Law Office of Julie A. Paquette PLC was named among the 500 fastest growing law firms in the country on the annually published Law Firm 500 list, making the list at #22, the highest rank achieved for any law firm in Michigan. The firm's growth was calculated at 387%. Honorees were verified by the outside certified accounting firm Shavell & Company P.A.
"I am so proud of the growth my firm has achieved every year, and especially in 2020, when many local firms closed their doors or temporarily halted operations," said Julie Paquette, founder and owner. "We quickly pivoted to all remote work and found solutions to continue serving and protecting our clients, assisting them with getting their wills and powers of attorneys completed during a time of crisis. We utilized electronic delivery of documents and mobile notaries, and as a result, our clients were able to get their affairs in order before it was too late. Thanks to my team and our ability to adapt, we did not have to reduce anyone's hours or pay as a result of the pandemic, and in fact, grew by 20% that year."
The full list of 2022 Law Firm 500 Award Honorees can be found www.lawfirm500.com/2022-award-honorees.
Law Office of Julie A. Paquette PLC began when Paquette was laid off as a new attorney during the Great Recession. Seeing very little promise in the job market, Paquette began serving clients directly, continuing to experience growth with her firm every year, eventually to the size it is today, employing two other attorneys and seven support staff. The firm expects to add two to three more staff positions this year alone. This is the first year the firm has been named to the Law Firm 500 list.
Paquette has been relied on as a legal authority in probate and estate planning for writers at www.thebalance.com and www.debt.com, and has been featured on Michigan Entrepreneur TV in Bloomfield Hills.
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Plunkett Cooney partner and former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Tom Leonard was recently elected to serve as a member of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
Members of the board of directors and the executive committee set policy and establish priorities for the Chamber on key economic issues that affect job creation and business growth in Michigan. Leonard will serve a two-year term.
Leonard is a partner and leader of the Government Relations, Public Policy and Regulatory Practice Group at Plunkett Cooney. He focuses his practice on policy development, strategic collaboration, building relationships and coalitions, legislative monitoring, and bill tracking in the Michigan Capitol.
Before joining Plunkett Cooney, 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's 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.
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Collins Einhorn Farrell PC is pleased to announce that attorney Alexandru Salar has joined the firm. Salar focuses his practice on defense litigation for the firm's General and Automotive Liability practice group. His practice includes first party No-Fault claims, uninsured and underinsured motorist claims, automobile negligence, and general liability matters. Salar has experience with general and automotive liability claims through all phases of litigation.
Salar earned his law degree from Wayne State University Law School and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Oakland University. He is bilingual, fluent in English and Romanian, both oral and written.
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Butzel attorney Kurtis T. Wilder has been elected chair of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He will serve a one-year term beginning January 24. Last year, he was named to the Executive Committee.
Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Wilder is a shareholder with Butzel. He concentrates his practice in litigation, appeals, and mediation and facilitation. He serves as a Neutral Mediator/Arbitrator with New Era ADR, a digital advanced dispute resolution platform. He has been a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Regent University School of Law and has appeared as a commentator on Dan Abrams Live.
He served on the Michigan Supreme Court following his appointment by Governor Rick Snyder on May 9, 2017. Prior to that time, Wilder served as a judge for 25 years on both the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Washtenaw County Trial Court.
Wilder, the 112th justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, graduated from the University of Michigan with an A.B. degree in Political Science in 1981, and from the University of Michigan Law School with a law degree in 1984.
Wilder was named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly's Hall of Fame Class of 2021. He also is included in The Best Lawyers in America, Appellate Practice, 2021-2023 and DBusiness magazine's Top Lawyers in Metro Detroit, Appellate Law, 2020-2022; Arbitration, 2020-2022.
In 2021, Wilder was elected chair of the Interlochen Center for the Arts Board of Trustees. Previously, he served as first vice-chair and chair-elect. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan.
Wilder has served as secretary of the Board of Directors of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and as a member of the Boards of Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars and The Children's Foundation. He is a member of the Chairs' Advisory Council of the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan.
Wilder is an elder and chancel choir member at First Presbyterian Church of Plymouth and has memberships in the Fellows of the Michigan State Bar Foundation and is a Detroit Bar Association Fellow. He is a past president of the Michigan Judges Association, and past chairman of the State Bar of Michigan Judicial Conference.
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Bodman is pleased to announce that Walter G. Pelton has joined the firm as an associate attorney in the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He is based in the Detroit office.
Before joining Bodman, Pelton served for more than three years as a law clerk, first to Justice David F. Viviano and then to Justice Brian K. Zahra of the Michigan Supreme Court. As a law clerk he gained experience analyzing constitutional, statutory, and common-law issues, including Fourth Amendment search and seizure, employment discrimination, statutes of limitation, and mens rea requirements.
