Legal People ...

The global law firm Jones Day has announced that 34 lawyers will be admitted to partnership in the firm as of January 1, 2020. Lara Alice Pender of the firm’s Detroit office was among those admitted to partnership.

Pender has more than 10 years of experience in structuring, negotiating, and managing multijurisdictional acquisitions, divestitures, and minority- and majority-stake investments.

Pender worked in the City of London for seven years where she focused on complex, sponsor-backed acquisitions for global private equity sponsors such as Bain Capital, Vista Equity Partners, and Towerbrook Capital Partners.

Since moving to the United States in 2014, Pender has split her time between the Bay Area and the Midwest — and deepened her commitment to the emerging company space. She works on late-stage financings for international corporate venture capital funds and is also deeply engaged in the burgeoning Midwest venture scene, helping founders and venture capitalists navigate initial funding rounds and other early-stage legal and strategic issues.

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Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson recently announced that Adam Reames will serve as the Michigan Department of State’s legislative policy director starting January 6. Reames has been the assistant secretary of the Michigan Senate for more than 10 years.

At the Michigan Senate, Reames oversaw legislative procedures, training for new members and daily operations of the nonpartisan staff. Prior to that work, he held several policy and lobbying positions with organizations including Dykema Gossett, the Michigan House of Representatives, and the Michigan Department of Transportation. Reames also has a law degree from Wayne State University Law School, a Master of Public Policy degree from Claremont Graduate University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, where he studied political science.

“I am excited to be joining Secretary Benson and her administration,” said Reames. “I look forward to putting my knowledge of the Legislature in support of the Secretary’s vision to benefit the citizens of Michigan.”

Reames replaces Jonathan Brater as the department’s legislative policy director. Brater will take over as director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections on January 2.

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Melanie B. Jacobs, senior associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law, has been named interim dean of Michigan State University College of Law as Dean Lawrence Ponoroff returns to the faculty, effective Dec. 31, 2019.

Jacobs, a respected member of the legal academic community, brings more than 20 years of experience in teaching law to the interim role. The transition comes as the College of Law continues the process of fully integrating with Michigan State University.

“I joined the MSU College of Law faculty in 2002 and am proud to call MSU home,” Jacobs said. “I am deeply committed to our students, faculty, staff, and alumni and feel privileged to lead our school during this period of transition. I am excited for the promise and opportunities the integration holds for our students and faculty.”

The integration process began in Fall 2018 and will support a high-quality education for students as well as enhance administrative services. The college currently is a private law school affiliated with MSU, but with a separate governing board and administrative practices. Full integration is expected to be complete in August 2020.

Ponoroff, who stepped down for personal reasons, served as dean of the college for the past three and a half years.

“Dean Ponoroff has been a great partner throughout the integration process,” said Thomas Jeitschko, dean of MSU’s Graduate School and associate provost who is overseeing the law school’s full integration into MSU. “He is stepping down just as the critically important transition of all staff and faculty to MSU is being successfully completed. All other aspects of the integration are on course, and we anticipate a successfully completed integration in August 2020.”

Faculty from the college will work with MSU’s provost office to hire a permanent dean.