Legal People ...

McDonald Hopkins is proud to congratulate member and Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Co-Chair Dominic Paluzzi on his selection to Cybersecurity Docket’s Incident Response 50 for 2023.
Paluzzi, of the firm’s Detroit office, was also recognized by Cybersecurity Docket in 2016, 2018 and 2022. He advises organizations on data privacy and cybersecurity risks on both a national and international basis, including proactive compliance, incident response strategies and management, and defense of regulatory enforcement actions and single-plaintiff and class action litigation.

Paluzzi has counseled clients through more than 10,000 data breaches and privacy incidents where he works closely with local, state and federal law enforcement, forensic investigators and third-party cybersecurity vendors to offer his clients efficient and effective breach response services in compliance with the numerous state, federal, international and industry-specific legal obligations.

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Varnum partner Rich Hewlett has been named a Go To Lawyer for Construction Law by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He was one of only 20 attorneys from around the state to be honored for demonstrating unique expertise in the construction legal industry.

Hewlett’s recognition is based on his professional expertise and record of success for clients as well as his commitment to the industry. For more than 32 years, he has represented owners, contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, suppliers and design professionals in a wide range of construction law matters, with a strong focus on contracts, claims and litigation. He has achieved favorable results for his clients in construction, commercial, and shareholder disputes, both in court and before arbitral bodies.

Hewlett has achieved an AV® Preeminent™ rating – the highest possible – by Martindale Hubbell. He is consistently listed in The Best Lawyers in America® and has been named “Lawyer of the Year” four times for Construction Litigation, in addition to numerous other recognitions.

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Honigman is pleased to announce that Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly 2023 “Hall of Fame” and “Up & Coming Lawyer” recognized Cyril Moscow and Kristin Fernandez respectively.

Moscow is a corporate partner with experience advising business clients in corporate matters and securities transactions for more than 45 years. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

Fernandez is an interdepartmental attorney who focuses her practice on general matters across various practice areas. She earned her law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

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Dykema recently announced the addition of Jennifer L. Beidel as a member in its Government Investigations and Corporate Compliance Team resident in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. Beidel, who is a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, joins Dykema after practicing at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP in Philadelphia, where she served as co-chair of its White Collar and Government Enforcement practice.

As an assistant U.S. attorney, Beidel worked as a member of the complex frauds and cybercrime unit. She led investigations and prosecutions in a variety of areas, including tax fraud, healthcare fraud, cybercrime, bank and wire fraud, securities fraud, consumer fraud, bribery, and money laundering. Beidel has worked closely with numerous government agencies, including the FBI, SEC, IRS, DEA, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, Secret Service, Postal Inspection Service, and New York State Department of Financial Services.

In her law firm practice, Beidel represents organizations and individuals in white collar criminal defense cases, internal investigations, corporate compliance matters, and complex commercial disputes. She draws on her trial and investigative experience—in both the private and public sectors—to assist clients facing criminal and civil allegations of fraud and other misconduct in the health care, life sciences, food and agriculture, and financial services industries, among others.

Beidel was recognized as one of “America’s Leading Lawyers in Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations” by Chambers USA and has been rated as a “Future Star” by Benchmark Litigation. She earned a law degree and a B.S. from The Pennsylvania State University.

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Taft is pleased to welcome Fatima Boylea to the firm’s Detroit office as an attorney in the Commercial Litigation practice group.

Boylea represents a wide range of business clientele, with a focus on small businesses, close corporations, family-owned companies, and their owners. Her representation of these clients extends to all phases of the business life cycle, including drafting operational and governing documents, providing guidance during contentious employment disputes (such as theft of intellectual property and trade secrets, and breach of non-competition and non-solicitation agreements), and providing effective representation and counsel during litigation (including for complex issues such as breaches of fiduciary duties, contractual breaches, and shareholder/member disputes).

Boylea also has experience assisting clients with business divorces, dissolutions, and breakups. She has successfully represented business owners in state court, federal court, Michigan business courts, and in arbitration.

Taft is also pleased to welcome Anna Cheng to the firm’s Detroit office as an attorney in the Paytech and Payment Systems practice group.

Cheng counsels her clients on various legal issues and risks in areas such as technology, licensing, data privacy and security, IP, and payments laws.

