Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that James Plemmons has been elected as a Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America.
Plemmons has been an advisor and counsel to numerous automotive OEMs and suppliers for many years in supply chain, troubled supplier, bankruptcy, and other commercial matters. He has knowledge of the automotive industry and is a former chair of Dickinson Wright's Automotive Industry Team. He has represented numerous insurance companies with regard to workout, foreclosure and bankruptcy matters and has been counsel to numerous secured lenders, unsecured lenders, bankruptcy trustees, debtors, shareholders, and investor groups in all nature of bankruptcy, restructuring, and workout proceedings, including corporate and individual reorganization and liquidation proceedings. Plemmons is a current member of Dickinson Wright's Management Group.
Plemmons is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association for the Eastern District of Michigan, the American Bankruptcy Institute, and the Federal Bar Association (Tennessee). He is recognized as a leader in his field by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Michigan Super Lawyers, and DBusiness Top Lawyers.
Plemmons received his B.A. from Michigan State University and his law degree from American University's Washington College of Law.
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At the recent annual meeting of Plunkett Cooney, three shareholders were elected by their colleagues to serve three-year terms as members of the board of directors. David R. Stechow was elected for the first time while Audrey J. Forbush and Scott K. Lites were re-elected.
In addition, the firm is pleased to announce that shareholders Michael S. Bogren, Michael P. Ashcraft Jr., and Forbush were re-elected by the members of the board of directors to one-year terms as chairman, secretary/treasurer and senior vice president, respectively.
Stechow, who serves as co-leader of the firm's Construction Law Practice Group, has successfully litigated both jury trials and arbitrations on behalf of builders, contractors, management companies, manufacturers and suppliers. A member of the firm's Detroit office, he received his law degree in 1996 from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and his undergraduate degree in 1992 from Michigan State University. A member of the Oakland County Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan and the Steering Committee of ALFA International's Construction Group, Stechow was selected in 2010 as a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an honorary trial lawyer society comprised of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.
The managing partner of Plunkett Cooney's Flint office and Co-leader of the firm's Governmental Law Practice Group, Forbush focuses her practice in the areas of municipal and medical liability. She has particular expertise representing municipalities in police liability matters. Forbush is a member of the public corporation section of the Michigan and Genesee County bar associations, and she serves as legal advisor to the Law Enforcement Action Forum, an organization consisting of select law enforcement executives throughout Michigan. Forbush received her law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in 1988 and her undergraduate degree from Central Michigan University in 1984.
Lites, who is a member of the firm's Bloomfield Hills office, is one of the firm's most accomplished business attorneys with more than 30 years of experience representing clients in their acquisition, financing, investment, development and disposition activities. He routinely negotiates and closes multi-million dollar financial transactions, real estate development projects and franchise agreements. He also has the distinction of having served as special counsel to a Michigan-based public employee pension system and as an appointed member of the state of Michigan's Receivership Transition Advisory Board for the City of Allen Park. Lites received his law degree in 1985 from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and his undergraduate degree in 1982 from the University of Michigan.
A member of the firm's Grand Rapids office, Bogren has been a member of the firm's board of directors since 2003, serving as chair since 2012. He is a member of Plunkett Cooney's Governmental Law Practice Group, and he has experience representing municipalities in both state and federal courts in police liability claims, First Amendment law, due process claims, Open Meetings Act claims, FOIA claims, zoning matters, civil rights cases and employment litigation. A 1982 graduate of University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, Bogren is a member of the Public Corporations Section of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association and the Civil Rights Section of the Federal Bar Association. He received his undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University in 1979.
Ashcraft, who serves as a co-leader of Plunkett Cooney's Professional Liability Practice Group, concentrates his practice on the defense of attorneys, accountants, and their firms on professional liability and responsibility matters. A partner in the firm's Bloomfield Hills office, he also represents insurance brokers and agents, securities brokers, real estate brokers and agents, investment advisors, officers and directors, and notaries public in professional liability cases in state and federal courts. Ashcraft graduated from Michigan State University College of Law in 1992, and he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1987. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Oakland County Bar Association's Negligence Section, the State Bar of Michigan's Professional Ethics Committee and the American Bar Association's Committee on Professional Responsibility and Liability.
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Foley & Lardner LLP recently announced that Lynn Gandhi has joined the firm's Detroit office as a partner in its Business Law Department and Tax, Benefits & Estate Planning Practice Group. Gandhi comes to Foley from Honigman LLP, where she led the State and Local Tax Practice Group.
With more than 30 years of experience counseling on complex multistate taxation issues including 18 years serving as in-house tax counsel for major corporations Gandhi is widely recognized as a leading state and local tax attorney. She advises clients on tax planning matters, audits, appeals and litigation, and has led legislative and administrative changes in tax laws that benefit business entities and their owners. In addition, Gandhi provides transactional support on the multistate tax implications of merger and acquisition transactions, and defense of post-closing indemnity and escrow claims related to pre-closing liabilities.
Gandhi's clients include foreign-based companies with U.S. operations and national Fortune 500 companies, as well as Michigan-based businesses of all sizes. She has successfully represented clients in obtaining tax exemptions and incentive packages, contesting audit findings and resolving tax disputes, navigating unclaimed property issues, and successful submission of multistate voluntary disclosure agreements, among other matters. Gandhi is also a registered lobbyist in Michigan, representing clients on legislative tax initiatives.
"Joining a firm with such a deep bench of seasoned tax attorneys that work in a wide range of areas from transaction planning to dispute resolution to policymaking will provide immediate value to my clients," said Gandhi. "I look forward to collaborating with attorneys across Foley's extensive platform of practice areas and industry teams to grow my practice and to helping further strengthen the firm's state and local tax practice."
Among other roles, Gandhi is a board member of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, serves on Bloomberg Industry Group's State Tax Advisory Board, and is an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School, her alma mater. A prolific writer and speaker on state tax matters, Gandhi has published more than 60 articles and spoken or presented at over 75 events. She is a certified public accountant in Michigan and Illinois and received an LL.M degree in taxation from New York University School of Law.
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Hertz Schram is pleased to announce the promotion of three of its lawyers to partner. The firm congratulate Joseph Bellanca, Laurie Raab, and Matthew Turchyn.
Bellanca is an entertainment and intellectual property attorney. Raab is a commercial real estate and corporate attorney. Turchyn is a commercial litigator and appellate attorney.
Hertz Schram is celebrating its 40th Anniversary with offices in Bloomfield Hills and Detroit.
Published: Mon, Mar 16, 2020
