Butzel Long
Butzel Long is growing with the addition of associate attorneys Ashley Aldea, Steven R. Eatherly, Paul Howarah, and Sarah Nirenberg. Aldea, Howarah and Nirenberg are based in Butzel Long's Bloomfield Hills office. Eatherly is based in the firm's Detroit office.
Aldea focuses her practice on real estate and corporate transactions with a focus on real property acquisition and disposition, real estate financing, commercial leasing, general corporate representation, entity formation, and entity structure.
Prior to joining Butzel Long, Aldea worked for Ford Motor Credit Company where she was responsible for advising Ford Credit executives, management and business teams on various dealer matters, marketing matters, vehicle liquidations, and bankruptcy matters, day-to-day corporate and commercial matters and secured transactions for Ford Credit Canada Company. In addition, she assisted in negotiating and drafting commercial and consumer contracts and supported the implementation of changes in laws and regulations relating to privacy, consumer protection, cost of credit and general corporate law in Canada.
Aldea is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and Wayne State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and a Master's of Science in Biomedical Engineering. After law school, Aldea received a Certificate of Qualification with the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and became a licensed Barrister and Solicitor with the Law Society of Ontario.
Aldea is admitted to practice in Michigan and in Ontario, Canada. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, American Bar Association, Canadian Bar Association, and the Law Society of Ontario.
Eatherly focuses his practice in the firm's Business & Commercial Litigation Group, serving businesses, municipalities, and individuals.
He earned a B.A. in history, from the University of Detroit Mercy. He then went on to obtain a law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2016.
Prior to joining Butzel Long, Eatherly was a law clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Brian K. Zahra. During law school, he worked as a judicial intern to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gerald E. Rosen, Eastern District of Michigan, the Michigan Court of Appeals Prehearing Research Division, and Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer M. Faunce.
Howarah focuses his practice in the areas of corporate law, taxation law, and commercial real estate. He advises clients on corporate and tax issues related to the sale or acquisition of businesses and on matters involving general corporate and business law.
Prior to joining Butzel Long, Howarah was a senior associate at an international (Big 4) accounting firm. There, he represented companies on tax controversy matters, structured transactions in a tax-efficient manner, and advised corporations and private equity firms on merger and acquisition tax issues. His prior experience includes working at one of the "Big Three" automotive companies, where he focused on international tax matters.
Howarah is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School. He completed his undergraduate education at Oakland University, where he earned a bachelor of science in business administration with a major in finance.
He is an active member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Oakland County Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the Association for Corporate Growth.
Nirenberg specializes in representing employers for litigation in all areas of employment law, including statutory claims under federal and state law for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and payment of wages. She has experience representing large and small business across different industries, as well as public institutions. She advises employers on various matters where the law is constantly evolving, such as employment applications, arbitration agreements, and workplace drug policies. She also helps guide employers through complex wage and hour law as well as investigations conducted by the Department of Labor.
She served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office.
Nirenberg graduated from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. She earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University.
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Brooks Kushman P.C.
Brooks Kushman was named a 2019 Inclusion Blueprint Champion for leading the legal industry with our diversity and inclusion practices.
The Inclusion Blueprint is a new standard for measuring law firm inclusion practices and diversity representation. In a collaborative project between Diversity Lab and ChIPs, this tool is designed to provide a first-of-its-kind method to measure the representation of diverse lawyers and career-enhancing inclusion activities that law firms implement to ensure that historically underrepresented lawyers have fair and equal access to opportunities.
The Blueprint includes two main categories for law firms to track, measure, and benchmark their diversity and inclusion efforts in both their leadership and at the practice group level: (1) current diversity representation target thresholds and year-over-year progress; and (2) ongoing inclusion practices and activities. This differs from traditional diversity surveys in that it provides specific targets that firms should strive to achieve at these two levels to ensure inclusion. The survey included four main sections for both overall firm leadership and within each practice group: (1) meeting representation thresholds for diversity; (2) year-over-year progress in representation; (3) inclusion practices; and (4) tracking metrics.
ChIPs and Diversity Lab sent the Inclusion Blueprint survey to over 200 law firms, including all Am Law 200 firms. Brooks Kushman was one of 70 law firms that participated in tracking their inclusion practices and diversity representation using the Blueprint, out of which 13 firms scored the highest percentage of points for both diversity representation and inclusion activities in the designated areas: (1) Law Firm Leadership; (2) Antitrust, IP, Privacy and Cyber Practice Group; (3) Business, Finance, and Real Estate Practice Group; (4) Litigation Practice Group; and (5) Regulatory Practice Group. Of all the firms that participated, Brooks Kushman scored in the top 3 firms named for Overall Firm Leadership, and in the top 5 for Antitrust, IP, Privacy, and Cyber.
Brooks Kushman is a long-time supporter of ChIPs and regularly partners with the organization to help move the needle on diversity and inclusion within the legal community. Brooks Kushman was also one of three firms this year that was awarded the ChIPs Honor Roll award, a related diversity award given to firms with the highest scores in female representation and inclusion activities at both the leadership and IP practice group levels.
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Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
James Reid has brought his team of three lawyers to Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Detroit. Along with partner R.J. Cronkhite and associate Zoey Mayhew, Reid migrates from Maddin, Hauser, Roth, & Heller PC where he practiced for more than 15 years.
Reid counsels entrepreneurs, C-suite executives, in-house counsel, and human resources directors to make strategic business decisions.
"Early in my career, I was a pit bull litigator. But when the economy tanked, it was an eye-opener to sink or swim," Reid said. "I decided to swim by learning to help companies resolve the issues they were suffering because of the recession."
And it was a sound decision, as Reid grew his book of business beyond the capacity of his firm. In the process, he was named to the Oakland County Executive Elite 40 Under 40 list in 2019, awarded as a DBusiness magazine Top Lawyer in 2017 and 2018, and a Michigan Super Lawyers Rising Star each of the last five years. He and his team are joining Dinsmore in an effort to fully serve their clients with the resources of the firm's 650-plus nationwide attorneys.
"As I grew my platform, my clients wanted help in other areas like immigration and intellectual property," Reid said. "Dinsmore provides a much bigger chess board to serve them. Now I can offer them the efficiencies and resources from Dinsmore's nationwide attorneys across so many specialized practice areas. I can fully serve my clients because Dinsmore attorneys have the skill set to compete with anyone."
Cronkhite serves clients as lead trial counsel across multiple industries, including automotive, health care, and real estate development. He is chair of the State Bar of Michigan's 2,300-member litigation section and has been a Rising Star every year since 2017. He began practicing as an associate in 2011. Mayhew, meanwhile, focuses on employment law. She earned the 2016 Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society award for best legal paper. They have worked with Reid for three years.
The competitive spirit that earned Reid the distinction as one of Michigan's top young lawyers has also paid dividends away from the office. In both 2017 and 2018, Reid was the state's No. 1-ranked Masters cyclist in the 35-and-older category. He and Cronkhite also won the 39th annual Race Judicata last year, a 5K for legal professionals, and he plays tennis and chess competitively.
"I'm just a guy who likes a challenge," Reid said. "I'm equally competitive outside and inside work. I feel fortunate Dinsmore is as ambitious as I am. When I met [Chairman and Managing Partner] George Vincent, I could tell the firm is in good hands and set up for generations to come. I know I can grow as Dinsmore grows."
Reid is Dinsmore's second labor and employment partner in Detroit, joining Andrey Tomkiw and Of Counsel J. Travis Mihelick.
Published: Mon, Feb 03, 2020
