LEGAL PEOPLE

Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Ryan M. Olson has joined the firm as an associate attorney practicing in the firm's Troy office.

Olson is a member of Bodman's Business Practice Group. He assists businesses in a broad range of industries in completing complex corporate transactions. He also advises them on matters involving corporate finance, corporate structure, and a variety of commercial agreements.

His corporate transactional experience includes drafting and negotiating stock and asset purchase agreements for CPA firms, medical organizations, food processing and delivery companies, recycling facilities, auto dealerships, technology companies and franchised organizations. He has facilitated corporate restructurings, recapitalizations, incorporations, and dissolutions, and performed corporate due diligence and extensive contract reviews on behalf of clients. Olson is experienced in negotiating terms and conditions, purchase orders and NDA's for automotive, technology, and raw materials companies.

Olson also advises clients on real estate matters. He has drafted and negotiated commercial lease agreements, reviewed titles and surveys, drafted purchase agreements, advised clients on land use restrictions, and drafted and negotiated AIA construction contracts.

Before joining Bodman, he served as a legal intern to the Michigan Supreme Court where he conducted case reviews, performed legal research, and made recommendations for grants to appeal.

Olson graduated from Michigan State University College of Law and worked as a research assistant to MSU-Law Dean Joan Howarth advising on both legal and financial matters affecting the college. In addition to his law degree, Olson earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Michigan State University Broad Graduate School of Management.

He is listed in Michigan Rising Stars 2017-2018 for Business/Corporate. Olson is admitted to the State Bar of Michigan (Real Property Law, Young Lawyers, and Business Law sections).

In addition, Chambers USA: High Net Worth (HNW) has ranked Bodman PLC as one of Michigan's top law firms for services to high net worth individuals and families and their closely held businesses. In the newly released 2018 edition of Chambers USA: HNW, Bodman is one of only three law firms in the state to be recognized.

The publisher of Chambers USA: HNW also recognized Bodman HNW lawyers David P. Larsen, Marguerite Lentz, Andrew H. Curoe, and Anthony P. Cracchiolo as four of Michigan's most highly rated lawyers for high net worth individuals.

Larsen is vice chair of Bodman's Executive Committee and a senior member of the firm's High Net Worth Practice Group. Lentz is chair-elect of the State Bar of Michigan's Probate and Estate Planning Section. Curoe is the chair of Bodman's High Net Worth Practice Group. Cracchiolo assists wealthy individuals and families with a variety of estate planning matters, including tax planning and the creation of family offices and private trust companies.

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Jessica Woll, managing partner of Woll & Woll PC, a divorce and family law firm specializing in child-centric divorce matters and complex family law issues, has been named chair-elect of the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center (BBAC). A member of the board since June 2016, Woll has been an ardent supporter of the nonprofit visual arts organization and advocate of its community arts education and outreach programs for several years. The chair-elect position is a one-year term, at which time Woll will become board chair.

Woll hosted the BBAC's Fine Art of Summer fundraiser at her Bloomfield Hills home in 2015, and also has multi-generational ties to the organization-Woll, in addition to her daughter and her mother, Pauline Woll, have all taken art classes at the BBAC. Woll is also an avid world traveler and art collector; her collection includes Asian art and artifacts from her journeys, as well as works of art and sculpture from Northern Michigan artists. In April, the Woll & Woll law office was recognized for its commercial office design-a project conceived and executed by Woll herself-in the 2018 Detroit Home Design Awards.

Woll earned a law degree from Wayne State University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Economic Development from the University of Michigan. She maintains a Lexis Nexis Top Lawyer rating and Martindale Hubbell's AV Preeminent Peer Review rating. Woll is a member of the National Council of Jewish Women, Metro Detroit section, and the National Association of Professional Women. Among her many legal awards, Woll was most recently named a 2017 Michigan Super Lawyer in the practice area of family law and a 2018 Top Lawyer by DBusiness magazine.

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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that two of the firm's attorneys in Michigan are listed as "Leaders in their Fields" by Chambers 2018 High Net Worth (HNW) Guide.

Local Dickinson Wright attorneys who were listed under Private Wealth Law included:

Henry M. Grix, Troy.

James P. Spica, Detroit.

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Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC recently appointed Alexander Shiffman as an associate in the firm's Tax, Real Estate and Corporate Practice Groups. Shiffman will concentrate his practice on advising clients in complex tax driven transactions, with a focus on the areas of real estate and private equity investment.

From 2016 to 2018, Shiffman served as an associate at Paul Hastings LLP in New York, where he focused on leveraged finance, capital markets, and M&A matters. Previously, he served as a summer associate at Jaffe where he focused on a variety of transactional matters, in addition to participating in the firm's special interest committee on the legal implications of equity-based crowdfunding. He also served as a summer analyst and intern at Liberty SBF in Wynnewood, Pa. where he gained experience in commercial real estate finance and lending.

Shiffman earned his law degrees from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York and New York University School of Law. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Michigan.

In addition, Jaffe Raitt recently appointed Leslie Rosenberg as an associate in the firm's Corporate Practice Group. Rosenberg will concentrate his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and general corporate matters.

Prior to joining Jaffe, Rosenberg served as an associate at Kostopoulos Rodriguez PLLC in Birmingham where he represented private companies and investors in connection with private offerings, stock and asset acquisitions and depositions, equity offerings and mergers. He joined the firm in 2017.

