive Committee (2005 – 2013, 2016- 2018), presiding judge Family Division (2005 – 2007), and Mediation Tribunal Association board member. She has also held various positions outside the court including Business Court representative for the American Bar Association; faculty member for the MJI New Judges Seminar; member, State Bar subcommittee on Civil Discovery Scope; and Detroit Bar’s Inn of Court. Before joining the bench, Popke was an appointed member of the State Board of Ethics, a Wayne and Oakland County mediator, and active in various community organizations. In private practice, she practiced commercial litigation and fidelity and surety law. She is a graduate of St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana and the University of Detroit School of Law.

Judge Brian R. Sullivan has served on the Wayne County Circuit since 1999 and was appointed to the Business Court in 2013. Sullivan previously served in the Criminal Division. In private practice, he handled trial and appellate cases in criminal and civil including business law. Sullivan was also an assistant prosecuting attorney, Wayne County, 1983-1988, the director of a legal clinic, and an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. He is a Fellow of the Michigan Bar Foundation, a member of the Jury Instruction Committee, and holds board and membership positions with numerous bar associations. Sullivan is a graduate of Monteith College, Wayne State University, and the Detroit College of Law.

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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Daniel F. Burkhart has been selected as a “2019 Up & Coming Lawyer” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Burkhart is an associate in the firm’s Detroit office. His practice focuses on debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and workouts and restructurings. He has experience reviewing, drafting, and negotiating a wide array of commercial contracts, including loan origination and workout agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and corporate governance documents. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, is a member of the Board of Directors of Unified HIV Health and Beyond, and involved with the Ss. Peter and Paul Warming Center and H.E.L.P. Legal Aid Clinic. Burkhart is also a member of the Leadership Detroit Class XLI.

He received his B.S. from John Carroll University and his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

In addition, Dickinson Wright is pleased to announce that attorney W. Anthony Jenkins has been elected a Trustee of the Michigan State Bar Foundation.

The Michigan State Bar Foundation was established in 1947 by lawyers and judges to help the legal profession meet its responsibilities to the public. Since inception, the Foundation has made grants to nonprofit civil legal aid programs, programs that improve the administration of justice through educating children and adults about their legal rights, and programs that support the justice system and opportunities to resolve conflicts outside the courtroom. To learn more about the Michigan State Bar Foundation, please visit www.msbf.org.

Jenkins is a member in the firm’s Detroit office where he focuses his practice on corporate, real estate, real estate finance, land use & development, leasing, minority business enterprises, and public finance. He represents multiple private enterprises and public entities in connection with financing for site acquisition and building improvements. He is a nationally recognized expert in certification of companies as minority-owned business enterprises, and structuring and documenting MBE joint ventures and strategic alliances.

Jenkins is a past president of the State Bar of Michigan and the Detroit Bar Association. He serves on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association. He also is the past chair of the Certification Committee of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council. In the community, he is the current chair of the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee and is serving or has served on the Board of Directors for the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Detroit Medical Center.

Jenkins is recognized as a leader in his field by Best Lawyers in America and Michigan Super Lawyers. He received his B.A. from Harvard College, his M.P.A. from Princeton University, and his law degree from New York University Law School.

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Butzel Long attorney Hannah E. Treppa is one of 30 attorneys in the state named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2019 Class of “Up & Coming Lawyers.” The attorneys will be honored during a luncheon on December 5 at the Detroit Marriott in Troy.

Based in Butzel Long’s Detroit office, Treppa focuses her practice primarily on employment and labor law. Her experience includes defending clients in administrative charges before governmental agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as in state and federal discrimination and retaliation lawsuits. In addition, Treppa has represented clients in general matters pertaining to commercial and tort litigation and arbitration, including breach of contract actions and product liability litigation. She is admitted to practice in the State of Michigan, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Treppa is a member of the Board of the Detroit Bar Association’s Barristers (Young Lawyers) Section, which focuses its efforts on service to the Detroit metropolitan community by volunteering in community service programs, partnering with local law schools, and working with schools in the community to present its annual educational Law Day program in contribution with the Wayne County Circuit Court.  

