Attorney Tanya M. Murray recently joined the Insurance Law Practice Group of Plunkett Cooney.
A member of Plunkett Cooney's Bloomfield Hills office, Murray represents and counsels leading property and casualty insurance companies throughout the Midwest. She provides coverage opinions and drafts corresponding coverage position letters regarding claims under commercial general liability, homeowners, umbrella and professional liability insurance policies. She also litigates coverage disputes that involve claims of bodily injury, personal and advertising injury, construction defects and environmental contamination.
Murray is an associate member of the Oakland County Bar Association's Inn of Court, and she is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar. She is also the recipient of the 2019 Member of the Year award by the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, Oakland Region.
Murray is a 2017 graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario in 2012.
In addition, Former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Tom Leonard has joined Plunkett Cooney as a partner and leader of the firm's new Government Relations, Public Policy and Regulatory Practice Group.
Plunkett Cooney's new Government Relations, Public Policy and Regulatory Practice Group will focus on policy development, strategic collaboration, building relationships and coalitions, legislative monitoring, and bill tracking. Leonard will lead a team of Plunkett Cooney attorneys who share his passion for public affairs, solving problems and tackling cutting edge issues.
"Plunkett Cooney is one of the Midwest's top law firms, and its reputation is second-to-none," said Leonard. "This is a tremendous opportunity to lead a dedicated team and build out a top-notch government relations and regulatory practice focused on meaningful policy reforms and long-lasting solutions.
"As a legislator, business owner and now attorney at Plunkett Cooney, my focus has always remained the same helping propel the State of Michigan toward becoming a Top 10 location for businesses and families. This is the right role at the right time to continue that work and continue to make a significant impact on our State's future."
Leonard served three terms in the House of Representatives. In his third and final term, his colleagues unanimously selected him to serve as Michigan's 75th House Speaker. Prior to running for public office, Leonard served as an assistant attorney general for the State of Michigan and as a prosecutor in Genesee County where he was assigned to the Special Crimes Division. Leonard graduated from Michigan State University College of Law in 2007 and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 2004.
As a legislator, Leonard earned a reputation as a straight shooter who often worked across the aisle to solve complex problems. Reforming Michigan's teacher pension fund, creating a bi-partisan task force to tackle Michigan's broken mental health system, updating "Kevin's Law," ending driver's responsibility fees, modernizing the state's health insurance code, and re-writing the state's preliminary exam law are just some of his signature achievements during his tenure.
In 2019, Leonard founded MiStrategies LLC, a public policy development and strategic collaboration firm that partnered with companies, associations, and industry advocates committed to making Michigan a "top-10 state." The MiStrategies portfolio focused on public policy initiatives like insurance, criminal justice reform, mental health, transportation, infrastructure, tax policy, public safety, and education all key building blocks for Michigan's long-term success.
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Anthony A. Randazzo, senior partner located in Secrest Wardle's Troy office, has been named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly's "Leaders in the Law" Class of 2020. A luncheon celebrating the 2020 Class of "Leaders in the Law" will be held on April 9, 2020, at the Detroit Marriott in Troy.
Randazzo has been with Secrest Wardle since 2006. He became a partner in 2009, an executive partner in 2015, and a senior partner in 2019. He is chair of the firm's Trucking/Commercial Vehicle Litigation Practice Group and serves as a chair of the Intellectual Property/Advertising Injury Practice Group. Randazzo is additionally a member of the Environmental and Toxic Tort, Commercial and Business Law, Construction, Governmental Litigation, and Motor Vehicle Litigation Practice Groups.
Randazzo earned his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Psychology from Oakland University. He is admitted to practice law in the State of Michigan, the United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Randazzo is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. He is also an active member of the Transportation Lawyers Association. Randazzo has earned an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell. He has also been selected to the 2011, and 2013-2018 Super Lawyers magazine list of Michigan Rising Stars and was named to the list of "Up & Coming Lawyers" by Michigan Lawyers Weekly in 2013. In 2018, Randazzo was selected among America's Top 100 High Stakes Litigators®.
