Legal People ...

Harvey Kruse PC is pleased to announce that David B. Roth has been named shareholder.

Roth is an experienced litigator in Michigan and federal courts who delivers favorable results for his clients. His practice encompasses the defense of civil matters including employment claims such as those brought under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Title VII, the FMLA, the PWDCRA, and the Whistleblower Protection Act.  He also assists municipalities, and their employees, defend against claims of constitutional rights violations such as alleged violations of the First Amendment, false arrest, excessive force claims, and many others. His practice also involves defense of premises liability claims, auto negligence claims, no-fault claims, insurance coverage disputes, and general liability defense.

Before joining Harvey Kruse, Roth worked in a regional law firm representing Michigan school districts before the Teacher’s Tenure Commission and in labor arbitrations before the American Arbitration Association. He also previously was employed as an assistant city attorney for the City of Flint in various employment matters.

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Detroit-based management-side labor and employment law firm Nemeth Bonnette Brouwer PC is pleased to announce that three firm attorneys have been recognized as Leading Lawyers in 2023.  

The following attorneys have been named Leading Lawyers in their legal category of distinction:

Deborah L. Brouwer, firm managing partner, in Employment Law: Management

Terry W. Bonnette, partner, in Employment Law: Management and Labor Law: Management

Patricia M. Nemeth, Of Counsel and firm founder, in Employment Law: Management; ADR (alternative dispute resolution): Employment; and
Labor Law: Management. She is also a member of the Leading Lawyers Advisory Board.

In addition, both Brouwer and Nemeth were listed as Leading Lawyers Top Women Leaders in the July/August issue of DBusiness.

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Butzel attorney and shareholder D. Scott Brinkmann is one of 20 attorneys named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Go To Lawyers” for
Commercial Real Estate.

Brinkmann has transactional experience in real estate development and finance matters, including acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, incentives, zoning, and tax issues.

In 2016, Brinkmann was recognized as one of DBusiness magazine’s “30 in Their Thirties” for his legal work in the City of Detroit having played a pivotal role in several transformative development projects in the city.

Brinkmann is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School (2005). He also graduated from Michigan State University (1999).

In addition, Butzel attorney and shareholder Javon R. David has been named as one of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Influential Women of Law” for 2023.

David is one of 35 women attorneys who will be honored during a luncheon on September 22 and profiled in the September 25 edition of Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

David is a member of Butzel’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Group, one of the firm’s largest practices areas. She concentrates her practice in the areas of commercial litigation, media and entertainment law, and products liability. She has litigation experience, successfully handling matters from the onset of suit through trial.

In 2021, David was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel Association (MDTC). She accepted this appointment after serving as co-chair of the Trial Practice Section of MDTC.

David serves on the Business Court and Counsel Committee for the Oakland County Bar Association (OCBA). She also serves as deputy general counsel for the Michigan Press Association (MPA), and on the litigation, insurance, and advertising/commercial speech committees for the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC).

David serves on the Board of Governors for the Young Leaders Council, Original Equipment Suppliers Association – Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (OESA-MEMA). She is a member of the 2021-2022 (LOXXXII) Class of Leadership Oakland. She is also an active member of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce.

David has been named to the list of Michigan Rising Stars in Super Lawyers magazine for 2017-2023. She also was named among Michigan’s Top Women Lawyers from 2017-2023. David was named as Ones to Watch in commercial litigation by Best Lawyers in America in 2020-2023.

David is admitted to practice law in the State of Michigan, the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, the U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan, and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a certified mediator through the American Bar Association.

David also performs pro bono work for Avalon Healing Center, a Detroit-based non-profit which does work to help survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking.

David earned a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, with concentrations in History, Political Science, and Psychology.

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Ranked by Managing IP as leaders in their firm and jurisdictions, intellectual property law firm Fishman Stewart PLLC is pleased to announce that four firm attorneys have been named 2023 IP Stars.  Recognized on the annual list are: co-founding member and managing partner Michael Fishman – Trademark Star; co-founding member and managing partner Michael B. Stewart – Patent Star; partner John Guenther – Patent Star and Trademark Star; and partner Michelle Visser – Copyright Star and Trademark Star.

In addition to IP Stars, Fishman Stewart received an overall firm rating of highly recommended in the area of Trademarks in 2023.