She is a member of the Young Leadership Council of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA). She also serves as a member of the board of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, where she is co-chair of the Trial Practice section, and a leader on the Legal Excellence Awards Committee. She also is a co-chair on the eBlast Committee of the Eastern District of Michigan Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
Treppa was recently appointed a co-chairman of Butzel Long’s Women’s Leadership Committee, which seeks to improve career development for women attorneys through training and mentorship.

Treppa facilitates two monthly affinity groups of human resource professionals for MichBusiness. Since starting her career with Butzel Long, she has been a regular presenter at the firm’s annual Labor, Employment, Benefits, and Immigration Law Forum. She was a featured presenter during Butzel Long’s June 2019 webinar, “Public Accommodations and Employment Law 101 for the Service Industry.” She also has written guest articles including an article co-authored with colleague, Carey A. DeWitt, titled, “Presentation of the Decision-Making Witness,” Michigan Lawyers Weekly, February 2018. 

She is an alumna of Hillsdale College (2012), and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (2016). While in law school, Treppa also served as a judicial intern for U.S. District Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen, Eastern District of Michigan, as well as Wayne County 35th District Court Chief Judge James A. Plakas.

In addition, Mark Lezotte, a leading southeast Michigan health care attorney with Butzel Long, will moderate a panel program during Crain’s Health Care Leadership Summit on Monday, October 28, at The Henry in Dearborn. The focus of the panel discussion is: “Health Care Literacy.”

Lezotte has experience in corporate, health care, tax, and exempt organization matters, including healthcare ventures, business transactions, regulatory investigations, corporate and nonprofit governance, and tax-exempt issues. He also has served in leadership roles on many other civic and nonprofit boards.

He has been active in numerous bar and professional organizations. He has been recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America” (health care law), published by Woodward/White Inc. since 2013; and has been selected to Michigan Super Lawyers, published by Thomson Reuters, since 2008.

Butzle Long is also pleased to annouce that attorney Daniel J. McCarthy has joined as a shareholder in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. He concentrates his practice in appellate and commercial litigation for both state and federal courts. 

McCarthy has experience in appellate litigation, as well as arbitration matters. A prolific writer, McCarthy has authored thousands of legal briefs during his career and he has garnered many victories in the appellate and circuit courts, as well as multiple arbitration awards in favor of his clients.

He served as a law clerk intern for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich, Sixth Circuit. He later served as a law clerk for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn J. Kelly, 1999 to 2000, and then in 2000 he served as a pre-hearing attorney for the Michigan Court of Appeals.

In addition to his career as an experienced and trusted litigator, McCarthy also served as an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.

In 2010, McCarthy was appointed to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court Committee on Model Civil Jury Instructions, a position he held through 2018.

McCarthy graduated from WMU-Cooley and Western Connecticut State University.

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A former deputy commissioner for the city of Detroit Fire Department, senior attorney Sydney R. Puricelli, is now putting out fires on behalf of the labor and employment clients of Plunkett Cooney.

A member of the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office, Puricelli has more than 15 years of experience in the areas of labor and employment law with particular expertise in labor dispute resolution, contract negotiations, grievance resolution and related arbitration proceedings. She also has experience resolving litigation involving claims of workplace violence, sexual harassment, wrongful termination and whistleblower claims.

Admitted to practice law in Michigan’s state and federal courts, Puricelli is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan.

Puricelli received her law degrees from Wayne State University Law School in 2009 and 2002, respectively. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1999.

Prior to joining the firm, Puricelli worked as assistant corporation counsel in the Labor & Employment Section of the city of Detroit Law Department and as a 2nd Deputy Commissioner of the Detroit Fire Department, where she developed particular expertise working with the city’s fire and EMS unions. Puricelli is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician in the state of Michigan.

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Michael A. Robbins, a Bloomfield Hills attorney who practices exclusively in Family Law, was recently admitted into the International Academy of Family Lawyers. The IAFL is a worldwide association of Matrimonial Lawyers who are recognized by their peers as the most experienced and skilled family law specialist in their respective countries.

Robbins is also past president of the Michigan Chapter of The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers; past chairperson of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan; has been named annually as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” in the area of Family Law; and has been named by Super Lawyers as one of the top 100 attorney’s in Michigan.