Lakeshore Legal Aid recently announced that Emily Calabrese, Lakeshore's Litigation director has been named chief advocacy officer (CAO) effective immediately. As CAO, Calabrese will report to and assist Lakeshore's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ashley Lowe in managing the advocacy work of the organization. Calabrese brings to the position a dedication to working with low-income people in the neighborhoods in which they live, becoming part of those communities and part of the solution to their legal needs.
As Calabrese reflected, "I am humbled and honored to serve amazing people in my community and to work with my Lakeshore colleagues who strive to make this world a better place."
Prior to her appointment, Calabrese assisted and mentored Lakeshore's supervising attorneys, staff attorneys and advocates. Calabrese supervised Wayne State University law students at the Free Legal Aid Clinic, working diligently to help any client who walked through the door.
Calabrese began her pursuit for civil justice as a law student at the Family Law Assistance Project working with survivors of domestic violence. She has also collaborated with various community organizations to strengthen Lakeshore's outreach efforts, and she has developed and implemented policies and procedures for effective office administration.
Calabrese is a member of State Bar of Michigan Family Law Section Domestic Violence Committee, Macomb County Bar Association, and Lakeshore Legal Aid's Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Calabrese earned her law degree at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School and Bachelor of Arts in History at Michigan State University.
Lakeshore Legal Aid is not-for profit law firm providing a range of free civil legal services to low income people, seniors, and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. For additional information, call 1-888-783-8190 or visit https://lakeshorelegalaid.org.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced the appointment of Jamia M. Davis to the Michigan Statewide Independent Living Council.
Davis is a court-appointed guardianship review volunteer with the Oakland County Probate Court and works as a document reviewer for various security companies. She earned her law degree degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.
Davis is appointed to represent individuals with disabilities for a term commencing January 31, 2020 and expiring December 31, 2021. She succeeds Kelsey Kleimola who has resigned.
This appointment is not subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
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Foley & Lardner LLP is pleased to announce that Jonathan (Jon) P. Witt of the Detroit office has been elected to the firm's partnership, effective February 1, 2020.
Witt is a member of the Corporate Practice, as well as the Automotive and Manufacturing Industry Teams. He represents both public and private acquirers and targets in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
Witt represents businesses on a wide range of matters, including company formation, capital raising, equity holder agreements, employee and consulting agreements, commercial arrangements, joint ventures and strategic planning.
He works with businesses transitioning ownership to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), issuers in public and private equity and debt securities offerings, and public companies on federal securities law compliance, disclosure and reporting obligations and corporate governance.
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Secrest Wardle welcomes partner Mary T. Doll the firm's Troy location.
Doll joins Secrest Wardle having represented the interests of corporate and private clients in a variety of general negligence, motor vehicle litigation, and premises liability matters for over 28 years.
Doll has experience serving as first chair in numerous trials and boasts a high success rate at the appellate court level. In addition to her litigation experience, Doll also serves as a defense evaluator on the Macomb and Wayne County Mediation Panels.
Doll earned her law degree from the Detroit College of Law and her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She is a member of Secrest Wardle's Construction, General Negligence, Motor Vehicle Litigation, and Premises Liability Practice Groups. She is also an active member of the State Bar of Michigan.
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Christensen Law has been named a Tier 1 law firm in the Detroit region for personal injury litigation by U.S. News & World Report magazine.
Christensen made the list of U.S. News' Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" following an evaluation process that included at least one attorney from the firm having also been recognized by the U.S. News Best Lawyers rating and information collected in ballots submitted by other attorneys also ranked by U.S. News.
For nearly 30 years, David Christensen and his Michigan legal team have helped thousands of clients secure financial resolution following an accident. Christensen specializes in auto accident law, and the firm includes trial attorneys and paralegals who are carefully trained and certified to assist clients in a range of cases. Christensen Law has offices in Southfield, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Grand Rapids and handles cases around the country.
David Christensen, who has received both statewide and national recognition of his expertise, has also held numerous professional leadership positions among the trial lawyers and the State Bar of Michigan. He has achieved numerous record-setting jury verdicts for his clients. He has been consistently named by his peers to major "top attorney" and "superlawyer" lists in Michigan, and has been recognized by U.S. News as a Best Lawyer in America (the top 2 percent of all lawyers). In 2012, Christensen was named a "Leader in the Law" by Michigan Lawyer's Weekly.