Pelton earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
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The Dobrusin Law Firm is excited to announce Bryan S. Lemanski's elevation to shareholder at the firm.
Lemanski joined the firm in 2016, starting as a law clerk while attending Wayne State University Law School, and working his way up to patent agent and then associate attorney upon passing the Michigan bar exam in 2019.
Lemanski focuses his practice on patent application preparation and prosecution involving mechanical and software innovation for various market sectors, including automotive and medical. He also has hands-on experience, previously working as an automotive engineer after earning his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Michigan.
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Harness IP is pleased to announce that Paul R. Hoffer has joined the firm's Metro Detroit office as Of Counsel. Hoffer most recently was principal in his own firm, Hoffer Law, where he provided trademark, brand protection and enforcement strategies to companies, start-ups, and entrepreneurs.
Hoffer's practice focuses on managing and developing global trademark portfolios as well as prosecuting domestic and foreign trademark applications. He represents and manages matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and manages international litigation and trademark cancellation and opposition proceedings. He works with clients on corporate intellectual property (IP) guidelines, trademark clearance, new product designs, marketing campaigns, advertising and regulatory compliance, and IP licensing.
Hoffer's previous experience includes a position as an attorney advisor for the U.S. Small Business Administration. He also worked at firms in private practice as an IP attorney and as a litigator and criminal defense attorney. He began his career at H-D Michigan Inc. (Harley-Davidson), where he gained experience in trademark filing strategies, brand protection, compliance, and litigation preparation. His experience also includes a clerkship for current Michigan Supreme Court Justice David F. Viviano while a judge in the Macomb County Circuit Court.
Hoffer earned his law degree at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. He is a graduate of Michigan State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
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Foley, Baron, Metzger, & Juip PLLC is pleased to announce that the firm has elected four attorneys into the membership of the firm, effective January 1, 2023.
The new members are Carole S. Empey, Joseph P. McGill, Kim J. Sveska, and Enrico (Eric) G. Tucciarone.
Empey focuses her practice on litigating complex civil matters. She represents clients in medical malpractice claims, corporate healthcare, managed care litigation and physician staff privilege claims and has experience in products liability, general liability and insurance coverage disputes. In addition, she defends healthcare providers in licensing matters.
McGill has litigation and transactional experience in commercial disputes, probate, estate planning, corporate, real estate, insurance coverage analysis and family law. He acts as national trial counsel in the defense of product liability claims in the heating industry and others. He helps clients navigate through complex disputes in state and federal courts across the nation. He is also an elected officer of the State Bar of Michigan, Board of Commissioners and will serve as State Bar president in the 2024-2025 bar year.
Sveska represents businesses in the defense of products liability and toxic tort litigation and defends pharmacists, physicians and other health care providers against malpractice claims. He has experience handling complex litigation, managing science and medical issues, experts and related components of national litigation, as well as the preparation of Daubert challenges to plaintiff experts.
Tucciarone has defended healthcare institutions and professionals for more than 27 years. He has trial experience and is lead trial counsel for several national and local healthcare systems and insurers. His defense practice spans a broad range of medical specialties, including emergency medicine, orthopedics, general surgery, anesthesiology, cardiology, obstetrics and gynecology, infectious diseases, neurology, nursing, oncology, pharmacology, podiatry and radiology. In addition, he has successfully represented healthcare clients in high-exposure, high-publicity, mass tort claims.
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Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced the following appointments to the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board and Workers' Compensation Board of Magistrates:
• Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board
Melissa L. Pope is the chief judge of the Little Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal Court of Appeals. She was previously a staff attorney at the Women's Survival Center of Oakland County. Pope has a Bachelor of Literature, Science and the Arts from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School. Pope is reappointed for a term commencing January 26, 2023, and expiring December 4, 2025.
The Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board coordinates and monitors programs and services for the prevention of domestic and sexual violence and the treatment of victims of domestic and sexual violence.
This appointment is subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
• Workers' Compensation Board of Magistrates
Michael Heck is a magistrate for the Workers' Compensation Board of Magistrates. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Social Science and Master of Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Heck is reappointed for a term commencing January 27, 2023, and expiring January 26, 2027.
William W. Watkinson Jr. is a managing partner and trial attorney at Bernstein & Bernstein. Watkinson received his Bachelor of Arts in History from the College of William and Mary and his law degree from Case Western Reserve University. Watkins is appointed for a term commencing January 27, 2023, and expiring January 26, 2027. He succeeds David Gruenwald whose term has expired.
The Workers' Compensation Board of Magistrates was established as an autonomous entity within the Workers' Disability Compensation Agency per Executive Order No. 2019-13. Only workers' compensation magistrates can hear cases for which an application for hearing has been filed with the Workers' Disability Compensation Agency. The Board of Magistrates hears cases regarding any dispute that arises under the Michigan Worker's Disability Compensation Act of 1969.
These appointments are subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
