Legal People ...

The Michigan Supreme Court recently announced that attorney Zenell B. Brown has been named Region 1 administrator for the State Court Administrative Office. In this role, Brown will serve as liaison to Wayne County’s 26 trial courts, including the Third Judicial Circuit, Wayne Probate, and 36th District – all of the state’s largest. Brown previously served for more than 25 years in various roles at the Third Judicial Circuit, culminating in nearly a decade as executive court administrator. She also has a record of public service, including her recent election as president of the Detroit Bar Association.

“I am excited to return to the judiciary in the role of Region 1 administrator,” said Brown. “I look forward to working with the chief judges and court personnel in the furtherance of justice that is accessible and trusted by all.”

Brown’s primary responsibilities as Region 1 administrator will include monitoring and providing management assistance to all trial courts within the region, directing the judicial assignment program, mediating funding and policy disputes, investigating complaints, and acting as a resource for judges and court staff. Brown will also develop and implement plans and goals for the Region 1 Office and directs its personnel and operational activities.

As the top administrator for the Third Judicial Circuit Court, Brown has negotiated funding agreements, spearheaded technological advancements, championed racial and social justice, and established a leadership development infrastructure, among other achievements. She also enhanced community outreach initiatives such as Law Day, child support services, and jury services.

Brown received a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Detroit Mercy and a law degree from Wayne State University Law School, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Public Administration from Central Michigan University and a Judicial Administration Certificate from Michigan State University. She began her career at the Third Judicial Circuit in 1997 as special assistant prosecutor and Friend of the Court attorney.

In addition to steadily increasing leadership responsibility at the Third Judicial Circuit, Brown has 17 years of mediation experience, including creation of a facilitative family mediation program. She also has two decades of experience collaborating with federal, state, and local government agencies, bar associations, and human service organizations on court administration, family law and child support, dispute resolution, and diversity and inclusion.

The State Court Administrative Office has six regional offices located in Detroit, Lansing, Mt. Pleasant, and Gaylord. Led by a regional administrator, each office provides direct management assistance to trial court chief judges and staff in the administration of judicial business. The Regional Offices work with the central office at the Hall of Justice to implement Supreme Court judicial administration policy, monitor workload and caseflow, and to forge productive working relationships with local judicial system stakeholders.

Brown replaces former Judge Paul Paruk, who recently retired as Region 1 administrator.

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Dykema recently announced that Michael P. Cooney has become a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.

The induction ceremony at which Cooney became a Fellow took place before an audience of approximately 550 during the recent Annual Meeting of the College in San Diego, California.

Cooney is the director of Dykema’s Litigation Department and has tried cases throughout the country for more than 30 years, including a wide range of products liability and commercial litigation matters.

He earned a law degree and B.S.M.E. from the University of Notre Dame.

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Wayne State University Law School Professor Charles “Chip” Brower has been appointed senior vice chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA).  In June 2024, Brower will also become the 12th chair of the ITA. He will succeed a line of prominent figures who have led the 3,500-member organization and is only the third academic to do so since the ITA’s inception in 1986.

Brower has served as an arbitrator, counsel, advocate, or expert in numerous arbitration matters for private parties, governments, and other organizations, including as counsel to the Government of Costa Rica in proceedings before the International Court of Justice.

Brower is also editor or author of numerous books, chapters, articles, and essays on a range of topics spanning international law and dispute resolution. His scholarship on international commercial and investment treaty arbitration has been cited and quoted widely by federal courts in the United States and Canada.

In addition to his role as senior vice chair of the ITA, Brower is a director of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society, the editor of NAFTA Developments for KluwerArbitration.com, and the former co-editor-in-chief of World Arbitration and Mediation Review. An elected member of the American Law Institute, Brower has served on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, as a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University’s Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, as Visiting Professor and Scholar-in-Residence at American University’s Washington College of Law.

Before joining the Wayne Law faculty in 2012, Brower was the Croft Professor of International Law at the University of Mississippi for 14 years.

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On September 26, Michael Watza testified before the Michigan Regulatory Reform Committee regarding the opposition of House Bill 4965.

