Former state Solicitor General taking more cases with political ramifications
By Douglas Levy
BridgeTower Media Newswires
DETROIT, MI - A former state Solicitor General has opened a solo practice, as one large firm experienced a merger while another undertook an office move and expansion.
Lawyer's 'liberating' move
He's made a name for himself in state and federal appellate law, but now John J. Bursch can claim his own name when it comes to private practice.
Bursch, who served as Michigan's 10th Solicitor General, recently left Warner Norcross & Judd LLP in Grand Rapids - where he'd spent the majority of his legal career - to work as a solo.
He said that cases he wanted to pursue would have posed a conflict of interest if done through Warner Norcross.
In addition, Bursch said more of the cases he's been taking as of late have political ramifications - particularly Conscience Clause litigation, which he said isn't a fit for a large business law firm.
"So I was excited about the opportunity to set up my own shop and do even more of that kind of work," he said. "I've really enjoyed the freedom and flexibility to pursue any matters and any clients I want. That's very liberating."
For now he's working in a home office in Caledonia, which he said took a little getting used to, after being in the Attorney General's office - where he argued 12 times in the Michigan Supreme Court and eight times in the U.S. Supreme Court - and a large-firm environment like Warner Norcross.
"The biggest shock to the system initially was not having all that support structure built around me," Bursch said. "You just have folks there who are able to help with respect to anything that you need.
"But I'm still working a lot with not just the state AG's office but other states' AG's offices, and with some folks at Warner, so when we have matters in common, I can still get some help from that support structure."
He said he has a "plethora of cases" coming up including arguments this fall in the Michigan Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as 6th and 8th circuits.
And he's very much looking forward to taking them on with a somewhat different perspective.
"In the U.S. Supreme Court, it's a small world," said Bursch, who in 2015 argued on behalf of Attorney General Bill Schuette in the historic Obergefell v. Hodges same-sex marriage decision. "It's a specialized bar and rarefied air, and almost anyone who participates in that world is from Washington, D.C.
"What I learned at the AG's office and Warner Norcross is that a lawyer from Caledonia can play in that rarefied air and be successful at it. So I walk into this venture, confident that I can go toe-to-toe with anyone inside or outside the Beltway on any case no matter how big or how small."
'Night-and-day reversal'
When Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC's Farmington Hills branch office became too cramped for comfort or expansion, the Lansing-based firm scoped out 90 sites across the Metro Detroit area as a possible new home.
"We were expanding and wanted additional space, along with great space to attract additional candidates," said Brian J. Renaud, the branch's vice president.
In the end, all the firm had to do was look down the road.
Foster Swift in mid-July took up residence at One Northwestern Plaza in Southfield, approximately three miles southeast of its Farmington Hills office on Northwestern Highway.
The 13-story Class A office building offers the firm 5,000 more square feet of space for its 25 attorneys - including four new lawyers - as well as support staff, with an option for an additional 4,500 square feet.
The building is located at the area's "Mixing Bowl" - the corridor where Interstate 696, Northwestern (M-10) and Telegraph Road (U.S. 24) intersect - allowing for easier access to and from major thoroughfares.
Renaud said that the structure's round space is a contrast to the Farmington Hills' office's long, narrow, rectangular setup.
"That didn't allow for much interaction," he said. "In our prior space, we had essentially 1½ conference rooms and you had to walk through attorney areas to get from here to there. It wasn't optimal space.
"Now we have six conference rooms, ranging from large to small. We've greatly increased our ability to have multiple client meetings at one time or multiparty litigation meetings or mediation hearings."
All of the accents are new, from the wallpaper and flooring to the artwork, Renaud said.
"And every lawyer has a window view," he added. "It's night-and-day reversal."
He added that the firm is eager for more lawyers to be enjoying those views.
"Our practice is broad. We have litigation, business, employment, regulatory and municipal [practices] and we're looking in all those areas."
Foster Swift ranked 13th on Michigan Lawyers Weekly's 2016 "Largest Law Firms" list.
Boost for public finance
In August, Clark Hill PLC in Detroit amped up its banking and finance practice group with the acquisition of Grosse Pointe-based Axe & Ecklund PC, a two-lawyer outfit that specializes in municipal bonds and notes.
John R. Axe and Peter S. Ecklund Jr. have joined as senior counsel and member, respectively, with their two paralegals and one secretary also coming aboard.
"Public finance has been one of our practice groups for quite a long time," said Marita S. Grobbel, director of Clark Hill's banking and finance practice group.
"What Peter and John bring to Southeastern Michigan is the most incredible background. It's very large and quite extensive. The relationships they can bring to the firm will just allow us to grow this in a much bigger way in the state of Michigan."
The two firms have a professional history, as Clark Hill represented Axe & Ecklund in the past for employment-related matters.
Axe, who had interviewed with Clark Hill's namesakes in the 1960s, said he got into public finance work when a client asked him to work on some projects that involved public finance.
"Before I got done with it, I had an awful lot of clients" needing that work, he said. "Originally it was a buyer of the bonds who I started working for, and before long I was working for the issuers."
That sector of law is becoming more recognized, Grobbel said.
"When you think about infrastructure growth across the country, it's an attractive concept to think about how the transaction can mirror the government's need to not just build new infrastructure, but replace old infrastructure," she said. "It's something we're hearing about lately."
But as Axe tells it, he's been hearing about it for years. In fact, he authored the statute that allows municipalities to borrow money for fully funding their pension and retirees' health care costs, and handled the first legal matters related to them in Michigan.
"There's a lot of unfunded pension funds - or not fully funded, let's put it that way - and the same with health care. So that's a growth area," he said.
Grobbel said she sees growth areas, too, with crossover practice opportunities at Clark Hill (which ranked seventh on the "Largest Law Firms" list) such as with municipal, education and governmental affairs.
"There are lots of natural relationships that are common, where we can provide more solutions to our clients as a result of this merger," she said.
Published: Mon, Sep 12, 2016
