Legal People

Bodman PLC has again been named a “highly recommended” law firm for business litigation in the 2020 edition of the journal Benchmark Litigation.

Benchmark also recognizes individual attorneys as “Local Litigation Stars,” “Future Stars,” “Labor and Employment Stars,” or as members of its “Under 40 Hot List” of up and coming litigation stars. Local Bodman attorneys listed in at least one of these categories include:

Detroit office:
Sarah L. Cylkowski
Nathan D. Dupes
Dennis J. Levasseur
Rebecca D’Arcy O’Reilly
Thomas J. Rheaume, Jr.
Joseph J. Shannon

Troy office:
Michelle Thurber Czapski
Donald H. Scharg
Thomas J. Tallerico
Thomas Van Dusen

Bodman’s Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group attorneys appear before state and federal courts and in non-judicial forums such as national and international arbitration proceedings.  The group’s expertise spans many industries including banking and financial services, automotive, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate and zoning, and construction, among others.

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Attorney Miroslava Orduno Rincon has been recognized in Crain’s Detroit Business’ Notable Woman in Law 2019 list.

Orduño Rincón was selected for her career accomplishments, track record of success in the field, contributions to the community, and mentorship of others.

Orduño Rincón equally prizes corporate clients and those in need of pro bono legal services. She volunteers with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and is a member of the American Bar Association and Hispanic Bar Association of Michigan.

For Kerr Russell, Orduño Rincón assists employers with immigration issues, including the international movement of personnel, family immigration, outbound business visitors and the immigration of physicians educated in the U.S. She also educates employers, community groups and students regarding immigration law and related compliance issues.

Orduño Rincón manages the immigration-related considerations for foreign nationals employed by automotive OEMs and aerospace clients. She provided immigration-related assistance to a client that was acquiring a company’s operations for $1.6 billion and another client involved in a $6.5 billion spin-off.

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James Parks was awarded the Leon Hubbard Community Service Award by the Oakland County Bar Association (OCBA) at the organization’s Taste of Diversity event that was held at the Great Lakes Culinary Center on October 17. Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss CEO Jeffrey Weiss made the announcement.

The Leon Hubbard Community Service Award was created by the (OCBA) in 1994 to celebrate and promote an awareness of the rich cultural diversity of Oakland County by recognizing and honoring an individual that has a record of community service, has promoted cultural diversity, advanced social equality and worked to enhance the quality of life for all people.

Serving as OCBA president in 2018, Parks committed to exploring meaningful avenues to promote diversity in the legal community at large. One of his many efforts was bringing together a deep and diverse group of influencers to discuss obstacles and opportunities with regards to inclusion. This event led to a purposeful and actionable plan for how the OCBA will lead, engage and empower going forward.

Parks is a member of the Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC Litigation and Employment & Labor Groups His national practice includes complex litigation, traditional labor and employment law. He has vast experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants, and a certified mediator.

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Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP welcomes Daniel G. Bonucchi to the firm as an associate in the Southfield and Macomb County offices.

Bonucchi comes to Warner’s Automotive Industry Group and Business and Corporate Services Practice Group from Federal-Mogul Motorparts LLC (Tenneco Inc.) where he served as an associate general counsel for the global OE and aftermarket automotive manufacturer. Bonucchi has a range of experience in business and corporate law, counseling both publicly traded and privately held companies on a variety of matters including mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracting, corporate governance and other general corporate matters. 

Prior to Federal-Mogul, Bonucchi practiced business and corporate law at Bodman PLC. He also interned with Ford Motor Company’s Office of General Counsel. Before attending law school, Bonucchi progressed through several corporate roles in procurement and commodity management at Whirlpool Corporation. 

Bonucchi earned a bachelor of arts in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business. He received his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Bonucchi is a member of the State Bar of Michigan.

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Matthew J. Stanczyk, a partner of Plunkett Cooney, was recently elected to the Board of Directors of ALFA International.

Stanczyk was elected to the three-year term at the conclusion of the ALFA Attorney Business Meeting in Chicago on Oct. 24. The board consists of 16 member-firm attorneys from the United States and around the world who together ensure proper governance of the organization.

“My election to the board is an honor and a privilege,” said Stanczyk, who was also recently selected to serve as chair of ALFA International’s Product Liability & Complex Torts Practice Group. “I look forward to working with this group of remarkable attorneys and ALFA management and collaborating with them to capitalize on opportunities for the organization and to address challenges in our profession.”

Founded in 1980, ALFA International is the premier network of independent law firms in the world with 150 member firms. ALFA’s 80 U.S. firms maintain offices in 95 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas, and the consortium’s 70 international firms are located throughout Europe, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Africa, Canada, Mexico and South America.

A member of Plunkett Cooney’s Detroit office, Stanczyk serves as a member of the firm’s Board of Directors and co-leader of Torts & Litigation Practice Group, which focuses on a range of litigation issues, including product liability, complex torts, general liability, retail liability, and foodservice and hospitality law.

A 1986 graduate of University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a 1983 graduate of the University of Michigan, Stanczyk is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Detroit Bar Association, State Bar of Michigan (Negligence and Consumer Law sections), American Bar Association, DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar, among others.

In addition, Stanczyk is the recipient of such professional honors as Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer review rating-AV Preeminent(TM), the Michigan Super Lawyer designation for his product liability expertise, and selection by DBusiness magazine as a Top Lawyer in the area of product liability.

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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel recently announced the addition of Assistant Attorney General Danielle Russo Bennetts to her department. Russo Bennetts will lead the department’s Cold Case Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Unit, a unit supported by a special grant through the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women and administered by the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board.

Russo Bennetts recently joined the department after serving as the director of the Violence Against Women Project for the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM), where she trained prosecutors across the state on cases involving sexual assault, domestic violence, intimate partner homicides, and stalking. Prior to joining PAAM, Russo Bennetts served 15 years in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, serving as the lead attorney for the sexual assault team. She is a two-time graduate of Wayne State University – earning both her bachelor’s and law degrees – and has handled hundreds of sexual assault and domestic violence cases in her career.

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Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Bushra Malik was recently named chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s (AILA) Global Migration Section (GMS). AILA is the national association of more than 15,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law.

She also served as the vice chair AILA’s Global Migration Section. 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 was elected chair of the Michigan Chapter of AILA earlier this year.

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.  Malik speaks Hindi, Japanese, and Urdu.

Malik is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (1998) and Michigan State University’s James Madison College (B.A. in International Relations, 1996 and an additional major in Japanese and Certificate of Asian Studies). 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.