LEGAL PEOPLE

Butzel attorney and shareholder Mitchell (“Mitch”) Zajac has been named by 760 WJR and the Detroit Economic Club (DEC) to the Class of 2023 Rising Stars, comprised of 10 local leaders under the age of 40 who are making an impact in their industries and communities. Each Monday (through August), a new honoree will be interviewed by WJR host Guy Gordon as part of a podcast series. At the end of September, all 10 Rising Stars will be interviewed during a live recognition broadcast.

Zajac is a member of Butzel’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Group, one of the firm’s largest practices areas. His practice also includes a focus on automotive, intellectual property, regulatory and emissions compliance, and sports law, to name a few. He is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

He has practiced in six federal courts, the U.S. Patent Office, the Court of International Trade, and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Zajac has helped several clients manage and craft IP portfolios in other unique industries, like medicine, light-weighting, and industrial manufacturing. He also has experience in complex patent, trade secret and commercial litigation cases.

In 2022, Zajac was appointed vice chair of Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Board of Directors. He was named to the board in 2020. He was named to DBusiness magazine’s 2022 Class of “30 in Their Thirties.” He also was named to DBusiness magazine’s Top
Lawyers of Metro Detroit, Intellectual Property and Patent Law, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Zajac attended WMU-Cooley after graduating from WMU with Bachelors’ degrees in Mechanical Engineering and German and a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering.

He was a Rhodes Scholar finalist, interned for Congressman Fred Upton, and was a four-year starter on the Division 1 football team at WMU. Zajac was named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2020 Class of Up & Coming Lawyers. He received the Detroit Bar Association’s “One to Watch” Award in 2019. Zajac has been named to Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch, Commercial Litigation, 2022 and 2023.

•            •            •

Dickinson Wright is pleased to announce that Suzanne Sukkar has been named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2023 Influential Women of Law.

“I am honored to be selected by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a member of their 2023 Influential Women of Law Class. This list is filled with such talented and accomplished attorneys,” said Sukkar.

Sukkar is an immigration attorney who focuses her practice on global workforce mobility, employment-based sponsorship and visa matters, immigration audit and compliance for corporate and individual clients across a vast array of industries. She is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and is Past President of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan. Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Michigan Super Lawyers, and DBusiness Top Lawyers recognize her as a leader in her field.

•            •            •

Bodman PLC in pleased to announce that Jennifer M. Hetu has been named in Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s Class of 2023 Influential Women in Law.

Hetu is a member of Bodman’s Intellectual Property Practice Group and is based in the firm’s Troy office. Her practice focuses on trademark law and brand protection. She advises businesses of all sizes on a wide range of trademark matters in the U.S. and international markets, collaborates with foreign law firms on worldwide trademark protection, and provides counseling regarding U.S. use and registration.

Hetu is involved in the intellectual property law space, holding positions in the International Trademark Association’s Trademark Administrators Committee since 2018 and the Events Subcommittee co-chair since 2020. She was also recently appointed to the State Bar of Michigan’s Intellectual Property Law Council.

•            •            •

Honigman LLP recently announced that Abby Stover has returned to its Detroit office as the firm’s chief talent officer. In this role, She will lead the firm’s attorney talent management, learning and development and legal recruiting functions. Stover rejoins Honigman after serving as a partner in the commercial real estate practice at Cousino Law PLLC for five years.

Stover earned her law degree from Wayne State University Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University. She joined Honigman upon graduating from law school, where she served as an associate in the firm’s real estate department until 2011. She then assumed the role of director of Attorney Development and Recruitment, a position she held until 2018.

Representing clients across the United States, Stover has more than a decade of experience in all aspects of commercial real estate law, including acquisitions and sales, commercial leasing, loan transactions and tax-credit financing. In her role as Honigman’s director of Attorney Development and Recruitment, she oversaw all aspects of attorney hiring and worked closely with firm leadership on developing and implementing the firm’s strategic hiring initiatives.

•            •            •

Michigan Lawyers Weekly recently announced the 2023 class of Influential Women of Law featuring Michigan’s Chief Deputy Attorney
General Fadwa Hammoud among the honorees.  

Hammoud is responsible for overseeing the department’s three bureaus, comprised of 18 civil divisions and four criminal divisions, including the Criminal Investigations Division as well as the offices of Human Resources, Fiscal Management, Legislative Affairs and Public Information and Education. In total, Hammoud oversees more than 500 employees and is responsible for managing the Department’s $100 million annual budget.

Hammoud started with the department when she was sworn in as Michigan’s 12th solicitor general on January 15, 2019. Upon her appointment by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Hammoud became the youngest ever Michigan solicitor general and the first Arab-American Muslim solicitor general in the United States. She also made history by becoming the first Arab-American Muslim woman to argue before the United States Supreme Court, and subsequently win.

Prior to her service with the department, Hammoud served as lead attorney under Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy, where she established the Business Protection Unit and prosecuted criminal enterprise, homicide, financial crime, and identity theft cases. Hammoud has also served as a trustee and treasurer of the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education and the Henry Ford College Board, championing public education in her hometown.

A first-generation American, Hammoud advocated on behalf of Wayne County’s various ethnic and immigrant communities and advised state, county, and city leaders on their affairs.

•            •            •

Miller Canfield’s Katrina Desmond has been recognized in Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s Class of 2023 “Influential Women of Law.”

Desmond is a principal attorney in Miller Canfield’s Public Finance Group as well as a certified public accountant. She is one of approximately 150 attorneys nationwide who work extensively in the area of law dealing with Internal Revenue Code Section 103.

Desmond works with all different types of issuers of tax-exempt municipal debt, including state and local governments, schools, colleges and universities, hospitals and a variety of other 501(c)(3) entities.  