The firm handles a wide range of personal injury litigation including assisting the victims of traumatic brain injury from accidents, automobile negligence, trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents and boating accidents.
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Patricia Nemeth, founder of Detroit-based management side labor and employment law firm Nemeth Law PC, has been named a recipient of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel (MDTC) Excellence in Defense Award for 2020. The strolling dinner event will take place on Wednesday, March 19, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Gem Theatre in Detroit. Fox 2 Detroit news anchor Roop Raj will serve as emcee for the evening.
Nemeth was recognized in the category of Excellence in Defense, honoring civil defense counsel who through their professionalism, intelligence, creativity, judgement, civility, advocacy skills, community involvement and efforts to educate younger attorneys, promote the practice of the defense bar and the representation of their clients in and outside of the courtroom. The award also recognizes contributions beyond the recipient's normal role as an advocate.
Nemeth founded Nemeth Law as a solo practitioner in 1992. Nationally recognized, the firm exclusively represents management in the prevention, resolution and litigation of labor and employment disputes. Nemeth is an attorney known to advocate aggressively but civilly for her clients, and has found success as a litigator, investigator, consultant, and certified mediator. In recent years, she has increased her practice commitment to arbitration and mediation, seeking a peaceful resolution to a variety of civil and employment conflicts.
While leading Nemeth Law as the largest woman-owned law firm in Michigan to exclusively represent management in the prevention, resolution and litigation of labor and employment disputes, she has gained expertise in a variety of industries including healthcare, gaming, insurance, retail, manufacturing and government entities. At the same time, she has acted as a mentor to up and coming defense attorneys and continues working for change that benefits not only her clients, but the greater legal community.
The Excellence in Defense award is one of many honors bestowed on Nemeth in recent years. In November 2019, she was named a Fellow by the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. In April 2016, Nemeth received a Distinguished Alumni award from the Wayne State University School of Law at its annual Treasure of Detroit celebration, honoring those who have made significant contributions to the practice of law, as well as the growth and success of the law school. She has been on the U.S. News Best Lawyers® list since 2010 and is a multiple Michigan Super Lawyer and Leading Lawyer honoree. In 2009 Nemeth was named a "Leader in the Law" by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. She is also an ABA Foundation Fellow and a member of the Michigan, Illinois, Federal, and the United States Supreme Court Bars.
Nemeth earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a law degree and LLM in Labor Law from Wayne State University School of Law.
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James Reid, the newest partner in the Detroit office of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, has joined the S.H.a.R.E. Network as a founding member. S.H.a.R.E. (Safety, Health, and Risk Education Resources) is a collaboration of consultants, legal advisers, speakers, publishers, and innovators. Its primary focus is to assist executives confronted with issues related to distracted-driving prevention.
As an attorney who counsels entrepreneurs, executives, in-house counsel, and HR directors, Reid plans to contribute to S.H.a.R.E. by helping to prepare employee handbooks and provide training to businesses with a workforce often behind the wheel.
"As a father of two and road cyclist, I am committed to minimizing the risks of distracted driving," Reid said. "Based on my role as director-elect of Michigan Society of Human Resource Management and adviser to many executives in the c-suite, I believe I have the right platform to share the message and make a change."
Despite updated laws, fines, technology solutions, and public-relations campaigns, America's distracted-driving problem is dire. Each day in the United States, an average of nine people are killed and more than 1,000 are injured in crashes involving a distracted driver.
Reid joins S.H.a.R.E. Founder Laura A. Dillivan along with Michael Z. Seymore (PEERS Foundation), Troy Spracklin and Colin Osing (eBrake Technologies), John Liberatore (Primacy Risk Services), and Karen Torres (All4UDad) as a founding member. Together they offer a service model to benefit the corporate sector. They use the PETE strategic formula (Policy, Education, Technology, Execution) to enhance the safety and health of employees and reduce liabilities and potential costs to employers.
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Butzel Long attorney Mitchell ("Mitch") Zajac served on a panel during The Michigan Lean Consortium "Lean in Legal" workshop on Friday, Feb. 7, in Troy. The focus of the event was to share best practices on how "Lean" can be used to improve the delivery of legal services.
