Legal People

The law firm of Dean & Fulkerson is pleased to announce that Meghan Kennedy Riordan has joined the firm as a shareholder in its Troy office. She was previously a member at Kerr Russell in Detroit.

Riordan has 25 years of experience in all aspects of immigration law. She has experience in both employment-based and family related immigration law, issues of inadmissibility and
removability, and naturalization/citizenship, as well as inbound/outbound corporate migration, immigration-related audits, and I-9 compliance.

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For the third consecutive year, Plunkett Cooney has been named by American Lawyer Media (ALM) as a “Go-To” law firm in the area of litigation for companies ranking among the Fortune 500.

The 2015 Go-To Law Firms® were featured in ALM’s In-House Law Departments at the Top 500 Companies, a directory of the legal representation of the corporate elite. This directory was distributed to over 20,000 general counsel across the nation, including all subscribers of Corporate Counsel magazine.

Plunkett Cooney is a provider of transactional and litigation services to clients in the private and public sectors. The firm’s litigation services include appellate law, business litigation, construction law, environmental liability, healthcare law, insurance law, labor and employment law, marine liability, motor vehicle liability, medical malpractice, municipal liability, product liability, professional liability, title insurance, and workers’ compensation.

Established in 1913, Plunkett Cooney employs more than 150 attorneys in nine Michigan cities, Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm has achieved the highest rating (AV) awarded by Martindale-Hubbell, a leading, international directory of law firms and is listed among the U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” in 2014. Plunkett Cooney has also received several awards naming the firm as a top place to work within the legal industry.

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Brinks, Gilson, & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S. and with Michigan offices in Ann Arbor and Detroit, was named among the nation’s Top 100 patent law firms by the trade publication, Intellectual Property Today.

The firm is ranked seventeenth out of 271 respondents; firms are ranked according to the number of utility patents issued in 2014 where the firm, or representative of the firm, is listed as the legal representative on the issued patent. 

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When Heidi and Richard Sharp married nearly 8 years ago, they had much more in common than most loving couples.  Both were headed for what has turned out to be successful careers as attorneys. With offices in Clinton Township, Heidi is a mainstay in Macomb County and throughout the region. Richard who has offices in Shelby Township specializes in tax law, probate and transactional work.

Both Richard and Heidi graduated from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law on the same day in 2006. It was on their wedding day that both found out they passed the State Bar.

Now, both have been singled out with the honor of Super Lawyer Rising Star. Heidi received the designation first in 2011 so this is her fifth straight year of receiving the honor. This is Richard’s second such designation. Heidi, who specializes in Employment Law, is a partner in the Clinton Township firm of Burgess, Sharp, & Golden.

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James Kramer, a former general counsel with experience with payments issues, has joined Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC as an associate in the firm’s Electronic Payments and Corporate practice groups.

Prior to joining Jaffe, Kramer was the general counsel of a mid-size payment processing company, where he was responsible for leading corporate strategic and tactical legal initiatives. He was also an auditor for Ernst & Young where he served financial services clients. 

As an associate in the firm’s Electronic Payments and Corporate practice groups, Kramer advises merchant acquiring, mobile payments, payment facilitator, and card processing companies on contracts and compliance matters.

Kramer graduated from the University of Southern California where he earned his law degree and Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration.  He was a member of the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice and studied international law abroad at the Università Bocconi in Milan.

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Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP partner David A. Ettinger and attorney Derek W. Kelley have authored a new edition of “Health Care Mergers and Acquisitions:  The Antitrust Perspective,” which is part of the Health Law and Business Portfolio series published by Bloomberg BNA.

The monograph addresses the antitrust issues relating to hospital mergers, physician transactions, and transactions involving managed care plans and other health care institutions.  The Second Edition updates the text to include the most recent case law and academic studies, including the recent landmark decision in Saint Alphonsus v. St. Luke’s, in which Honigman was lead counsel for the successful private plaintiffs.

