Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Scott A. Petz has been selected among America's Top 100 High Stakes Litigators® for 2021.
To be considered for selection, an attorney must have litigated (for either plaintiff or defendant) a matter (1) with at least $2,000,000 in alleged damages at stake or (2) with the fate of a business worth at least $2,000,000 at stake.
Petz is a member in the firm's Troy office where he focuses his practice in the areas of commercial and business litigation, class and collective actions, labor litigation, consumer protection, and condemnation and land use.
Petz received his B.A. from Kalamazoo College and his law degree from The John Marshall Law School.
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Reising Ethington PC is pleased to announce that Shannon Smith has been named to the newly created position of vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). As the newest member of the firm's Management Committee, Smith's mission is to establish programs and initiatives aimed at the promotion of all individuals through a comprehensive representation of a broader culture with the goal of delivering enhanced client service.
Reising Ethington is committed to providing a culture of fairness and equitable treatment of everyone, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, culture, creed, religion, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or class, as well as for those of diverse opinions, perspectives, lifestyles, ideas, and thinking.
According to Smith, "The goal is to make Reising Ethington a better law firm by embracing the diversity of our staff and attorneys, facilitating the professional growth of all, and altogether removing barriers within the firm that stand in the way of these efforts. The firm is committed to striving for growth and personal accountability to better ourselves as strategic partners for our clients."
To help achieve these goals, Smith is developing strategic community partnerships to enhance diversity within the intellectual property law community.
Smith is ushering in DEI programs at the firm such as training on cognitive bias, new coaching programs for caregivers returning from parental leave, and enhancing the firm's existing mentorship program.
According to Smith, "We believe that if we enhance connections so everyone feels they have a voice and opportunity, ascertain how attorneys and interns can expand their networks both within the firm and outside of the firm, and make sure that when we hire, we look to grow the percentage of diverse attorneys, then we will be a better law firm."
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Thomas P. Vincent, the president and chief executive officer of Plunkett Cooney, was recently elected to serve as a member of the Detroit Regional Chamber's board of directors.
"This is a tremendous honor," said Vincent, whose one-year term is set to begin on July 1. "Plunkett Cooney is a long-standing member of the Chamber, and in this leadership role, it will be my privilege to help continue the Chamber's legacy of economic growth and prosperity for the city of Detroit and its diverse business community."
A former senior trial attorney with the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, Vincent has served as president and CEO of Plunkett Cooney since 2017. In this role, he dedicates a significant amount of his time to managing the firm's 150 attorneys and 300 employees in 10 offices across Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. He also focuses on achieving the firm's mission of providing world class service to clients, recruiting and retaining high-quality attorneys and staff, and giving back to the communities in which firm members live and work.
Vincent is also one of the firm's most accomplished trial attorneys with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to financial institutions, as well as insurance providers. His litigation expertise includes commercial liability, complex disputes, class actions and employment liability.
Vincent joined Plunkett Cooney in 1985 and became a shareholder four years later. In 1999, he was elected to serve as a member of Plunkett Cooney's Board of Directors, a position he was re-elected to six times before he was elected President and CEO of the firm.
A native Detroiter and the eighth of 12 children, Vincent was educated from elementary through law school in the city. He received his law degree from the Detroit College of Law (currently Michigan State University College of Law) in 1981. Licensed to practice in Michigan's state and federal courts, Vincent's professional affiliations include the Oakland County Bar Association, State Bar of Michigan, American Bar Association and American Association for Justice.
Vincent has received numerous honors, including selection by DBusiness magazine as a Top Lawyer, inclusion on the list of Best Lawyers In America®, the Michigan Super Lawyer designation and Corp! magazine's Most Valuable Professional honor, as well as a rating of AV-Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell.
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Honigman LLP is pleased to announce Lisa Hysni has joined its Real Estate Department as a Partner in the firm's Bloomfield Hills office. Hysni focuses on representing commercial real estate/property management companies and real estate investors in connection with commercial lease transactions (office and retail) and acquisitions/dispositions of commercial and residential real estate. Her experience includes drafting/negotiating purchase agreements and commercial leases, as well as handling a variety of general business and contract matters.
Hysni earned her law degree from Wayne State University Law School and her B.S. from Michigan State University.
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Bloomfield Hills attorney Gerard J. Andree, a longtime leader in the legal profession and the Catholic community, has been named the 2021 winner of the Monsignor Charles J. Malloy Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Malloy Award, presented annually by the Catholic Lawyers Society of Metropolitan Detroit, recognizes Catholic judges and lawyers whose service and character exemplify and advance the highest values of both the Catholic faith and the legal profession. The award is named for Monsignor Charles J. Malloy, a canonical lawyer for the Archdiocese of Detroit and CLSMD's first spiritual director.
Andree has practiced with Sullivan, Ward, Patton, Gleeson, & Felty PC since 1976, primarily counseling and representing physicians and hospitals in medical malpractice cases, and manufacturers and distributors in product liability litigation. He has been voted a Michigan "Super Lawyer" by his peers and has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America, the oldest peer-review publication in the legal profession. Andree has an AV rating in the Martindale law directory, the highest possible rating for that national publication.
Frequently tapped as a guest speaker at Grand Rounds and hospital in-service programs at William Beaumont Hospital, Andree has served on subcommittees related to mediation reform and physician discipline of the Oakland County Medical Society. He was also an appointed member of the Oakland County Bar Association Limited Committee on Medical-Legal Relations.
Andree, a parishioner of St. Hugo of the Hills, served as president of the parish council. He has served on the board of directors and as president of the Detroit chapter of Legatus, an international organization of Catholic laypeople from the business and professional communities. Andree is a member of the board of directors for the Michigan Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums. He is a member of both the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta, American Association. He is also a Lifetime Member of the Knights of Columbus.
A member of Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, the Association of Defense Trial Counsel, and the International Association of Defense Counsel, Andree earned his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the University of Detroit/University College, Dublin, Ireland.
Past Malloy award winners include U.S. District Court Judge Terrence G. Berg, Detroit attorney Dennis J. Clark, former Wayne County Circuit Court Chief Judge Robert J. Colombo, and appellate lawyer John P. Jacobs.
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Howard & Howard is pleased to welcome Daniel A. Balavitch. He began his career with Howard & Howard in 2016 as an intern in Howard & Howard's Intellectual Property Intern Program. He will practice out of the firm's Royal Oak.
Balavitch focuses his practice on global patent preparation and prosecution, clearance/freedom-to-operate analyses, and invalidity studies of competitors' patents. He works primarily in the electromechanical and chemical arts, particularly for automotive and medical clients. Balavitch has automotive patent experience with turbochargers, variable camshaft timing phasers, transmission technologies, and hybrid-electric powertrain systems and component architectures. He also has medical patent experience with ENT surgical drills and instruments.
Prior to joining Howard & Howard, he gained experience as a plastics engineering intern at Uniform Color Company. There, he worked with a multitude of thermoplastic and engineering resins, including styrenics, nylons, acrylics, polycarbonates, and polyolefins, and gained experience with injection molding machines and screw extruders.
In 2020, Balavitch received his law degree from Wayne State University Law School. He earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Michigan State University in 2016.
