By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
For the past year, Rochester attorney Melinda Deel “has done a terrific job.”
That assessment will come as no surprise to those who know and admire the immediate past president of the Oakland County Bar Association. Count her successor, Dean Googasian, among them, as he sung Deel’s praises at the Annual Meeting of the OCBA in June.
“She did what a good leader should do,” Googasian said in detailing Deel’s achievements while heading the OCBA Board of Directors during the 2003-24 year. “She assessed where we are and where we need to go, charted a course to get there, and took steps to get that done.
“Among many accomplishments, Melinda identified a need for training and mentorship for new lawyers,” Googasian indicated. “She recognized that in the era of Covid and Zoom, many new lawyers don’t have the same opportunity to watch and learn from and be mentored by other lawyers that many of us did when we started the practice. She identified a need for mentorship and training and ran with it, and with the help of Kari Melkonian, Melinda’s husband Ryan Deel, Judge Linda Hallmark, Judge Martha Anderson, and others created a new lawyers’ boot camp to provide nuts and bolts instruction. The first boot camp held (in May) was successful and I believe will continue to be so going forward. That is just one example of the excellent job Melinda has done for your association over the past year.”
Deel, a graduate of James Madison College at Michigan State University, has been a member of the OCBA since beginning her legal career in 2001, and quickly established a reputation as someone committed to making a “positive impact” in the legal community, according to Googasian. Her work in that fashion was recognized in 2007 when she was honored with Distinguished Service Award by the OCBA.
In her last column as OCBA president, Deel said the “past year has been filled with so many incredible experiences, and it has been a joy in getting to lead an organization that means so much to me.”
During her year in office, Deel took special pride in spearheading OCBA efforts to lend a helping hand to the Oakland County Circuit Court.
“The OCBA was also pleased to play a meaningful role in assisting Chief Judge Jeffery Matis and the Oakland County Circuit Court in their efforts to clear out the significant backlog of civil and criminal cases caused by the pandemic through a mass mediation event,” Deel wrote in her last presidential column appearing in the June 4 edition of The Legal News.
A sole practitioner, Deel and her husband Ryan have two sons, Jack and Brennan, both of whom will be sophomores in high school this fall.
Like his wife, Ryan is an MSU grad, and since 2006 has served as the judicial staff attorney to Chief Judge Linda Hallmark of the Oakland County Probate Court. He also has a passion for community service, and currently is president of the Rochester Hills City Council after first being elected to the local governing board in 2017. He is vying for a seat on the 52-3 District Court bench in the November 5 election with candidate Laura Polizzi.
Legal News
For the past year, Rochester attorney Melinda Deel “has done a terrific job.”
That assessment will come as no surprise to those who know and admire the immediate past president of the Oakland County Bar Association. Count her successor, Dean Googasian, among them, as he sung Deel’s praises at the Annual Meeting of the OCBA in June.
“She did what a good leader should do,” Googasian said in detailing Deel’s achievements while heading the OCBA Board of Directors during the 2003-24 year. “She assessed where we are and where we need to go, charted a course to get there, and took steps to get that done.
“Among many accomplishments, Melinda identified a need for training and mentorship for new lawyers,” Googasian indicated. “She recognized that in the era of Covid and Zoom, many new lawyers don’t have the same opportunity to watch and learn from and be mentored by other lawyers that many of us did when we started the practice. She identified a need for mentorship and training and ran with it, and with the help of Kari Melkonian, Melinda’s husband Ryan Deel, Judge Linda Hallmark, Judge Martha Anderson, and others created a new lawyers’ boot camp to provide nuts and bolts instruction. The first boot camp held (in May) was successful and I believe will continue to be so going forward. That is just one example of the excellent job Melinda has done for your association over the past year.”
Deel, a graduate of James Madison College at Michigan State University, has been a member of the OCBA since beginning her legal career in 2001, and quickly established a reputation as someone committed to making a “positive impact” in the legal community, according to Googasian. Her work in that fashion was recognized in 2007 when she was honored with Distinguished Service Award by the OCBA.
In her last column as OCBA president, Deel said the “past year has been filled with so many incredible experiences, and it has been a joy in getting to lead an organization that means so much to me.”
During her year in office, Deel took special pride in spearheading OCBA efforts to lend a helping hand to the Oakland County Circuit Court.
“The OCBA was also pleased to play a meaningful role in assisting Chief Judge Jeffery Matis and the Oakland County Circuit Court in their efforts to clear out the significant backlog of civil and criminal cases caused by the pandemic through a mass mediation event,” Deel wrote in her last presidential column appearing in the June 4 edition of The Legal News.
A sole practitioner, Deel and her husband Ryan have two sons, Jack and Brennan, both of whom will be sophomores in high school this fall.
Like his wife, Ryan is an MSU grad, and since 2006 has served as the judicial staff attorney to Chief Judge Linda Hallmark of the Oakland County Probate Court. He also has a passion for community service, and currently is president of the Rochester Hills City Council after first being elected to the local governing board in 2017. He is vying for a seat on the 52-3 District Court bench in the November 5 election with candidate Laura Polizzi.
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