Legal People for Aug. 15

Magdich & Associates, PC
James W. Low has been chosen by the American Bar Association – Young Lawyers Division to represent the United States in the International Debate Championship in Montreal, Canada. The International Debate Championship is sponsored by the Young Bar Association of Montreal, and will be held on Sept. 7. The competition will feature twelve lawyers from around the world, who will be judged on their eloquence, wit and general knowledge.

Low is an attorney at Magdich & Associates, PC in Novi. His practice includes the representation of doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases, the representation of lawyers in legal malpractice cases, and the representation of insurance companies in civil litigation.

Low graduated from Michigan State University in 1998, and earned his law degree from Michigan State University College of Law in 2001.

He is involved in bar associations at a local, state, national, and international level. Locally, he is currently serving as the chair of the Oakland County Bar Association New Lawyers Committee. He also serves as a barrister with the Oakland County Bar Association Inns of Court.

At a state-wide level, Low is currently serving as the secretary-treasurer of the State Bar of Michigan — Young Lawyers Section.

Nationally, Low is serving in his second year of a two year term as Michigan’s District Representative to the American Bar Association — Young Lawyers Division.

Internationally, Low has been invited to and has attended several meetings of the European Young Bar Association as the American representative. These have included meetings in Paris, France in 2008; Barcelona, Spain in 2009; Brussels, Belgium in 2010; London, England in 2010; Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2011; and Barcelona, Spain in 2011.

Low has published numerous articles on professional liability and technology for the Defense Research Institute and has lectured on professional liability and bar leadership for the State Bar of Michigan — Young Lawyers Section.”

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Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP is pleased to announce Jennifer Zbytowski Belveal has been named   associate general counsel for the firm. Belveal’s responsibilities will include advising the firm regarding legal and ethical matters. She is a partner in Honigman’s Litigation Department and co-chair of its White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Practice Group. Belveal also serves as chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and as chair of the Retention Subcommittee of its Committee on Women Attorney Initiatives.

Belveal focuses her law practice on white collar criminal defense and investigations involving financial reporting, health care, public corruption and environmental laws, as well as complex commercial litigation relating to all aspects of real estate, business and health care.

For more than 10 years, Belveal has served on the Executive Committee of the Oakland County Bar Association Inns of Court. In addition, she is a member of the ABA’s Woman Advocate Committee, the Women Lawyers Alliance, and Inforum. She is also a member of the Canton Community Foundation and of the Giving Hope Women’s Giving Circle.

Belveal earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. She earned her B.A. from Michigan State University’s Honors College.

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Miller Canfield
Frederick A. Acomb, a principal and chair of Miller Canfield’s International Dispute Resolution Section (Detroit office), recently gave a presentation on law firm risk management at the International Bar Association Annual Litigation Forum in Krakow, Poland. In addition, he gave a presentation on U.S. Discovery in Aid of International Arbitration with Ryan H. Haywood at the program, “Nuts & Bolts of International Commercial Arbitration,” sponsored by the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and International Law Section and Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Michigan.

Acomb handles complex commercial litigation and international arbitration matters for clients from all over the world. He earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and his B.M. from Northwestern University. He is a member of the International Bar Association; the American Bar Association, International Law and Practice Section; and the State Bar of Michigan, International Section.

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Plunkett Cooney
Plunkett Cooney estate planning attorney William A. Beluzo Jr. was recently named a “Detroit Five Star Wealth Manager” for 2011 by FIVE STAR Professional, an independent client satisfaction research firm.

“It is truly an honor to receive this designation,” said Beluzo, a partner at Plunkett Cooney. “It means even more to know that colleagues and clients have a high-level of trust and confidence in my abilities to plan for their future.”

Beluzo, who works in Plunkett Cooney’s Bloomfield Hills office, has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of probate and estate planning, trusts, wills, estate and trust administration, probate and trust litigation, tax law, wealth strategy planning, asset protection planning, and family and elder law. In 2010, the Institute of Business & Finance honored him with the estate planning designation of Board Certified in Estate Planning.

Prior to joining Plunkett Cooney in 1973, Beluzo worked as an estate and gift tax attorney for the Internal Revenue Service.

Beluzo earned his law degrees and undergraduate degree from Wayne State University. He is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association’s Probate and Trust Committee, as well as the Probate and Trust Law sections for the State Bar of Michigan and the American Bar Association. A licensed real estate broker in Michigan, Beluzo is also a member of the Metropolitan Financial and Estate Planning Council of Detroit, the North Oakland County Board of Realtors and Wealth Counsel L.L.C.

