Legal People

Plunkett Cooney

Twenty five Plunkett Cooney attorneys were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2021.

In addition to inclusion on the list this year, Mary Massaron was named the Best Lawyers® 2021 Appellate Practice “Lawyer of the Year” in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Below is the list of local Plunkett Cooney attorneys who have received the 2021 Best Lawyers designation:
Bloomfield Hills:

• Michael P. Ashcraft (partner) – Legal Malpractice Law. (Named to Best Lawyers list for 10 years)

• Douglas C. Bernstein (partner) – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law / Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law / Real Estate Law

• William D. Booth (Of Counsel) – Personal Injury Litigation. (Named to Best Lawyers list for over 30 years)

• Charles W. Browning (partner) – Insurance Law. (Named to Best Lawyers list for 10 years)

• Lawrence R. Donaldson (Of Counsel) – Professional Malpractice Law

• Michael A. Fleming (partner) – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law

• Jeffrey C. Gerish (partner) – Appellate Law

• Robert G. Kamenec (partner) – Appellate Practice. (Named to Best Lawyers list for 10 years)

• Mark S. Kopson (partner) – Health Care Law

• David A. Lerner (partner) – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law

• Mary Massaron (partner) – Appellate Law. (Named to Best Lawyers list for 10 years)

• Lauren B. McMillen (partner) – Insurance Law. (New to the list this year)

• Saulius K. Mikalonis (senior attorney) – Environmental Law

• Kenneth C. Newa (partner) – Insurance Law

• Scott H. Sirich (partner) – Construction Law and Litigation. (Named to Best Lawyers list for 10 years)

• Thomas P. Vincent (partner) – Commercial Litigation

Detroit:

• D. Jennifer Andreou (partner) – Medical Malpractice Law

• Laurel F. McGiffert (partner) – Medical Malpractice Law

• Claudia D. Orr (senior attorney) – Employment Law, Labor and Employment Litigation

• Stanley A. Prokop (partner) – Insurance Law

• Mary Catherine Rentz (partner) – Insurance Law
 
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Potestivo & Associates PC

Potestivo & Associates PC is proud to announce that Supervising Litigation Attorney Chantelle R. Neumann has once again been selected as a Super Lawyers Michigan Rising Star.  Located in the Rochester office, Neumann’s primary practice area is focused on Creditor Rights. 

Neumann has been selected to Rising Stars for four consecutive years, from 2016-2020.  She is respected and well-regarded by both colleagues and other industry professionals.

Potestivo & Associates PC is pleased to call Neumann a member of its team and congratulates her on this achievement.

In addition, Potestivo & Associates PC is pleased to announce that as of June 29 Nancy Gizi joined the firm and will serve as the firm’s new controller.  Gizi earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Accounting as well as a Master of Business Administration from Wayne State University.

Gizi brings many years of experience in the finance industry, as well as a wealth of knowledge centered in procedural development and the integration of finance with technology. 

Prior to joining the firm, Gizi served as a business support specialist and project controller and a program finance controller.  She is known for her ability to analyze and ensure accurate and timely financial data, summarize and present entire platform perspectives, and her strong ability to cross function and collaborate.

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Butzel Long

Jennifer Dukarski, Butzel Long attorney, shareholder and leader of the firm’s connected car/autonomous vehicle working group, will be  featured, leading a dialogue with May Mobility CEO Ed Olsen, exploring the strategies to build a resilient mobility future during a Q&A titled “Fireside Chat: Behind the Scenes of Autonomous Vehicles” on Wednesday, September 23, during the third annual Ann Arbor Mobility Summit presented by Ann Arbor SPARK.

The theme for this year’s virtual event is to focus on strategies to build resiliency within the mobility ecosystem in the context of supply chain, improving access, smart city, innovative partnerships, and more.

Dukarski focuses her practice at the intersection of technology and communications with an emphasis on emerging and disruptive issues: digital media and content, cybersecurity and privacy, infotainment and shared mobility, and connected and autonomous cars.

In her practice, she has assisted clients with defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright, and other content-based claims.  She focuses on compliance with various industry regulations and has become a national leader in legal issues facing emerging automotive technology and is the leader of Butzel Long’s connected car/autonomous vehicle working group. 

A self-titled “recovering engineer,” Dukarski was named one of the 30 Women Defining the Future of Technology in January 2020 by Warner Communications for her innovative thoughts and contributions to the tech industry.

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Bodman PLC

The journal IFLR1000 has ranked Bodman PLC at the highest level for Banking and for M&A work in Michigan and has ranked six Bodman Banking and M&A attorneys as “Highly Regarded Practitioners.”
Bodman is the sole Michigan law firm to have received the most favorable rating from IFLR1000 for both Banking and M&A, which are only practice areas it currently evaluates in the state. Bodman also has more individual attorneys listed in IFLR1000 than any other Michigan firm.

In the newly released 2020 rankings, IFLR1000 placed Bodman in “Tier 1” for Banking and Finance and for M&A. The individual local Bodman lawyers recognized as leaders, with area of legal specialty, are:

• Laurence B. Deitch (Detroit office) - M&A

• Robert J. Diehl Jr. (Detroit office) – Banking and Finance, Restructuring

• Kathleen O’Callaghan Hickey (Detroit office) – Banking and Finance

• Larry R. Shulman (Detroit office) – Banking and Finance

Published internationally since 1987, IFLR1000 is noted within the legal industry for its exclusive focus on financial and corporate transactional work and its extensive research process. IFLR1000 developed state-level rankings in the United States for the first time in 2018 based upon client and peer feedback and a detailed analysis of work examples provided by law firms. As part of the research process, IFLR1000 researchers also interviewed Bodman attorneys to gain a more in-depth understanding of the firm’s capabilities and local market dynamics.

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Secrest Wardle

On August 20, the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel (MDTC) conducted an awards presentation honoring its 2020 Legal Awards recipients including Javon L. Williams, who received the Golden Gavel Award. Williams, an executive partner located in Secrest Wardle’s Troy office, was nominated by Mark E. Morley, a senior partner also located in the firm’s Troy office.

Established in 2005, the Golden Gavel Award is presented annually to a member of the MDTC’s Young Lawyers Section who exemplifies significant contribution to professionalism and courtesy in the practice of law and by promoting the image and honorable reputation of the profession.

Williams has been with Secrest Wardle since 2009. He joined the firm as a law clerk and became an associate after passing the bar in 2010. Williams became a partner in 2014 and was elevated to the position of executive partner in 2019. He is a member of Secrest Wardle’s Motor Vehicle Litigation, General Negligence, and Premises Liability Practice Groups.

Williams was named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Up & Coming Lawyers” Class of 2019. Since 2013, Williams has also been named to Super Lawyers Magazine’s list of Michigan Rising Stars in the area of Personal Injury General – Defense. Williams is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, active in the Litigation and Young Lawyers sections.

Williams earned his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and received his Bachelor of Science degree from Tennessee State University in 2007.