LEGAL PEOPLE

Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC

Howard & Howard is pleased to announce Timothy Wittebort as the firm’s new Business & Corporate Group Chairperson.

For more than 35 years, Wittebort has been an integral part of Howard & Howard’s success. He has worked with many clients on various business ventures and private equity companies, including corporate mergers & acquisitions, disposition and divestitures, real property development, financing and leasing, as well as advising on various governmental incentives. Wittebort has experience representing both downtown development authorities and developers in downtown redevelopment projects involving tax increment financing and other similar types of tax incentives and credits. Wittebort also has represented the purchaser of a professional sports franchise, as well as the sale of a professional sports stadium and related facilities.  

In 2008, Wittebort was appointed by former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm as a member of the Financial Review Team formed to oversee and assist the city of Pontiac with its financial deficit problems. Since then, he’s advised on several similar issues involving Michigan’s Emergency Manager Law for governmental entities.

Outside of his practice, Wittebort is heavily involved in the firm’s Community Reinvestment Fund, an employee-funded, donor-advised trust in which the firm gives funds to tax-exempt organizations in the communities serviced by Howard & Howard.

—————

Garan Lucow Miller P.C.

Garan Lucow Miller is pleased to announce that effective January 1 Fiona Heady has been elected as a shareholder of the firm. Heady joined GLM’s Troy office in 2021.

—————

Bowman and Brooke LLP

Bowman and Brooke LLP announced a series of key leadership updates in its Detroit office effective February 1.

Jodi Schebel has been elected as the executive managing partner and will serve on the six-person executive managing team alongside fellow Detroit Partner Tom Branagin. Jenny Zavadil has been elected as managing partner, and Tom Isaacs has been elected co-managing partner.

Partner Carmen Bickerdt is the firm’s co-chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.

The firm is also pleased to recognize the following promotion and new hires: Mark Laidlaw has been appointed to partner; Michelle Noorani is a new hire partner; and Dacian Rusz is a new hire associate.

—————

Plunkett Cooney

Plunkett Cooney associate attorneys Claire D. Vergara and Aleanna B. Siacon were recently appointed to executive positions on the  Michigan Asian-Pacific American Bar Association (MAPABA) board of directors.

Vergara was elected to serve as board president. Siacon was elected as the association’s new treasurer. Both will serve a one-year term in their executive leadership roles which began on Feb. 10.

As president, Vergara will preside over all of the association’s membership and executive board meetings, and she will act as liaison of the MAPABA to other affiliate groups and organizations. In her role as treasurer, Siacon will supervise the custody of MAPABA funds.

Stemming from the civil rights trials arising out of the 1982 hate-crime murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit, the MAPABA was formed to promote the legal interests of Michigan’s Asian-American community. The association’s mission is to promote improvements in the administration of justice, to advance relations between the legal profession and public, to secure social equality for Asian-Pacific Americans, to advocate the interests of Asian-Pacific Americans in the legal profession, and to promote equality and social justice for all people.

Vergara is a member of the Detroit office of Plunkett Cooney. She focuses her litigation practice in the areas of medical liability, trucking litigation, first-party No-Fault auto insurance disputes and third-party motor vehicle negligence claims. She also has experience handling insurance-related matters involving personal injury and general negligence.

Licensed to practice law in the state and federal courts in Michigan, Vergara received her law degree from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in 2012. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 2009. Her professional organization involvement also includes the State Bar of Michigan.

Siacon is a member of Plunkett Cooney’s Torts & Litigation and Governmental Law practice groups. She maintains a diverse litigation practice that includes the defense of premises liability, municipal liability and product liability claims, as well as cases involving general negligence.

Prior to graduating from Wayne State University Law School in 2022, Siacon worked as a summer associate at Plunkett Cooney and as a civil division intern for the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Michigan. In addition, she has the distinction of having served as a judicial intern U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith, Eastern District of Michigan. Siacon received her undergraduate degree from Wayne State University in 2019.

—————

Mike Morse Law Firm

Mike Morse Law Firm is pleased to announce it has won a 2024 Golden Gavel Award for Best :30 Second Commercial. This is the -fifth time in five years the firm has received this coveted distinction, honoring the Mike Morse team for their unique, creative, and high-quality video productions.

The Golden Gavel Awards, which recognize exceptional marketing work in the legal industry, were held on Jan. 19 in Miami. The firm was also a finalist for Best Public Relations Ad, Best Client Testimonial, and Best :60 Second Commercial.

The commercial, titled “What Matters” spotlights what matters most to people who have been injured in the state of Michigan, from who they choose to represent them and who they employ, to whether they know the local courts and can win the case.

For the last 11 years, Mike Morse Law Firm has collaborated with Michigan-based Lerner Advertising to produce its commercials. In 2020, the firm won a Golden Gavel Award for a :30 second TV commercial titled “Ambulance Chaser.” In 2021, it won for a :60 second TV commercial titled “Masked Mike,” and in 2022, it won for a :30 second TV commercial titled “Sharpies.” In 2023, it won for Best Public Relations Ad featuring the firm’s annual Project Backpack program.

—————

Honigman LLP

Honigman is pleased to announce its recognition by the World Trademark Review as a 2024 WTR 1000 ranked firm. In addition to the firm receiving national recognition and regional rankings in Michigan, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., the following local attorneys have been named:

Anessa Owen Kramer – Michigan

Julie E. Reitz – Michigan

Deborah (Bea) Swedlow – Michigan

Leigh C. Taggart – Michigan

—————

Bodman PLC

Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Emily A. Cross, has been admitted as a member of the firm. She was previously a senior associate.

Cross practices in Bodman’s Troy office and is a member of the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution and Automotive and Industrial practice groups. She represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters, including securities litigation, contract disputes, constitutional litigation, and administrative law matters, and in a broad range of other commercial and business disputes. Cross also has automotive industry experience and handles transactional and litigation matters for clients in the automotive industry.

Cross is active in pro bono matters including representing clients in immigration appeals to the Ninth Circuit and representing asylum and u-visa applicants in immigration applications and proceedings. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and received her undergraduate degree from Rice University.