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Two former attorneys from Bodman PLC created their own firm after finding that large corporate law was not a good fit for them. Jasmine Rippy and Ameena Sheikh left the prominent firm and formed The Rippy & Sheikh Law Firm PC, and are branding themselves as the "Ladies in Law."
"Most people kill for a job like that," Sheikh said. "People think we're crazy [for leaving]." But Rippy and Sheikh left the corporate world behind because they wanted to connect more with clients. Sheikh explained, "at the big firms, you don't get to go into court much or work closely with clients." The ladies also wanted a greater variety of work. "I don't like doing the same thing every day," Rippy said. "That gets old."
Now, the 30-year-olds represent individuals and small businesses in various practice areas, including criminal defense, traffic/license matters, family law and estate planning. "Every single day is different," Rippy said of life at their firm. "We're never sitting in one place all day."
Their office is also very different from the traditional, corporate law setting. It is in the Russell Industrial Center near downtown Detroit a former automotive factory that is now a hub for artists and creative professionals. "We are creative people and wanted an office that sparks that creativity," Sheikh said. "We love being surrounded by so much culture and creativity," Rippy added. "It really drives us in our practice."
Their diverse backgrounds give them the perfect balance to serve their wide-ranging clients. "We're yin and yang. We're 50/50," Sheikh said.
Rippy, who is African American, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio watching her father work as an attorney. She attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill then returned to Ohio for law school, inspired by her father. Rippy was awarded a full academic scholarship to the University of Toledo College of Law. After graduating in the top 10% of her class, Rippy started her career at Bodman.
Sheikh, who is Pakistani American, was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky but her talent for ice skating brought her to Detroit during high school. Sheikh said the lessons she learned while training on Team USA, like dedication and perseverance, help her tremendously in law. She studied at Oakland University's Honors College before attending Wayne State University Law School on a full academic scholarship. Sheikh also began her career at Bodman.
Rippy and Sheikh love helping clients, but developed the "Ladies in Law" brand because they want to do more. After speaking at Oakland University, they realized they also love teaching people about law. "People find law fascinating and informative but it can be difficult to digest," Rippy said. "We love teaching people and we know how to have fun."
The "Ladies in Law" have already started a series of instructional, yet entertaining, legal videos on Instagram, the first titled "Prisoner Letters."
"Many people think all attorneys are snooty and uppity," Sheikh said, recognizing the negative connotation surrounding law. "We want to change that perception and bring our legal knowledge to the masses in an entertaining way."
In the future, Rippy and Sheikh will continue to "Rip it up and Sheikh it up" as they challenge traditional expectations of what the practice of law looks like. For additional information, visit www.theladiesinlaw.com or follow the "Ladies in Law" on Instagram at www.instagram.com/theladiesinlaw.
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Butzel Long attorney Mitchell ("Mitch") Zajac has been appointed to serve a four-year term on the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Board of Directors. He is one of three newly elected board members. Zajac earned his law degree in 2017 from WMU-Cooley.
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. He has experience in 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 and 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 WMU-Cooley 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. In 2019, Zajac received the Detroit Bar Association's "One to Watch" Award.
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 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.
In addition, Butzel Long immigration law attorney Reginald A. Pacis was featured recently during an ICLE webinar. Pacis and Cindy Nuñez, immigration attorney with Walker & Associates, provided an overview on immigration law and its impact for multinational employers, investors, startups and midmarket companies who are under increasing scrutiny from U.S. immigration agencies.
Pacis focuses his practice in immigration law and has handled a variety of immigration matters including H-1B specialty occupation cases, L-1 Intracompany transfers, Labor Certification matters, Immigrant Visa Petitions/Adjustment of Status applications and interviews, TN Free trade cases, H-1B Department of Labor Investigations, I-9 employer verification compliance, and U.S. Port of Entry airport and land port interviews.
Pacis was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder to serve as a commissioner to the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC), which helps address the needs and concerns of the Asian Pacific American (APA) communities in Michigan.