Based in Butzel Long's Detroit office, Zajac is an associate and registered patent attorney, focusing his practice in the areas of automotive, intellectual property (IP), compliance, and international trade.
Before joining Butzel Long as a summer associate in May 2017, while attending law school full time, Zajac was an engineer at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). He moved quickly through the ranks at FCA. He was responsible for multiple ground-breaking development projects, led the international engineering team producing the Ram ProMaster City, and had a leading role in FCA's corporate audit group with responsibilities in safety/regulatory compliance, quality and purchasing.
Zajac has practiced in six federal courts, the U.S. Patent Office, and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Zajac's career as an attorney builds on his strengths and experiences he gained while at FCA and has helped him to grow his practice beyond the automotive industry. Zajac already has helped several clients manage and craft IP portfolios in other unique industries, like medicine, light-weighting, and industrial manufacturing. His experience includes complex patent, trade secret and commercial litigation cases. He crafts solutions for clients in emerging industries, achieves improbable deals, and recently helped a client achieve hundreds of thousands of dollars working with customs agents and import brokers to exclude tariffs on millions of dollars of imports exercising exceptions to President Trump's Section 232 tariffs.
Zajac has built a book of business that includes automotive and transportation companies developing IP portfolios, multiple start-up companies with $4M+ capitalization developing strategic national partners, and multi-million-dollar global automotive clients navigating international trade issues. Between trials and hearings in Detroit Washington D.C. on behalf of Detroit auto suppliers, sitting first-chair and taking depositions across the U.S. and around the world (including London, Singapore, and Taiwan), Zajac also spends time presenting across the country as a thought leader in remanufacturing, automotive IP, and automotive contracting and supply agreements.
Zajac attended Western Michigan University Cooley Law School (2017) after graduating from Western Michigan University with Bachelors' degrees in Mechanical Engineering and German (2012) and a Master's in Mechanical Engineering (2013). He was a Rhodes Scholar finalist (2012); interned for Congressman Fred Upton; and was a four-year starter on the Division 1 football team at WMU. Zajac also is completing his Master's degree in Corporate Law and Finance. Notably, Zajac received the Detroit Bar Association's "One to Watch" Award in 2019.
He also is an advocate for continuous education and public service. He's the Association for Child Development (ACD) president, a non-profit organization facilitating ~$30M/annum through the USDA CACF Program providing healthy meals to children across the Midwest. He has helped this organization achieve financial stability, organizational structure, and leads strategic expansion of ACD programs to more children and to provide education to more families.
Zajac also dedicates hundreds of hours each year coaching high school football in Howell, turning his standard 12-hour workdays into 15+ hour days in order to work with and mentor young athletes. Zajac is an adjunct professor and curriculum coordinator for the engineering project management graduate programs at Trine University; serves on the WMU Lee Honors College Board; and, volunteers as a Challenge Master for Destination Imagination a creative problem-solving program for kids around the world.
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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Katheryne L. Zelenock has been elected to the Midwest Real Estate News "2019 Real Estate Hall of Fame."
The Midwest Real Estate News "2019 Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame" features more than 90 commercial real estate professionals from across the Midwest and represents the best that the industry has to offer.
Zelenock is a member and chair of the firm's Real Estate Finance practice. In her practice, she leads a team that closes commercial and multifamily mortgage loans across the country on behalf of leading national lenders as well as smaller regional and local banks, including multifamily and manufactured housing community loans originated for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. She is also experienced in matters related to troubled properties and owners, and the modification, restructuring and workout of financing arrangements, including related litigation and due diligence.
Zelenock is a member of the American Bar Association, the Mortgage Bankers' Association of America, Commercial Real Estate Finance Council, International Council of Shopping Centers, and the Oakland County Bar Association. She is a Fellow and elected member of the Board of Regents of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys.
She is recognized as a leader in her field by Best Lawyers in America, Chambers USA, Legal 500, Michigan Super Lawyers, and DBusiness magazine. She was named a "Woman Worth Watching" by Profiles in Diversity and named a "Notable Woman in Real Estate" by Crain's Detroit Business.
Zelenock received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Published: Mon, Feb 10, 2020
