The Ingham County Bar Association will host its 2020 Awards ceremony via Zoom on January 14, with a reception at 6:30 p.m. and awards at 7 p.m. WLNS news anchor Sheri Jones will emcee the free event.
Hon. Laura Baird, (Ret.), 30th Circuit Court, will be honored with the Thomas E. Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award.
Baird served as an Ingham County Circuit Court Judge from 2001 until her retirement this year. Previously, she was a shareholder with Baird and Zulakis, P.C., an Ingham County Commissioner, and a State Representative in the Michigan State Legislature.
Baird began her career practicing family law and plaintiff’s medical malpractice. She served on the Ingham County Board of Commissioners and as vice chair of the Tri-County Community Mental Health Board.
Two years later she was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, where she worked on the revision of Michigan’s Mental Health Code; the Lieutenant Governor’s Child Protection Legislation; the Family Court Act and EPIC (Estate Protected Individuals Code). She also served on the Michigan Sentencing Guidelines Commission, the Michigan Law Revision Commission, and as a Commissioner with Uniform State Laws.
On the Ingham County Circuit Court bench, Baird served in the Family Division and on the Court of Claims. She was active in the Michigan Judges Association and was President in 2016.
In 2017, Baird established the “Phoenix Court” to address the needs of children subject to human trafficking.
An alumna, with distinction, of WMU-Cooley Law School, Baird has received many awards over her career, including the Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award from the Michigan Supreme Court and DHHS.
She was named Judge of the Year by the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan of Mid-Michigan and served on the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
Baird has served on boards for Ele’s Place for Grieving Children, Partners in Crisis, Legal Services of South Central Michigan, Oasis Family Center, Tri-County Community Advocates, and United Cerebral Palsy.
She is a member of the advisory council for the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts where she helped establish opportunities for underserved students.
Baird grew up in northern Michigan, where her father and grandfather were probate judges. She is married to attorney George Zulakis, and they have two adult children.
The Leo A. Farhat Outstanding Attorney Award will be presented to Mary Chartier, a criminal defense litigator and partner at Chartier & Nyamfukudza, P.L.C.
The law firm recently succeeded in exonerating an innocent man who served 26 years in prison for a murder he did not commit; the team’s second exoneration in the last 4 years.
Chartier has extensive experience litigating criminal defense cases and has successfully defended clients in federal and state trials around Michigan. She has served as lead counsel in many cases and has represented clients accused of white-collar crimes, such as health care fraud, mortgage fraud, and money laundering, as well as clients accused of terrorism, drug dealing, crimes against the United Statesbank robbery, criminal sexual conduct, and homicide.
She is a member of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan (CDAM) and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Michigan State Bar Foundation, and the Ingham County Bar Foundation; past president of the Ingham County Bar Association (ICBA) and co-chairperson of ICBA’s Criminal Defense Section.
Co-host of the podcast Constitutional Defenders, Chartier has presented at many conferences, including conferences organized by CDAM, the Michigan Judges Association, the Michigan District Judges Association, and the National College for DUI Defense; and has taught at the Hillman Advocacy Program.
She was named one of the 2018 Leaders in the Law by "Michigan Lawyers Weekly," received the Distinguished Barrister's Award by the Davis-Dunnings Bar Association, and received the Michael Franck Award from the State Bar of Michigan.
Michelle Lane from Chalgian & Tripp Law Offices PLLC, who focuses her practice in the areas of estate planning and estate and trust administration, will be the recipient of the Camille S. Abood Distinguished Volunteer Award.
An alumna of the University of Toledo College of Law, Lane is a member of the Probate and Estate Planning Section of the Michigan State Bar, the Elder Law and Disability Rights Section of the State Bar and the Greater Lansing Estate Planning
Council. She is the editor of the Michigan Basic Practice Handbook, Chapter 4 for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE), a speaker for ICLE and serves on the ICLE Probate & Estate Advisory Board.
Lane is a lay counselor at her church and serves on the Diaconate (a board which provides for the physical needs of church members). She is a volunteer with Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides aid to people in physical need.
The Theodore W. Swift Civility Award will be presented posthumously to Gary Alan Wallace, who began his legal career at Fraser Trebilcock after graduating from Cooley Law, alongside his wife Stacy.
In 2010, Wallace joined Miller Canfield’s Lansing office where his law practice included municipal law, real estate and economic development, and political law. In 2013, he became a partner.
The Tennessee native passed away in September following a courageous battle with cancer.
City of East Lansing Diversity Equity & Inclusion Administrator Elaine Hardy will be honored with the Liberty Bell Award.
Hardy began her career at the Downtown Lansing YMCA, remaining as Director of Youth and Family Programs until 2001 when she went to the City of East Lansing and served for 19 years as manager of the East Lansing Hannah Community Center.
She still serves as the Director of the YMCA of Lansing “Y” Achievers Program, and over the past two decades has helped to expose over 3,500 teens to college programs, professional careers and historically Black colleges and Universities.
She currently serves as Chairperson of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commission of Mid-Michigan, a Lodging Committee Advisory Board Member to the Greater Lansing area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Trustee of the Sigma Phi Beta Education Fund and YMCA of Lansing.
The Pro Bono Award will be presented to Jeffrey T. Landon, Farhat & Story PC.
Prior to law school, Landon worked for Ford Motor Company in Ypsilanti, for 14.5 years and obtained his BBA and MBA from Eastern Michigan University. He graduated magna cum laude from Michigan State University College of Law in 2010 and was admitted to bars in Michigan (2010) and North Dakota (2011).
He worked at Lange & Donovan, PLLC, in Hazen, ND from November 2010 to February 2012, when he joined Farhat & Story, P.C. His practice areas include Family, Criminal, Bankruptcy, General Civil, Real Estate, Landlord Tenant Law, Business Law and Collections. He has been a member of the State Bar of Michigan Character & Fitness Committee since 2016.
Charles Barbieri, Foster Swift Collins and Smith PC, will be honored as ICBA Past President; and Theodora Eisenhut from the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office will be honored as Young Lawyers Past President.
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