He was named Immigration Lawyer of the Year 2013 in the field of Immigration Law by The Best Lawyers in America and has been listed in Best Lawyers for several years. Pacis is a member of the American Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Samahang Pilipino Ng Oakland Filipino organization. He served two consecutive one-year terms from 2003 to 2005 as chairperson of the Michigan Chapter of AILA and was a member of the AILA National Board of Governors for those terms. Pacis previously served as secretary (2001 to 2003) and Membership chairperson of the Michigan Chapter of AILA (1998 to 2003).
Pacis earned his law degree from the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University in 1996 and a B.A. from James Madison College at Michigan State University in 1992. He joined the State Bar of Michigan in 1997.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced appointments to the Governor's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect:
- Marian Dwaihy Briske is an assistant prosecuting attorney for the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office. She earned her law degree from the University of Detroit Law School. Briske is appointed to represent judges and attorneys involved in both civil and criminal court proceedings related to child abuse and neglect, for a term commencing March 2, 2020 and expiring December 31, 2020. She succeeds Christopher Wirth.
- Yasmine I. Poles is an attorney with her private law firm, Yasmine I. Poles PLLC, and a former assistant prosecutor in the Child Protection Unit of the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office. She earned her law degree from the Wayne State University Law School. Poles is appointed to represent judges and attorneys involved in both civil and criminal court proceedings related to child abuse and neglect, for a term commencing March 2, 2020 and expiring December 31, 2020. She succeeds Julie Nakfoor-Pratt.
The Governor's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect was established within the Department of Health and Human Services and designed as a multidisciplinary task force for the purposes of the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. The Task Force consists of members who are professionals with knowledge and experience relating to the criminal justice system and issues of child physical abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and child maltreatment related fatalities.
These appointments are not subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
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Benchmark Litigation has named Bodman PLC its Michigan Litigation Law Firm of the Year for 2020.
Bodman has earned Benchmark's Law Firm of the Year award for seven consecutive years dating back to 2014.
The selection was announced at the Benchmark US East Coast award ceremony held on January 27 at The Pierre in New York. Bodman Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Group Member Justin P. Bagdady, of the firm's Ann Arbor office, attended on behalf of the firm to receive the award. State Law Firm of the Year winners are chosen based on an analysis of cases handled during the prior year, including potential precedents set or matters with notably high dollar amounts at stake.
In the 2020 edition of Benchmark, Bodman received the highest possible "Highly Recommended" rating for Business Litigation, and ten Bodman attorneys are recognized as "State Litigation Stars," "Future Stars," or on the publication's "40 and Under Hot List."
Bodman's Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group attorneys appear before state and federal courts, and also non-judicial forums such as national and international arbitral panels. The group's expertise spans many industries including accounting, banking and financial services, automotive, insurance, healthcare, manufacturing, real estate and zoning, and construction, among others.
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Hubbard, Snitchler, & Parzianello PLC has announced the addition of trial lawyer Katherine Wachter to the firm.
Wachter most recently served as assistant state's attorney in Pinellas County, Fla. and was named Prosecutor of the Year 2019 for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida for her work prosecuting complex white-collar criminal cases involving fraud, racketeering, theft and embezzlement. She is admitted to practice law in Michigan and Florida and will continue to focus her practice on complex business litigation.
Prior to serving as assistant state's attorney, Wachter practiced civil litigation in Tampa, Fla. She began her legal career as a judicial staff attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County.
Wachter earned her law degree from Stetson University College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida. She is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association and the Collier County (FLA) Bar Association and is a former member of the J. Clifford Cheatwood American Inn of Court and the Hillsborough Association of Women Lawyers.
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Daniel J. Ferency has joined Kelly & Kelly PC, of Northville, as an associate attorney.
At the firm, Ferency focuses on divorce, child custody and parenting time disputes, child support matters, paternity proceedings, domestic violence, and family law appeals.
Ferency, an alumnus of Western Michigan University, is a 2013 graduate of Wayne State University Law School, and has been published with ICLE and the Michigan Family Law Journal on family law matters.
In his leisure time, Ferency enjoys spending time with his wife, Kanika, and their golden retriever, Frankie.
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