Legal People

Dickinson Wright PLLC

Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Daniel F. Burkhart has been selected as a “2019 Up & Coming Lawyer” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Burkhart is an associate in the firm’s Detroit office. His practice focuses on debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and workouts and restructurings. He has experience reviewing, drafting, and negotiating a wide array of commercial contracts, including loan origination and workout agreements, purchase and sale agreements, and corporate governance documents. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, is a member of the Board of Directors of Unified HIV Health and Beyond, and involved with the Ss. Peter and Paul Warming Center and H.E.L.P. Legal Aid Clinic. Burkhart is also a member of the Leadership Detroit Class XLI.

He received his B.S. from John Carroll University and his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

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Butzel Long

Butzel Long attorney Hannah E. Treppa is one of 30 attorneys in the state named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2019 Class of “Up & Coming Lawyers.” The attorneys will be honored during a luncheon on December 5 at the Detroit Marriott in Troy.

Based in Butzel Long’s Detroit office, Treppa focuses her practice primarily on employment and labor law. Her experience includes defending clients in administrative charges before governmental agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as in state and federal discrimination and retaliation lawsuits. In addition, Treppa has represented clients in general matters pertaining to commercial and tort litigation and arbitration, including breach of contract actions and product liability litigation. She is admitted to practice in the State of Michigan, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, and United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Treppa is a member of the Board of the Detroit Bar Association’s Barristers (Young Lawyers) Section, which focuses its efforts on service to the Detroit metropolitan community by volunteering in community service programs, partnering with local law schools, and working with schools in the community to present its annual educational Law Day program in contribution with the Wayne County Circuit Court.  

She is a member of the Young Leadership Council of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association (OESA). She also serves as a member of the board of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel, where she is co-chair of the Trial Practice section, and a leader on the Legal Excellence Awards Committee. She also is a co-chair on the eBlast Committee of the Eastern District of Michigan Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

Treppa was recently appointed a co-chairman of Butzel Long’s Women’s Leadership Committee, which seeks to improve career development for women attorneys through training and mentorship.

Treppa facilitates two monthly affinity groups of human resource professionals for MichBusiness. Since starting her career with Butzel Long, she has been a regular presenter at the firm’s annual Labor, Employment, Benefits, and Immigration Law Forum. She was a featured presenter during Butzel Long’s June 2019 webinar, “Public Accommodations and Employment Law 101 for the Service Industry.” She also has written guest articles including an article co-authored with colleague, Carey A. DeWitt, titled, “Presentation of the Decision-Making Witness,” Michigan Lawyers Weekly, February 2018. 

She is an alumna of Hillsdale College (2012), and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (2016). While in law school, Treppa also served as a judicial intern for U.S. District Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen, Eastern District of Michigan, as well as Wayne County 35th District Court Chief Judge James A. Plakas.

In addition, Mark Lezotte, a leading southeast Michigan health care attorney with Butzel Long, will moderate a panel program during Crain’s Health Care Leadership Summit on Monday, October 28, at The Henry in Dearborn. The focus of the panel discussion is: “Health Care Literacy.”

Lezotte has experience in corporate, health care, tax, and exempt organization matters, including healthcare ventures, business transactions, regulatory investigations, corporate and nonprofit governance, and tax-exempt issues. He also has served in leadership roles on many other civic and nonprofit boards.

He has been active in numerous bar and professional organizations. He has been recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America” (health care law), published by Woodward/White Inc. since 2013; and has been selected to Michigan Super Lawyers, published by Thomson Reuters, since 2008.

Butzel Long is also pleased to announce that attorney Daniel J. McCarthy has joined as a shareholder in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. He concentrates his practice in appellate and commercial litigation for both state and federal courts. 

McCarthy has experience in appellate litigation, as well as arbitration matters. A prolific writer, McCarthy has authored thousands of legal briefs during his career and he has garnered many victories in the appellate and circuit courts, as well as multiple arbitration awards in favor of his clients.

He served as a law clerk intern for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich, Sixth Circuit. He later served as a law clerk for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn J. Kelly, 1999 to 2000, and then in 2000 he served as a pre-hearing attorney for the Michigan Court of Appeals.

In addition to his career as an experienced and trusted litigator, McCarthy also served as an adjunct professor at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.

In 2010, McCarthy was appointed to serve on the Michigan Supreme Court Committee on Model Civil Jury Instructions, a position he held through 2018.

McCarthy graduated from WMU-Cooley and Western Connecticut State University.

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Plunkett Cooney

A former deputy commissioner for the city of Detroit Fire Department, senior attorney Sydney R. Puricelli, is now putting out fires on behalf of the labor and employment clients of Plunkett Cooney.

A member of the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office, Puricelli has more than 15 years of experience in the areas of labor and employment law with particular expertise in labor dispute resolution, contract negotiations, grievance resolution and related arbitration proceedings. She also has experience resolving litigation involving claims of workplace violence, sexual harassment, wrongful termination and whistleblower claims.

Admitted to practice law in Michigan’s state and federal courts, Puricelli is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan.

Puricelli received her law degrees from Wayne State University Law School in 2009 and 2002, respectively. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1999.

Prior to joining the firm, Puricelli worked as assistant corporation counsel in the Labor & Employment Section of the city of Detroit Law Department and as a 2nd Deputy Commissioner of the Detroit Fire Department, where she developed particular expertise working with the city’s fire and EMS unions. Puricelli is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician in the state of Michigan.

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International Academy  of Family Lawyers

Michael A. Robbins, a Bloomfield Hills attorney who practices exclusively in Family Law, was recently admitted into the International Academy of Family Lawyers. The IAFL is a worldwide association of Matrimonial Lawyers who are recognized by their peers as the most experienced and skilled family law specialist in their respective countries.

Robbins is also past president of the Michigan Chapter of The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers; past chairperson of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan; has been named annually as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” in the area of Family Law; and has been named by Super Lawyers as one of the top 100 attorney’s in Michigan.

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Potestivo & Associates PC

Potestivo & Associates PC, a legal services provider to the default servicing industry, is proud to announce it has been selected for the seventh year in a row as one of “The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For™” in the Metro Detroit area for the 2019 state-wide competition. The firm will be honored at a upcoming ceremony, where a representative from the firm will accept the award.

“We are very proud to, once again, be named among the Best & Brightest Companies. It is truly an honor to be the recipients of this award for the seventh year in a row. This award recognizes the high standard that we set for ourselves, to create and maintain a positive work environment,” President and Managing Attorney Brian Potestivo.

The “Best and Brightest Companies to Work For™” competition identifies and honors organizations located throughout specific regions.  The organizations must display a commitment to excellence in their human resource practices and employee enrichment.

Potestivo & Associates’ headquarters are located in Rochester, Michigan, and maintains full service operations in Chicago.