Legal People ...

Dykema recently announced that its Executive Board elected several new members to the firm effective January 1, 2023. Dykema’s new local partners include:

Milo R. Madole – Real Estate; Detroit

Madole is a real estate attorney with experience in transactional matters. In addition to an active practice in commercial leasing and purchase and sale work on a nationwide basis, he has a passion for working with developers and lenders in the City of Detroit on complex development transactions, generally involving multiple lenders and various other financing sources.

Madole received a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. from Kalamazoo College.

Igli Psari – Corporate and Finance; Bloomfield Hills

Psari focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, corporate governance matters, and strategic commercial transactions.

Psari earned a law degree and a B.S. in Accounting from Wayne State University. While in law school, Psari was also a judicial intern with U.S. District Court Judge Nancy G. Edmunds, Eastern District of Michigan.

E. Carolina Rodriguez-Hatt – Real Estate; Detroit

Rodriguez-Hatt advises clients on a range of commercial real estate transactions, including real estate financing, workouts, leasing, acquisition, and disposition. She is experienced in representing local and national companies and she understands the importance of working closely with clients to ensure their objectives and goals are met in every transaction.

Rodriguez-Hatt received a law degree from Marquette University Law School and a B.A. from the University of Michigan. She is also a native Spanish speaker.

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Secrest Wardle Senior Partner Anthony Randazzo recently received The Patriot Award from the Department of Defense, recognizing the firm’s support for employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. Randazzo was nominated for this award by Secrest Wardle Partner Robert Carr, who is currently a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

This is not the first such award received by Secrest Wardle from the Department of Defense. In 1991, the firm received a similar award because of its support of multiple employees who served in the Gulf War. Secrest Wardle was one of only 10 companies that received this award that year and was honored at a Department of Defense award ceremony. The firm was nominated for the award by Mike Stone, who was a paralegal at the time and rose to the rank of major general in the National Guard before retiring in 2021.

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Foster, Swift, Collins, & Smith PC attorney Robert A. Hamor has been elected a shareholder by members of the firm.

Hamor is a member of the Finance, Real Estate, and Bankruptcy practice group in the firm’s Southfield office and frequently works with the Business and Tax practice group.

Hamor’s work includes general counsel representation, corporate transactions and governance, commercial real estate, finance, and related litigation matters.

Hamor has become the firm’s “go-to” attorney regarding the Corporate Transparency Act as well as the impact of artificial intelligence on businesses and the law.

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Collins Einhorn Farrell PC is pleased to announce that attorney Meron Aleas has joined the firm.  He 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.  

Aleas’ experience includes civil litigation practice in business to business disputes, breach of contract actions, commercial collections, and consumer protection litigation.  He worked on a team of defense litigation attorneys, helping secure high value recoveries for clients through settlement and litigation.

Aleas is fluent in oral and written English, Arabic, and Dutch.

Aleas earned his law degre from New England Law | Boston and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University.  

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Zausmer PC is pleased to announce that Steve Estey has joined the firm as a shareholder.

Estey will lead the firm’s real estate and renewable energy practice groups, and will be a member of its eminent domain, commercial litigation, and energy infrastructure practice groups.

Estey is well-versed in breaking down the legal complexities that his real estate, energy, and telecommunications clients face.

Before joining Zausmer, Estey worked for more than 17 years at an Am Law 200 firm where he was an equity partner. He has consistently been recognized as a Michigan Super Lawyer and in the Best Lawyers in America. He was named a Top Lawyer in 2019 for Land Use and Zoning by Hour Detroit Magazine and “Lawyer of the Year” in Eminent Domain and Condemnation Law by The Best Lawyers in America in 2019.

Estey earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his law degree from the Wayne State University Law School.

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Honigman LLP is proud to announce that James Reid IV has joined its Labor and Employment Department as a partner. Reid specializes in counseling business owners, entrepreneurs, C-suite executives, in-house counsel, and human resource directors to help them make strategic business decisions from hiring to firing. He helps clients comply with the ever-changing and overlapping laws, including the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (ADEA), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) among others.

Reid joins the firm from Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, where he served as a partner. He earned his law degree from Wayne State University Law School and his Bachelors of Arts (B.A.) from Michigan State University.

Reid is on the Board of Directors for Detroit Regional Chamber, Leadership Detroit Class XLIII, 2022-2023 and is past-director of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for the Michigan-Indiana Region. He was also recognized as Michigan Rising Star 2015-2019, DBusiness Magazine Top Lawyer 2017-2022, and Oakland County Executive’s Elite 40 under 40, 2019.

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Mike Morse Law Firm is pleased to announce its new three-year partnership agreement with Michigan Humane, the oldest and largest nonprofit animal welfare organization in the state.  Specific financial terms of the deal are undisclosed, but in recognition for the firm’s annual support, Michigan Humane has named Mike Morse Law Firm (MMLF) its Official Adoption Partner for 2023-2025.

To further aid in pet adoption awareness, MMLF’s partnership will support regular, on-air, “pet features” with metro-Detroit television stations, monthly social media spotlights of adoptable animals and sponsorship of the “Spotlight Dog” kennel at Michigan Humane’s Mackey Center in Detroit, which houses and highlights a dog in special need of a family.

Additionally, on May 20 MMLF will host the third annual, “Meet Your Best Friend at the Firm” pet adoption event at its headquarters in Southfield; and will sponsor Michigan Humane’s first ever, “Meet Your Best Friend at the Shelter” event at its adoption center locations on Sept. 8-9.  MMLF also will serve as Silver Sponsor of the Michigan Humane annual Day of Giving Telethon, and as an ongoing supporter of Michigan Humane’s Cruelty Investigation and Rescue team.

“Safe, loved and well-cared for pets are an integral part of our wellbeing and quality of life.  At MMLF, we are moved by Michigan Humane’s tireless dedication to building a more humane community by touching the lives of nearly 100,000 families and their pets,” said Mike Morse, attorney and founder of MMLF.  “It feels like an easy decision to partner with and provide support to an organization built on compassionate care, community engagement, and advocacy for humane treatment.”

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Stephen P. Brown, a partner of Plunkett Cooney, was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel (ACCC).

Established in 2012, the ACCC is composed of nearly 400 insurance coverage and extracontractual counsel in the United States and Canada.

A co-leader of Plunkett Cooney’s Insurance Law Practice Group, Brown’s practice focuses exclusively on the representation of insurance companies in complex coverage disputes involving a range of issues, including insurance coverage for underlying product liability and environmental contamination claims, among others. He has also represented corporate entities in complex product liability litigation.

In addition, Brown, who is a member in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office, has experience handling bad faith and failure to settle claims on behalf of insurance companies. His insurance coverage practice also includes a number of defense cost disputes where the reasonableness and necessity of such costs incurred by an insurance policyholder were at issue.  

Brown has successfully defended a number of key insurance coverage issues and has authored numerous coverage opinions for insurance carrier clients on a range of topics such as coverage for advertising injury claims, sexual harassment, racial and sexual discrimination, assault and battery, defective products, and claims made/claims reported issues.

Admitted to practice law in several federal courts and pro hac vice in nine states, Brown received his law degree from Wayne State University Law School in 1993 and his undergraduate degree from University of Michigan in 1990.