Watza spoke on behalf of PROTEC, a consortium of more than 100 Michigan Local Community Governments which focus upon interactions between various industries and tax payer supported local Public Rights of Way (PROW). House Bill 4965 seeks to amend previous legislation that would exclude “streaming” and “satellite” from the definition of video service and thereby thwart their obligation to pay rent for use of the PROW and share the cost of supporting that critical local community asset.

Watza argued that this bill would create the ultimate unlevel playing field and, selects one small group – streamers – as the winners in a wide and diverse video industry,
the rest of whom, along with local communities, end up losers.

Watza heads the governmental litigation and affairs practice at the Kitch firm. His areas of concentration include litigated, legislative and administrative solutions on behalf of municipal, non-profit and private sector clients in the areas of Telecommunications, Energy, Complex Litigation and Legislative Consulting.

Watza serves as general counsel for PROTEC, a consortium of several dozen Michigan municipalities with unique interest in local government right-of-way issues and has served as special projects counsel for the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority.

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Warner Norcross + Judd LLP welcomes Geethanjali “Geetha” Selvam as an associate.

Selvam joins Warner’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Group where she concentrates her practice on corporate and commercial litigation issues primarily in the health care, employment and supply chain industries. As a licensed attorney in both Michigan and Ontario, she often works on cross-border matters. She practices in the firm’s Detroit office.

An experienced litigator, Selvam comes to Warner from a national firm in Troy where she handled cases across Canada and the U.S., including multidistrict litigation for a major medical device manufacturer, a class action matter for one of America’s largest electric utility companies and complex product liability litigation for numerous global automotive manufacturers.

Selvam’s international experience includes having previously served as a legal extern for the Windsor Regional Hospital and as a student litigator for Community Legal Aid. She also participated in an immigration clinic where she assisted victims of crime in obtaining legal status in the U.S. While in law school, Selvam clerked for Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Jonathan Tukel.

Selvam earned a Bachelor of Medical Sciences in interdisciplinary medical science and medical cell biology from Western University in London, Ontario. She earned her law degree after attending both the University of Windsor Faculty of Law and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law where she obtained a dual JD program award in 2019 and 2020.

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Butzel attorneys Jennifer Dukarski and Claudia Rast will be featured during the Connected Vehicle Systems Alliance (CVSA) All Member Meeting on Tuesday, October
10, in Troy.

Their presentation is titled, “Emerging Automotive Technologies: Insight on the Legal Issues and Risks of AI and Data Collection.” They will discuss the state of the law, the viability of the eight voluntary standards the “titans of tech” have agreed to implement to safeguard AI, in-vehicle cyber incidents, and other insights on the future for Emerging Automotive Technologies.

Dukarski focuses her practice at the intersection of technology and communications with an emphasis on emerging and disruptive issues: cybersecurity and privacy, infotainment and shared mobility, and connected and autonomous cars. She has become a national leader in legal issues facing emerging automotive technology including challenging intellectual property issues surrounding data, artificial intelligence and automated systems.

A self-titled “recovering engineer,” Dukarski was named one of the 30 Women Defining the Future of Technology in January 2020 by Warner Communications for her innovative thoughts and contributions to the tech industry.

Rast chairs Butzel’s Intellectual Property, Cybersecurity and Emerging Technology Practice Department. She recently completed a three-year term as the co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Cybersecurity Legal Task Force during which she co-authored a chapter on cyber incident response in the third edition of the ABA Cybersecurity Handbook.

Blending her expertise in law, business, and science, Rast counsels companies in their strategic use of technology in the areas of privacy, cybersecurity, data governance, intellectual property licensing, and the forensic preservation and analysis of electronically stored information. In recent months, she has been an invited speaker on the legal risks and benefits of incorporating generative artificial intelligence tools in business operations.

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Giarmarco, Mullins, & Horton PC proudly announces the appointment of Anthony K. Chubb to the State Bar of Michigan’s Government Law Section Council. This
appointment reflects Chubb’s commitment to representing cities, townships, and governmental entities throughout his career.

Chubb is an equity shareholder in the firm’s municipal group and has dedicated his career to representing cities, townships, and governmental entities. He currently serves as city attorney for East Lansing, Northville, Keego Harbor, and Saline, as well as general counsel for Redford Township and the Genesee County 911 Consortium. Chubb’s background in municipal law, including working in-house for municipalities, has given him knowledge of the legal and administrative sides of resolving complex cases.