Prior to joining Taft, Cheng worked as associate general counsel for Plastiq, a business payment platform, where she led all commercial matters. She has served as senior counsel in cyber and intelligence solutions for Mastercard and provided global product support and practical solutions, with cross functional collaboration, on a wide range of product development, commercial, and contractual matters. Cheng was also a former VP and senior counsel at Deutsche Bank in New York where she regularly advised on cyber, technology and IP related matters throughout the bank.

Cheng earned her law degree from the Saint Louis University School of Law.  While in law school, she clerked for the United States Attorney’s Office of Eastern Missouri. She also earned an MBA in management from Johns Hopkins University and her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from the University of Michigan.

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Plunkett Cooney partner Patrick C. Lannen was recently named to the 2023 Class of Go To Lawyers for Business Litigation as determined by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

The co-leader of Plunkett Cooney’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group in Plunkett Cooney’s Bloomfield Hills office, Lannen has been integral to the growth and success of the firm’s high stakes and bet-the-company commercial practice. He is recognized for complex commercial and financial services litigation, banking and creditors’ rights matters, and class, mass and multi-district actions.
Lannen has successfully tried a number of cases on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, as well as experienced business owners throughout the country.

Lannen earned his undergraduate degree in 2006 from Kalamazoo College and his law degree in 2009 from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He has been named a Michigan Rising Star in Banking by Michigan Super Lawyers for more than a decade straight.

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Howard & Howard is pleased to welcome Heidi McAra to its growing Business & Corporate group. McAra joins the firm’s Royal Oak office, primarily serving in the Trust & Estate Planning group.

McAra counsels her clients through estate planning, probate matters, and estate and trust administration, specifically with wealth transfer, succession planning, and tax planning strategies.

McAra received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in environmental science and graduated from Emory University School of Law with her law degree.

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Maddin Hauser is pleased to announce that Michigan Lawyers Weekly selected executive committee member David E. Hart as a “Go To” lawyer in business litigation.

Hart is a shareholder, lead trial attorney, member of the firm’s executive management committee, and co-chair of the Financial Services and Real Property Litigation group. His business litigation practice focuses on litigation and dispute resolution involving title insurance, business and commercial disputes, mortgage and real estate litigation, construction disputes, and creditor’s rights law, including bankruptcy.

A frequent lecturer, Hart  is regularly called upon to present on business law, title insurance and real estate law topics. Since 2007, he has been continually recognized in the Michigan edition of Super Lawyers and was named among DBusiness Magazine’s 2018 Top Lawyers.

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Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson received the Brennan Center for Justice 2023 Legacy Award at a recent ceremony in New York City. Benson was selected for the national honor for her work protecting fair elections in Michigan and defending American democracy.

“I am deeply honored and accept this on behalf of the thousands of election officials throughout our country who work every day in ways big and small to fulfill that simple promise held in the power of the vote for every American,” said Benson. “I am so grateful for the work that the Brennan Center does to help inform and support our work through nonpartisan research and legal advocacy squarely focused on reform, revitalization, and defense of our nation’s systems of democracy and justice.”

Each year the Brennan Center honors “outstanding visionaries who have advanced the goal of what Justice Brennan called ‘common human dignity.’” Past Legacy Award recipients include the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The Brennan Center for Justice was founded in 1995 in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. It is an independent, nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize, and defend the nation’s systems of democracy and justice.

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The American Bar Association Law Student Division Assembly has elected University of Detroit Mercy School of Law student Malak Tehaili to serve as chair for the 2023-24 term.

Elections were recently held by the Law Student Division Assembly, which comprises Student Bar Association presidents, Law Student liaisons to other ABA divisions and ABA representatives from each of the 199 ABA-accredited law schools.

The Law Student Division Council oversees the general operation of the ABA Law Student Division, including advocating for and shaping legislation and policy, coordinating outreach to law students regarding ABA resources and acting as representatives for law students to the ABA and the legal profession. Officers each serve a one-year term from August to July, in alignment with the ABA’s program and fiscal year.

To learn more about the officers-elect and their platforms, videos are available on the LSD Elections website at: www.americanbar.org/groups/law_students/about/leadership/elections.