Previously, he served as an intern for U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman, Eastern District of Michigan. Rosenberg gained additional experience as a law clerk at Ayar Law Group in Southfield and as an intern for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office in Detroit.

Rosenberg earned his law degree from Wayne State University Law School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Michigan.

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Western Michigan University Cooley Law School recently announced that President and Dean Don LeDuc will be retiring from that office, which he has held for 16 years. Additionally, the law school has chosen former Michigan 29th Circuit Court judge and retired WMU-Cooley Associate Dean Jeffrey Martlew as interim president beginning in September 2018.

LeDuc has been a WMU-Cooley professor since 1975 and served as dean from 1982-1987 and from 1996-present. He became the school's president in 2002.

Martlew, a 1976 graduate of WMU-Cooley, is a former member of the WMU-Cooley board of directors. He retired as the founding associate dean of the law school's Tampa Bay campus in 2016. Martlew first joined WMU-Cooley as an adjunct professor from 2005-2007, then was visiting professor until his appointment to the full-time faculty.

Beginning in 1993, he spent 14 years as judge of Michigan's 29th Circuit Court serving Clinton and Gratiot counties. Martlew was named chief judge in 1994 and served in that capacity until 2007. Previously, he served as a 65th District Court judge for eight years in Clinton County.

Martlew began his legal career in private practice, first as an associate in the Law Office of David C. Newland PC in Mt. Morris, Michigan, then at his own practice, Matson & Martlew, in DeWitt, Michigan. While on the bench, Martlew served as a faculty member of the Michigan Judicial Institute and was a member of the Michigan Judges Association Executive Board.

Initial planning is underway for selecting the law school's permanent president and dean. The selection process will include an advisory committee constituted from the law school's board, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and representatives of Western Michigan University.

In addition, WMU-Cooley announced that Professor and Auxiliary Dean Martha Moore has been named to the "Women in the Law" Class of 2018 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. She is one of 30 attorneys chosen for the honor. The honorees will be recognized during a Sept. 20 luncheon at the Detroit Marriott Troy and their profiles will be featured in a special section of Michigan Lawyers Weekly on Sept. 24.

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Patrick L. O'Brien received the Barrister of the Year Award from the Detroit Bar Association at the annual Summer Breeze Gala held at the Detroit Shipping Company on July 18. The award recognizes a Barristers board member who has exhibited special commitment to service through his or her work as part of the Barristers.

O'Brien has served as a member of the Barristers board of directors since 2015 and has co-chaired the organization's Law School Partnership and Social Media Committee. He was recently appointed to another term and will serve as board secretary for the coming year.

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Lipson Neilson Shareholder Sandra D. Glazier will present Ethical Considerations in Representing Vulnerable Adults and Fraud within the Family at the 44th Annual Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute. This is the fourth consecutive year that Glazier has been invited to present at this national conference. She is the only attorney from Michigan on the Institute's faculty.

Held Oct. 11-12 in South Bend, Indiana, this conference is unique because it covers topics not found in tax-focused estate planning programs such as the ethics attached to an estate planner's duties and liabilities when implementing an estate plan, financial elder abuse, and reasonable compensation for trustees. This Institute brings together tax and estate planning experts from across the country.

An attorney for more than 34 years, Glazier is known for her expertise and successful track record in probate litigation, estate planning, trust and estate administration, and family law matters. The cases Glazier works on tend to be very complex and require technical as well as legal expertise. She has represented contestants and proponents of estate planning documents, as well as fiduciaries, in significant trust litigation proceedings.

An AV Preeminent® rated attorney, Glazier is recognized nationally for her accomplishments and expertise in estate planning and probate litigation and is routinely requested to speak at some of the leading legal industry conferences across the country.

She has been selected as a "Michigan Super Lawyer" by Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of information for the legal industry and has been recognized as a "Top Lawyer" by DBusiness, in the areas of probate, estate and family law.

Glazier has had numerous articles published by some of the legal industry's leading publications. and has taught "Valuation for Federal, Estate and Gift Tax Purposes" in a Masters' level course.

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Kerr Russell member Brandy Mathie (real estate) has been named named one of Michigan Lawyers Weekly's "Women in the Law" (Class of 2018).

Mathie focuses her practice on real estate law. She is experienced in all aspects of real estate law, including real estate development and financing. Mathie has experience in the areas of acquisitions, dispositions and leasing. She is particularly proficient in identifying trouble spots in real estate transactions and offering creative solutions. Mathie is skilled at synthesizing massive amounts of complicated historical real estate information and assembling it into accessible and understandable charts and checklists to keep her clients informed.

Mathie assists in matters ranging from simple residential acquisitions to the acquisition and development of large commercial projects for sophisticated clients. She structures business entities with the purpose of owning and operating commercial real estate and creates limited liability companies to own and maintain family cottages. Mathie drafts real estate purchase and sale agreements, leases, commercial financing documents, development agreements, declarations and use restrictions and easements. Mathie also assists a large, national client in connection with the purchase of assets in several regions of the United States.

Before joining Kerr Russell, Mathie was associated with a large international law firm, where she assisted clients in many complex real estate transactions, ranging from public-private partnerships to wind energy.

Published: Mon, Aug 06, 2018