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Bodman PLC in pleased to announce that Mackenzie E. Clark has joined the firm’s Troy office as an associate in the Workplace Law Practice Group. Clark focuses her practice on representing employers in a broad range of labor and employment matters, including complex labor and employment issues related to the FMLA, ERISA, ADA, and more.

Before joining Bodman, Clark was an associate attorney at another Michigan-based law firm where she counseled Taft-Hartley Fund employers on compliance issues with federal law. She also assisted clients in understanding federal labor and employment statutes, including ERISA, FMLA, RLSA, and NLRA.

Clark is a graduate of University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and received an undergraduate degree from Miami University.  As a law student, Clark served as a judicial clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Berg, Eastern District of Michigan.  

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Dykema is proud to announce that Sherrie Farrell was selected to Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly’s 2023 “Influential Women of Law” list. Farrell will be
honored at an awards luncheon and profiled in a special supplement of Michigan Lawyers Weekly in September.

Farrell serves as Dykema’s chief diversity officer, managing member of the firm’s Detroit office, and co-chair of its Mansfield Task Force.

Throughout her career, she has worked on issues related to diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, from being appointed to the firm’s first diversity committee in 1999, to writing the firm’s first strategic plan for diversity and inclusion.

In her practice, Farrell has served as a business advisor for 25 years, providing counseling and litigation advice to a wide array of businesses and organizations. She acts as lead counsel in various commercial matters including partnership disputes, lease disputes, breach of contract, and bankruptcy disputes. Farrell has provided counsel on litigation risk management, discovery management, real estate project management for real estate interests, and public policy and litigation issues involving local governments.

Farrell has experience serving as a national coordinating counsel. She serves as national discovery counsel for a Fortune 25 manufacturer in asbestos and other toxic tort litigation. Farrell also had the primary responsibility to develop and defend Fortune 25 corporate fact and expert witnesses in national tort litigation. She also has represented manufacturers, closely held corporations, auto suppliers, and construction companies in both litigated and non-litigated commercial matters.

In her corporate bankruptcy and business restructuring practice, Farrell’s representation includes global automotive suppliers in customer, vendor, and supplier Chapter 11 bankruptcies; creditors in Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy; a state airport authority; construction companies; and troubled suppliers. She also has represented other interested parties including staffing corporations, financial institutions, and other regional and national businesses in commercial and bankruptcy-related litigation, preferences, creditors’ rights matters, out-of-court restructurings, loan workouts, and issues involving the UCC.

Farrell also previously served as the head of Dykema’s first Cybersecurity group. Her experience in the data security area includes drafting data security plans for a board of directors of an insurance company; managing data breaches and incidents for, among others, health company, insurance company, and auto manufacturing supplier. She has drafted data security policies for clients including enterprise-wide data security plans, incident response plans and computer and internet access policies. In addition to authoring several articles on this topic, she’s also presented to a local corporate secretaries organization, an auto manufacturer and was featured on a corporate counsel panel focused on cybersecurity.

Outside of her practice and leadership responsibilities with Dykema, Farrell’s community involvement includes being a board member for the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, Gift of Life-Michigan, Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program, and the Citizens Research Council. She is also a mentor for the Just The Beginnings Foundation and the Street Law Program.

Farrell has been involved in several bar associations and legal professional societies, including serving as president of both the Women’s Lawyers Association of Michigan and the Wolverine Bar Association, a former member of the Board of Directors for the Legal Aid and Defender Association, and as a member of the State Bar of Michigan’s inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee. She was just elected co-chair of the African American Partners’ Collaborative. She is also involved in the African-American Managing Partners and General Counsel Network.
Last year, Farrell was named to Savoy magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers list. She’s also received the D. Augustus Straker Bar Association Trailblazer Award, was named to Lawyers of Color’s “Nation’s Best List,” earned the Wolverine Bar Association President’s Award for the promotion of diversity in the legal profession, was awarded the Robert Millender Visionary Award from the Black Law Students’ Association at Michigan State University College of Law, was named as one of Michigan Chronicle’s Women of Excellence, and named Managing Partner of the Year by the African-American Managing Partners and General Counsel Network.

Farrell earned a law degree from the Detroit College of Law (now known as MSU College of Law) and a B.A. from Wayne State University.

