Harness IP is pleased to announce it has added several intellectual property attorneys to its offices in Metro Detroit.
Colleen Shovlin joins the firm's Troy office as Of Counsel. She is a registered patent attorney who counsels clients on a range of intellectual property matters, including patent and trademark preparation and prosecution with a focus on the chemical, mechanical, and material sciences fields, among others. Before attending law school, Shovlin was an engineer for an international cement manufacturing company. She earned a law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School and a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Jeremiah Foley becomes an associate in the firm's Troy office where he formerly served as a law clerk. His practice will focus on patent preparation and prosecution in the areas of mechanical, medical, and automotive technologies. Before attending law school, Foley was a mechanical engineer and then mechanical inspector in the private sector. He earned a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Binghamton University.
Michael Chernoff becomes an associate in the firm's Troy office where he also formerly served as a law clerk. Chernoff's practice involves drafting patent applications on behalf of clients in the automotive, manufacturing, and mechanical sectors. Chernoff formerly served as a test engineer for an automotive OEM and as a manufacturing engineer for a major clothing and textiles company before enrolling in law school. He earned a law degree from the University of Cincinnati and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Trine University.
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Bushra Malik, Butzel attorney and shareholder, will be featured during the 2022 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Midwinter Virtual Conference on Thursday, February 3. She will participate in a panel presentation titled, "Post-NIES/ Consular Catch Up." The discussion will focus on the most up-to-date rules and processes for U.S. entry in the new pandemic world as well as strategies and best practices for dealing with applications traditionally handled by consulates.
Malik currently serves on the AILA Department of State National Liaison Committee. She previously served as the chair of the AILA Michigan Chapter; is the past chair of AILA's Global Migration Section; and speaks regularly at AILA national and international conferences.
Malik, based in Butzel's Troy office, practices in the area of immigration law, focusing on the representation of multinational and domestic clients' inbound and global migration needs. Her experience includes Employment based (Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding Researcher, Multinational Manager, and PERMs) and Family based Permanent Residence Petitions, Non-Immigrant Petitions (H-1B/Specialty Occupation, J-1/ Exchange Visitor, L-1/Intracompany Transfers, O-1/Extraordinary Ability, TN/ NAFTA); Employer Compliance (I-9 Audits and H-1B Public Access File Audits); J-1 waivers; Compliance under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiate (WHTI); U.S. Passports; complex naturalization matters; and currency seizures.
Malik was named to the 2022 edition of Best Lawyers® second annual Best Lawyers in the Midwest publication.
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Foley & Lardner LLP is pleased to announce that Daljit S. Doogal has been elected as the firm's next chairman and chief executive officer. His term will begin later this spring. Doogal will succeed Jay O. Rothman who has served as Foley's chairman and CEO since 2011.
Doogal is a partner and business lawyer in Foley's Detroit office. He is a member of the firm's Management Committee and has previously held numerous leadership positions at the firm, including managing partner of the Detroit office and chair of the firm's Business Law Department, and was intricately involved in the development of the firm's strategic plan.
"I am honored to lead my colleagues in this next important chapter for the firm," said Doogal. "I intend to build on the firm's solid and successful foundation and I am excited to work closely with Stan Jaspan and Claude Treece who will continue to serve as the firm's managing partner and chief administrative partner, respectively." He continued, "My priorities are to enhance Foley's culture of client service, collaboration, innovation, and diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as continue to grow the firm strategically and enhance its market presence."
Doogal is a member of the firm's Manufacturing Sector and the Transactions, Private Equity and Venture Capital, and International Practice Groups. He started at Foley as an associate in 2001 and was elevated to partner in 2006. He represents automotive and manufacturing companies, venture capital/private equity funds, financial institutions, and other publicly and privately held businesses.
With Rothman in the last year of his term and ineligible to serve another term per the firm's partnership agreement - Foley's Management Committee has been diligently acting on a succession plan. Rothman was recently selected as the next University of Wisconsin system president, a role that he will begin in June.
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A. Vince Colella, co-founder of personal injury and civil rights law firm Moss & Colella, has been appointed to the University of Detroit Mercy Alumni Board as the School of Law representative. Colella received his law degree from Detroit Mercy Law in 1993.
The role of the Detroit Mercy Alumni Board is to provide strategic vision, guidance and support to the Alumni Relations team as they work to provide meaningful, impactful and enjoyable engagement opportunities for all alumni interested in staying connected with their alma mater.Peggy Pattison, director, University of Detroit Mercy Alumni Relations, welcomed Colella to the board.
In addition to his personal injury law practice, Colella is a trailblazer in the new era of civil rights, directing public sector accountability to a new level for the purpose of citizens' legal protections. In 2019, he established the A. Vince Colella Civil Rights Scholarship at Detroit Mercy Law to help support and encourage law students who demonstrate academic excellence and have a profound interest in joining the fight against social and racial injustice as attorneys.
"Establishing the scholarship rekindled my interest in the mission of the University of Detroit Mercy as a whole and I'm pleased to represent the law school on this University-wide alumni board," Colella said.
In addition to his law degree, Colella earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Michigan State University.
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Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC recently welcomed Eldonna Ruddock to its team of legal professionals. Ruddock joins the firm as part of the real estate practice group as Of Counsel. Jaffe CEO Jeffrey M. Weiss made the announcement.
Ruddock brings her skills and experiences to Jaffe which include real estate development, housing and urban development, oil and gas law, affordable housing, construction law, taxations and more. Over the course of her career, she has handled a wide variety of real estate matters but in her new role, will specialize in public and private financing and other legal and regulatory complexities that come with the multifamily housing projects.
Before joining Jaffe, Ruddock spent years as a sole practitioner where she developed her strong negotiation skills and ability to build relationships with developers and city officials, important contacts when dealing in real estate. During that time, she provided counsel to various clients including but not limited to lending institutions, real estate developers and Michigan nonprofit organizations.
Ruddock earned her law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.
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Attorney John S. Gilliam recently joined the Labor and Employment Law Practice Group of Plunkett Cooney.
A member of the firm's Bloomfield Hills office, Gilliam focuses his practice primarily in the area of employment law and related litigation. His expertise includes the defense of claims of alleged discrimination, retaliation and civil rights violations, among others.
Gilliam also advises municipalities and private-sector employers on a range of employment-related issues from policy drafting and updating to disciplinary proceedings and hiring/termination situations.
A 2011 graduate of the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, Gilliam is admitted to practice in Ohio and the state and federal courts in Michigan and Kentucky. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in 2006.
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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that it has received a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2022 Corporate Equality Index, the nation's foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality. Dickinson Wright's efforts in satisfying all of the CEI's criteria also earn the Firm the designation as one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality.
"We were thrilled to participate in the 2022 Corporate Equality Index and honored to achieve a perfect 100 for the fifth year in a row and being designated as one of the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality," said Michael Hammer, CEO of Dickinson Wright. "This achievement reflects the firm's strong commitment to fostering a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive workplace environment for our LGBTQ+ personnel. At Dickinson Wright, we understand that hiring, training, integrating, and retaining a diverse workforce is at the core of our firm's values and is instrumental to providing our clients with the best legal service."
The full report is available online at www.hrc.org/cei.