Desmond has worked on some of the largest and most impactful transactions in Michigan, including all major transactions related to the City of Detroit bankruptcy and restructuring, which have to date involved over $1 billion of bonds. She continues to work with the city to ensure that proper accounting procedures are in place to comply with federal tax rules.

Her other notable work includes:

• The Neighborhood Improvement Bonds to eliminate blight in Detroit, a social bonds program that involved funding the demolition of blighted houses in the city while preserving salvageable structures. The program won a Social Bond of the Year award from Environmental Finance, and The Bond Buyer selected the ballot initiative that approved the bond program as its Midwest Deal of the Year. Desmond has been involved to ensure that the deals are properly structured at issuance and the bond proceeds are used for their intended purposes.

• New energy tax credits offered to tax-exempt entities as part of the climate-facing provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The credits are used by many of the firm’s clients who are using them to finance green infrastructure, such as solar arrays and geothermal systems.

• The $1 billion financing following the merger of two major nonprofit Michigan hospitals, which combined would ultimately become Corewell Health. Desmond’s role as tax counsel involved restructuring the debt of both hospital systems to ensure the interest on the debt continued to be tax-exempt following the transaction, resulting in millions of dollars in interest savings to the combined health care groups.

Influential Women of Law honorees will be recognized at an awards program on September 22 in Troy.

•            •            •

Several attorneys from Plunkett Cooney have been named to the 2023 list of “Super Lawyers” by Michigan Super Lawyers magazine.

Receiving special recognition by the magazine this year with inclusion among the state’s top 50 female lawyers are D. Jennifer Andreou and Mary Massaron. Andreou joins the top 50 list of attorneys practicing in the area of medical malpractice defense for the ninth time in 14 years. Massaron, who has been on the top women lawyers list for 17 consecutive years, was selected once again for her appellate expertise.

Health care attorney Mark S. Kopson was also listed among the “Top 100 Michigan Super Lawyers.”

Below is a list of local Plunkett Cooney partners who received the 2023 Michigan Super Lawyer designation:

—Bloomfield Hills office

Douglas C. Bernstein – Bankruptcy: Business
Charles W. Browning – Insurance Coverage
Jeffrey S. Hengeveld – Professional Liability: Defense
Mark S. Kopson – Health Care
Mary Massaron – Appellate
Kenneth C. Newa – Insurance Coverage

—Detroit office

Jennifer Andreou – Personal Injury Medical Malpractice: Defense
Laurel F. McGiffert – Personal Injury Medical Malpractice: Defense
Matthew J. Stanczyk – Personal Injury – Products: Defense

In addition, Michigan Super Lawyers magazine has named several attorneys from Plunkett Cooney its 2023 list of “Rising Stars.”

Below is a list of local Plunkett Cooney attorneys who have received the 2023 Michigan Super Lawyer Rising Star designation:

—Bloomfield Hills office

Ryan P. Bourjaily – Estate & Trust Litigation
Stephanie M. Brochert – Insurance Coverage
Ashley S. Dickey – Personal Injury General: Defense
John S. Gilliam – Employment Litigation Defense
Patrick C. Lannen – Banking
Nicholas W. Siewert – Personal Injury General: Defense
Jesse A. Zapczynski – Insurance Coverage

—Detroit office

Aleasha Hester – Transportation Law
Eric T. Ramar – Personal Injury Medical Malpractice: Defendants
Kimberly K. Seibert – Civil Litigation: Defense
Claire D. Vergara – Personal Injury General: Defense

•            •            •

Collins Einhorn Farrell PC is pleased to announce that 22 of the firm’s lawyers have been included in the 2023 editions of Super Lawyers.

Seven of the 22 recognized lawyers have been included in the Rising Stars edition, which recognizes attorneys who are early in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice.

The firm’s 2023 Super Lawyers recipients are:

David C. Anderson – Professional Liability – Defense
Joshua I. Arnkoff – Professional Liability – Defense
Theresa M. Asoklis – Professional Liability – Defense
Donald D. Campbell – Professional Liability – Defense
Trent B. Collier – Appellate Practice
Michael J. Cook – Appellate Practice
Brian D. Einhorn – Professional Liability – Defense
Clayton F. Farrell – Personal Injury Litigation – Products – Defense
Melissa E. Graves – Professional Liability – Defense
Deborah A. Hebert – Insurance Coverage
Matthew S. LaBeau – Personal Injury Litigation – Defense
Deborah A. Lujan – Personal Injury Litigation – Defense
Kari L. Melkonian – Personal Injury Litigation – Defense
Michael J. Sullivan –  Professional Liability – Defense
Nicole E. Wilinski – Insurance Coverage

The firm’s 2023 Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” recipients include:

Zabbia N. Alholou – Civil Litigation – Defense
MaryRachel Dysarz – Personal Injury Litigation – Defense
James J. Hunter – Professional Liability – Defense
Laura M. McLane – Professional Liability – Defense
Scott J. Pawlak – Personal Injury Litigation – Defense
Erin J. Rodenhouse – Appellate Law
Joshua M. Stapp – Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiff

•            •            •

Maddin Hauser is pleased to announce that Michigan Lawyers Weekly selected shareholder Sheryl K. Silberstein for its “Influential Women of Law” 2023 class.

Silberstein is a commercial real estate lawyer who, for more than 36 years, has helped to minimize her clients’ risks and protect their interests. A shareholder, she joined the firm in 2000 after practicing in the real estate industry’s corporate sector. Her commercial real estate practice includes financing, acquisitions, sales, and development of shopping centers, multi-family, industrial, and office properties. She handles leasing, zoning and land use matters, and residential real estate transactions.  

Silberstein is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Oakland County Bar Association, and the REAL Professionals Network (RPN), an invitation-only business network for veteran commercial real estate professionals