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Taft Southfield partner Jennifer LaTosch has been named a 2023 Influential Women of Law by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

LaTosch concentrates her practice in family and domestic relations law, which includes routine and complex divorces, post-judgment matters, custody and parenting time disputes, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, dissolution of relationship matters, child support, paternity, change of domicile, step-parent adoption and personal protection orders.

A negotiator, litigator, and mediator, LaTosch is also certified in Collaborative Divorce Practice by the Collaborative Practice Institute of Michigan (CPIM).

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Plunkett Cooney partner Mary Massaron was recently named by Michigan Lawyers Weekly to its 2023 Class of “Influential Women of Law.”

Massaron is among 35 attorneys and judges who will be honored at a luncheon on September 22 in Troy.  

Massaron, one of Plunkett Cooney’s most accomplished appellate attorneys, is the second female president of DRI – Lawyers Representing Business and the first woman president of Lawyers for Civil Justice. A member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and American Law Institute, Massaron is also a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs, a five-member committee that oversees preparation of ABA briefs for filing in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The list of Massaron’s appellate victories includes an award-winning brief in Nexteer Automotive Group v. Mando America Corp in 2018. Cooley Law Review presented Massaron with its Distinguished Brief Award for her efforts in this case. She has also received distinguished service awards from the Michigan Municipal League in 2003 and Marygrove College in 2004, as well as the Leaders in the Law Award from Michigan Lawyers Weekly in 2009. Additionally, Massaron received the 2020 Al Cortese Award for outstanding contributions to the cause of civil justice, which was presented to her by Lawyers for Civil Justice.

Massaron is admitted to almost every federal circuit court of appeals and has handled matters before the Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth circuits. She has also handled cases in Alabama, California, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Ohio courts, as well as in the Tribal Court of Appeals.

Massaron, who has exclusively practiced in the area of appellate law for more than 30 years, is perennially recognized by Best Lawyers in America for appellate law and has been repeatedly acknowledged as one of the top 100 lawyers, top 50 business lawyers, top 25 women business lawyers, top 50 female lawyers, and top appellate law practitioners by Michigan Super Lawyers. In addition, she was recognized as the Best Lawyers 2017 and 2021 Appellate Practice “Lawyer of the Year” for attorneys practicing in Bloomfield Hills. DBusiness magazine has named Massaron its top appellate lawyer for the past five years, and she received the State Bar of Michigan’s Appellate Section Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021.

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Brooks Kushman is pleased to announce that William Abbatt has been recognized by DBusiness magazine to be among the “2023 Top Lawyers.”
DBusiness recognized Abbatt in the field of Intellectual Property & Patent Law.

With more than 35 years of experience as a patent attorney, Abbatt’s practice covers all aspects of domestic and foreign patent preparation and prosecution, opinions, and intellectual property (IP)-related due diligence investigations, plus litigation and related client counseling. He has experience with various technologies and industries, including aeronautics, automotive, medical devices, computer software, and consumer products.

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Harness IP is pleased to announce that principal Bob Siminski has been included as one of the world’s leading IP strategists by IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders.

Based in the firm’s Detroit Metro office, Siminski drafts, prosecutes, enforces, and licenses patents primarily in the chemical and mechanical arts.

His practice involves counseling clients on patent strategies in Asian jurisdictions. He is the vice chair of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) Asian Practice Committee and consults frequently with counsel and clients across the region.

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Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Associate Dean of Academics and Professor Tonya Krause-Phelan has been selected as a member of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2023 Class of Influential Women of the Law.

In addition to Criminal Law, Krause-Phelan teaches Criminal Procedure, Defending Battered Women, Criminal Sentencing, and Ethics in Criminal Cases. She is currently making strides to improve the law school community and student curriculum by actively engaging with faculty on identifying the key objectives, as well as roles and responsibilities of a full-scale curriculum review.

Before joining the ranks of academia, Krause-Phelan began her legal career working as an assistant public defender at the Kent County Office of the Defender.  While a defender, she handled and tried all types of felony cases ranging from shoplifting to murder.  After three years as a defender, she moved to private practice, specializing in criminal defense where she represented both appointed and retained clients in both state and federal courts. While still practicing, she began her teaching career as an adjunct professor at Ferris State University where she taught both Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure to criminal justice majors.