LEGAL PEOPLE

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced the appointment of Andrew Kowalkowski to the Oakland County 44th District Court – Royal Oak and Berkley.

Kowalkowski is currently an administrative law examiner with the Michigan Department of State where he presides over administrative law hearings related to the regulatory authority of the Michigan Department of State. Before this, he was an associate attorney at The Barone Defense Firm and Pierce, Farrell, Tafelski, and Wells PLC. He also had his own general practice firm where he concentrated on criminal defense, drunk driving litigation, license restoration, implied consent, license appeals, and family law.
Kowalkowski earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and law degree from Wayne State University Law School. He is a member of the Polish American Legal Society and the Michigan Association for Justice.

“I am honored and humbled to be appointed to the 44th District Court bench by Governor Whitmer,” said Kowalkowski. “I look forward to continuing my civil service, now in the community that my family calls home. I promise to oversee a fair and equitable courtroom, ensuring equal access to justice for all who seek it.”

This appointment was made to fill a partial term following the passing of Judge Jamie Wittenberg. Kowalkowski’s term will commence on April 24 and expire at noon on January 1, 2025. If Kowalkowski wishes to serve the remainder of Wittenberg’s term, expiring January 1, 2029, he would be required to run for reelection in November of 2024.

Judicial appointments are not subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

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The University of Detroit Mercy Department of Athletics presented retired Judge William Giovan, ‘58, with this year’s John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award.

The award was presented to the former All-American fencer during halftime of the Detroit Mercy men’s basketball game against Purdue Fort Wayne with members of the Conti family on hand to present it.

The John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award was established by Anheuser-Busch to honor its long-time employee upon his induction into the Titan Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. Conti was the captain of the 1949 Detroit football team that won the Missouri Valley Conference Championship. At 6-foot-1 and 300 pounds, he was an Honorable Mention All-American and the biggest man in college football. His spirit and charitable enthusiasm have always seemed to be even larger. In tribute to that spirit, the John Conti Letterman of Distinction Award is presented to former Titan varsity athletes who go above and beyond at work and in the community.

Giovan is a retired chief judge of the Wayne County Circuit Court who served as a mediator, arbitrator, special master, and visiting judge in civil disputes. He served on the circuit court for 33 years from 1976 through 2008, after having served on both the Recorder’s Court of Detroit and the Detroit Common Pleas Court. In 1999 the Michigan Supreme Court appointed him as chair of its Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence, whose work resulted in several significant amendments to the rules of evidence.

Giovan has lectured extensively to the bench and bar on matters of evidence and civil procedure to groups such as the National Judicial College, the American Academy of Judicial Education, ICLE, and the Michigan Judicial Institute.

Giovan earned All-American status in 1958 in the Sabre as the Titans finished 10th in the NCAA Championships. He graduated from the university with a degree in Political Science, Philosophy, and Psychology.

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The members of Plunkett Cooney’s board of directors recently re-elected three partners, Michael S. Bogren, Michael P. Ashcraft Jr., and Audrey J. Forbush, to executive board positions.

Each will serve a one-year term with Bogren winning re-election as chairman of the board, Ashcraft retaining his position as secretary/treasurer, and Forbush continuing in her role as senior vice president.

Bogren has been a member of the firm’s board of directors since 2003 and has served as chair for over 10 years. He is a member of Plunkett Cooney’s Governmental Law Practice Group, and he focuses his practice in the areas of municipal law, civil rights, police liability and labor and employment law.

A 1982 graduate of University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, Bogren has experience representing municipalities in both state and federal court claims involving due process matters, first amendment issues, Michigan Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Act violations, zoning disputes and employment law.

Co-leader of Plunkett Cooney’s Professional Liability Practice Group, Ashcraft is one of the state’s leading professional liability attorneys. He concentrates his practice primarily on the defense of attorneys and accountants and their firms in professional liability and responsibility matters. A partner in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office, he also represents judges, insurance brokers and agents, securities brokers and dealers, real estate brokers and agents, investment advisors, officers and directors, and notaries public in complex litigation in state and federal courts.

Admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in Michigan, Ashcraft graduated from Michigan State University College of Law in 1992. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1987. Ashcraft is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the State Bar of Michigan’s Professional Ethics Committee, the American Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Liability, and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers.

Forbush is the managing partner of Plunkett Cooney’s Flint office and co-leader of the firm’s Governmental Law Practice Group. She focuses her practice primarily in the area of municipal liability with particular expertise in police pursuits, alleged excessive force, civil rights cases, whistleblower claims, labor and employment issues, zoning disputes and personal injury litigation. In addition to her municipal practice, Forbush has experience in the area of professional liability where she routinely defends physicians and hospitals in malpractice claims.

Forbush is a member of the Public Corporation Section of the Genesee County Bar Association and Governmental Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. She is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar. Forbush also serves as legal advisor to the Law Enforcement Action Forum, an organization consisting of law enforcement executives throughout Michigan. She received her law degree from the Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in 1988 and her undergraduate degree from Central Michigan University in 1984.

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Varnum partner Pete Roth has been named “All Star Advisor of the Year” by the Detroit Chapter of Association for Corporate Growth. Roth will be recognized at ACG’s All Star Awards event on May 2 at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham.

Roth is an experienced business and transactional attorney, with a heavy focus on mergers and acquisitions, including private equity, venture capital, family office and joint venture transactions. He worked on more than 30 deals in 2022, with aggregate value approaching $1 billion.

Roth’s nomination for the recognition noted that he represents clients across the state and throughout the country on sophisticated deals with complex structuring, representation and warranty insurance and rollovers. A number of his deals were international and involved additional layers of complexity both legally and financially, with regard to M&A laws governing foreign entities.

Roth frequently serves as an expert source on M&A market trends and forecasts as well as on matters affecting privately-owned businesses. In addition to his M&A practice, he provides counseling with respect to day-to-day business issues of all types, including commercial transactions, contract negotiation, corporate structuring and succession planning.
ACG Detroit is a 400-member nonprofit business organization of M&A professionals who invest in middle-market companies.

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Kitch’s Terence Durkin and Meghan Kennedy Riordan will present at the OakMac SHRM’s HR Summit: Day of Development with Oakland University on April 4. Durkin, a co-director of Legislative Affairs, will be an opening keynote speaker providing a legal update. Kennedy Riordan will present “Global Mobility: Can U.S. and Canadian Immigration Help to Solve Chronic Staffing Shortages?’

Durkin’s practice blends labor and employment law with medical malpractice and general litigation. His experience gives him the ability to help clients sort through the challenging and ever-changing world of labor and employment rules and regulations. Durkin and the Kitch labor and employment practice group offer a full array of employment and labor law services, including disputes in all types of forums: the courts, mediation panels, arbitration and administrative agencies.

Kennedy Riordan heads the firm’s Immigration Law Practice Group. She has more than 32 years of experience in all aspects of immigration law. She has experience in both employment-based (e.g. L1 [including blanket petitions], H1-Bs, TNs, E2 [including blanket petitions], J-1s, O and P visas) and family related immigration law, issues of inadmissibility and removability, and naturalization/citizenship, as well as inbound/outbound corporate migration, immigration-related audits and I-9 compliance training; and, assisting corporations with Department of Labor/Department of Homeland Security audits.

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Brooks Kushman attorneys Ben Stasa and Erin Bowles presented for the Federal Bar Association webinar “Bankruptcy vs. Innovation: How Financial Struggles Impact Intellectual Property Rights” on March 24.

Stasa is a registered patent attorney and Ph.D. candidate in electrical and computer engineering. He represents clients in a broad range of industries on matters in the electrical, computer science, and mechanical arts. Stasa’s research interests include artificial intelligence, blockchain, communications, microelectronics, power transmission, quantum computing, and signal processing. He is currently investigating the application of machine learning to wireless communications and deep learning to speech recognition.

Bowles is a registered patent attorney with 15 years of experience preparing and prosecuting patent applications for mechanical and electrical products and preparing patent clearance opinions. She is also a member of Brooks Kushman’s post-grant practice group. Bowles is active with the firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts including the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), serving as a Fellow, Detroit City Lead, and Pathfinder Mentor.