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Weltman, Weinberg, & Reis Co., L.P.A.
Weltman, Weinberg, & Reis Co., L.P.A., a creditors’ rights law firm based on revenue and placements according to Collections & Credit Risk magazine, is pleased to welcome new associate Cheryl D. Cook. Cook will be working in the Bankruptcy Group of the Detroit office.

She earned her BA in English with a minor in Spanish from Liberty University in 1988 and her law degree from Michigan State University, Detroit College of Law in 1995.

With more than seven years of experience in the practice of commercial litigation and creditors’ rights, Cook assisted financial institutions in restructuring loans and collecting debt. She represented clients’ interests in state and federal litigation through pre-suit, discovery, trial, post-judgment matters, bankruptcy, bankruptcy litigation, workout, reorganization, and adversary proceedings, as well as pre-litigation workout and receivership proceedings.

Cook is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, Michigan Creditors’ Bar Association, and Macomb County Bar Association. She is licensed in the state courts of Michigan and admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court (Eastern & Western Districts of Michigan) and the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Frank Haron Weiner PLC
The law firm of Frank Haron Weiner PLC is pleased to announce that Scott W. Malott has joined the firm as an associate attorney. Malott is a 2011 graduate of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and earned his B.B.A. (finance) and B.A. (German) from Western Michigan University in 2004.

Prior to and during law school, Malott gained business experience in purchasing, sales and materials planning with a Michigan manufacturing company. He also spent four years living in Zurich, Switzerland.

Malott has worked at Frank, Haron, Weiner as an extern/law clerk since 2010, and will focus his practice on business and health care law, and False Claims Act/qui tam litigation.

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Butzel Long
Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Robert H. Schwartz published an article in the August edition of the Health eSource, a newsletter of the American Bar Association Health Law Section. The article addresses the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and marketing activities of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO).

“The proposed regulations released on April 7, 2011 point to the requirement that the ACO demonstrate it meets ‘patient-centered criteria,’” said Schwartz. “The proposed regulations recite that not only must the ACO provide care coordination, but to be “truly patient centered” the ACO must not engage in activities that would prevent a beneficiary from using the full range of benefits of the Medicare Fee for Service program.”

Schwartz’s practice includes corporate and health care activities. He has experience in business planning, mergers and acquisitions and in assisting health care and hospital clients in the health care regulatory areas including reimbursement, fraud and abuse, and hospital physician relations, among others. Schwartz also is admitted to practice in New York.

Schwartz is a member of the Health Law Sections of the American Bar Association and State Bar of Michigan, the American Health Lawyers Association, the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, as well as the State Bar of Michigan. He is an ambassador to Oakland County Michigan’s Medical Main Street.

The Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) appointed Schwartz to the Committee on Hospital-Physician Alignment and the Health Information Strategy Committee.

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Wayne State University Law School
Wayne State University Law School is pleased to announce that Denise D’Allura has joined the WSU Division of Development and Alumni Affairs as development director of the Law School. Her responsibilities include leading the Law School development team and managing the school’s fundraising program.

D’Allura brings more than two decades of fundraising experience, with expertise in strategic management, donor/volunteer relationships and closing commitments at all levels, from annual gifts to major gifts.

She most recently worked at the University of Michigan, where she was senior director of development for the Alumni Association and gift officer for the Office of Financial Aid. At U-M, she established the first development program for the Alumni Association, raised millions of dollars in scholarship support, completed fundraising for $4 million in capital projects and established the infrastructure for a professional development program.

Prior to working at U-M, D’Allura held development positions at the University of Dayton, two private K-12 schools, and a science and natural history museum.

D’Allura earned a bachelor’s in business administration from Andrews University in Berrien Springs and participated in the master of business administration program at the University of Dayton.

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Bodman PLC
Bodman attorneys F. Thomas Lewand and Colin T. Darke have been selected as mentors to organizations participating in the Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3) project.

Lewand is a member of the firm’s Business, Health Care, and Municipal Law and Finance Practice Groups in the Detroit office. He represents corporations in a variety of general business transactions and as bond counsel to a number of municipalities.

Lewand is a member of the boards of directors of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Wayne County Economic Development Corporation, and the Detroit Jazz Festival.

Darke is a member of Bodman’s Debtor-Creditor Rights and Bankruptcy and Banking Practice Groups. He represents creditors, trustees, and other parties in a variety of commercial bankruptcy matters and debtor-creditor disputes. His work also includes advising financial institutions in regulatory compliance matters.

An artist himself, Darke serves on the board of New Wave, a group of young professionals that support the mission of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

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