“We hope that this volume will help both health care providers and health law practitioners to understand the changes in antitrust law and how they affect their future transactions,” Ettinger said.  “While today’s legal standards make careful attention to antitrust concerns even more important, changes in health care competition create opportunities for new antitrust arguments that may provide good defenses for many transactions.”

Ettinger, leader of Honigman’s Antitrust and Trade Regulation Practice Group, is a nationally recognized antitrust lawyer. He has litigated antitrust cases and represented clients in antitrust matters in more than 30 states. 

Kelley is a member of Honigman’s Antitrust and Trade Regulations Practice Group. He earned a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.

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Wayne State University Law School Professor John E. Mogk will be among the honorees  on Wednesday, April 22, by the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit.

The center, a nonprofit established in 1977, will present the honors during its annual Attorney Appreciation Awards at the Detroit Historical Museum.

Since 1968, Mogk has been an activist for fair housing in Detroit. His work has included research, teaching and engagement in the field of urban law and policy on such issues as economic development, neighborhood rehabilitation and intergovernmental cooperation. He frequently contributes editorial commentary on critical urban issues – including fair housing – to media outlets.

In 2008, as co-director of the law school’s Fair Housing Education Program, he helped organize and participated in a conference on fair housing “testing.” The event was sponsored by Wayne Law and the Fair Housing Center.

Mogk has assumed many public leadership positions, including his recent position as chair of the Michigan Council on Labor and Economic Growth and as past chair of Habitat for Humanity Detroit from 1999 to 2006. He has been an adviser to the state, Wayne County and the city of Detroit on a variety of urban development initiatives, including the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and the City of Detroit Empowerment Zone program.

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Timothy Baughman celebrates his fortieth year in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and his thirtieth year as chief of appeals this month.  On April 11, he retired from his position but remain on staff to continue giving his expert legal advice and working on appellate briefs. His successor as the chief of appeals is Jason Williams.

Baughman began his employment with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in 1975, and became chief of research, training, and appeals in 1986. He has appeared seven times in the United States Supreme Court. He has argued successfully on all but one occasion. He has also supervised the briefing and argument of four other cases in that court, as well as appearing more than 70 times in the Michigan Supreme Court. He is the author of two books, and various articles on criminal law and criminal procedure. He served for eight years as an adjunct professor of law at Wayne State University Law School, teaching Criminal Procedure.

Baughman was appointed as reporter by the Michigan Supreme Court for its Committee to Revise the Rules of Criminal Procedure. He lectures for the National College of District Attorneys, the Michigan Judicial Institute, the Michigan State Bar, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, and various state prosecutors’ offices around the country.

In recent years he has been recognized as a Michigan Lawyers Weekly Lawyer of the Year and as a Leader in the Law. In 2013, the Federal Bar Association named him the recipient of the prestigious Leonard Gillman Award. The Gilman Award is given annually to an outstanding practitioner of criminal law who exemplifies the excellence, professionalism, and commitment to public service. 

A retirement celebration for Baughman is scheduled for June 11 at 5 p.m. at the International Banquet Center, located in the Atheneum Hotel. Inquiries can be directed to 313-224-0205.   

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Dykema attorney James P. Feeney has received the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel’s (MDTC) Annual Excellence in Defense Award. He will be honored during an awards banquet hosted by the MDTC on Friday, May 15, at The H Hotel in Midland.

The Excellence in Defense Award honors civil defense counsel who have promoted the practice of the defense bar and the representation of their clients both in and outside of the courtroom through their professionalism, intelligence, creativity, judgment, personality, sensitivity, civility, advocacy skills, community involvement and efforts to educate younger attorneys. It also recognizes their contributions beyond their normal roles as an advocate.

Feeney regularly tackles high-profile, high-stakes litigation matters as a “go to” trial attorney for the world’s largest companies. During the course of his nearly 40-year career, Feeney has been involved in more than 1,500 cases, 70 of which he has tried to verdict.

His experience includes trials of high-stakes matters for the automotive industry, financial institutions, media companies, real estate developers, and equipment leasing and insurance companies.