Paul Mersino, president and CEO of Butzel, has been
named to the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Board of Directors. The Chamber
is committed to accelerating economic growth and propelling the state
and region forward.
Mersino is responsible for the operations and management of the 150+ attorney firm, including budgeting, setting strategic goals, and more. He was elected to the firm’s Board of Directors in 2020 and assumed the position of president and CEO in March, 2023.
Mersino was named to DBusiness magazine’s Detroit 500 – 2023 list of the Most Powerful Business Leaders in Metro Detroit. He also was named to Crain’s Detroit Business magazine’s 2021 Class of “40 Under 40” list. In 2020, he was named to DBusiness magazine’s “30 in Their Thirties.”
Mersino has been recognized as a Top Lawyer by DBusiness magazine, as a Michigan Super Lawyer and as one of Oakland County’s Elite 40 under 40, He also was named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Leaders in the Law” as well as to “Up and Coming Lawyers.”
In his practice, Mersino represents public and private companies in a number of areas including complex commercial litigation, contract disputes, non-compete and trade secret disputes, automotive supplier disputes, construction litigation, and First Amendment litigation.
Mersino also represents and advises a number of startup companies, assisting them with their legal needs and matching them with potential venture capital funding. He handles appeals in the Michigan Court of Appeals, the Michigan Supreme Court, and in federal courts across the country.
Mersino formerly served as Butzel’s Litigation Practice Department chair. He was responsible for the management and oversight of the firm’s Commercial Litigation attorneys who reported to him as well as their strategic goals, budgeting, forecasting, and proposed direction for the practice group. Mersino also has served as trustee of the Butzel Charitable Trust.
He has served on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Bar Association and as an advisor to the Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Litigation Advisory Board.
Mersino is a 2008 graduate of Ave Maria School of Law. He earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Northwood University (B.A., 2005).
• • •
The State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners elected Commissioner David C. Anderson to serve as secretary in the 2024-2025 Bar year. He will join other incoming officers Joseph P. McGill as president, Lisa J. Hamameh as president-elect, Erika L. Bryant as vice president, and Thomas H. Howlett as treasurer.
Anderson is a shareholder at Collins Einhorn Farrell PC with more than 25 years of litigation experience focusing on defending professional and product liability claims. Also an author, Anderson speaks on topics related to professional and product liability claims.
Anderson has served on the Board of Commissioners since 2017 and previously served on the State Bar of Michigan Character and Fitness Committee. He is also a former president of the Oakland County Bar Association.
Anderson graduated from the University of Michigan and earned his law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
The election of Anderson as secretary follows a Board decision earlier this year to change the order of service for officers. Incoming officers now serve as secretary then successively as treasurer, vice president, president-elect, and president.
• • •
Joshua J. Leadford has joined Miller Johnson as an addition to the firm’s Employment and Labor practice in the firm’s Detroit office. Leadford brings experience representing employers in both the private and public sectors, ranging from local businesses to large national corporations.
Leadford’s practice focuses on traditional labor law, collective bargaining, grievance arbitrations, and counseling employers on all matters related to employment and labor law compliance and defense. He is known for his practical approach, providing real-time advice to employers to formulate effective strategies for resolving employment issues efficiently.
Leadford earned his law degree from Cooley Law School in 2011 and clerked for the Michigan Employment Relations Commission while attending law school. He also earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central Michigan University.
• • •
Varnum partner Kathleen Cieslik has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors for the Planned Giving Roundtable of Southeast Michigan which works to enhance the use of planned gifts as essential tools for supporting charitable organizations.
Through continuing education, information exchange, and networking, Planned Giving Roundtable of Southeast Michigan assists donors and their advisors in identifying the most effective planned giving strategies in effort to improve the quality and quantity of planned gifts.
“I am honored to join the Board of Directors for the Planned Giving Roundtable of Southeast Michigan,” said Cieslik. “I am excited to contribute my expertise in trusts and estates to furthering the mission of enhancing the impact of planned gifts in our community.”
As a board member, Cieslik will leverage her trusts and estates expertise, which includes creating customized planning focused on tax avoidance, business succession, and charitable giving. In addition, Cieslik provides counsel to individual and corporate fiduciaries on managing trusts and estates efficiently, including probate administration when necessary.
• • •
The journal Chambers High Net Worth (HNW), which evaluates legal and financial advisors worldwide, has ranked Bodman PLC at the highest “Band One” level for services to high net worth individuals and families and their closely held businesses for the sixth consecutive year.
In the newly released 2024 edition of Chambers HNW, Bodman is one of only three law firms based in Michigan to be ranked in “Band One” for private wealth law.
Chambers HNW also recognizes individual attorneys who are viewed by their clients and peers as leaders in the field of private wealth law. Bodman attorneys listed in the 2024 edition include David P. Larsen, Andrew H. Curoe, and Kelly M. Burnell of the firm’s Detroit office and Anthony P. Cracchiolo and Marguerite Munson Lentz of the Troy office. For 2024, Larsen and Curoe are both ranked at the Band One level as individuals.
The attorneys in Bodman’s High Net Worth Group provide comprehensive legal services to affluent individuals and families. The firm’s clients include some of the region’s most well-known families, as well as business owners, executives, athletes, and other professionals seeking to minimize the tax burden on their heirs, make significant charitable donations, or complete complex personal transactions.
• • •
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced the appointment of Randy Wallace to the Michigan Court of Appeals, Second District, effective August 12, 2024.
Wallace currently works as an attorney and shareholder at Olsman, MacKenzie, Peacock, & Wallace PC in Berkley where he has worked since 1998. He has served as an executive board member of the Michigan Association for Justice since 2004 and is also a member of the American Association for Justice. Wallace serves as a member of the Michigan Supreme Court’s Committee on Model Jury Instructions and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan Civil Procedure & Courts Committee, of which he previously served as chair. He also serves as a case evaluator at the Oakland County Circuit Court ADR Office.
Wallace received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and his law degree from Wayne State University Law School.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Governor Whitmer for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of the great state of Michigan on the Court of Appeals,” said Wallace. “I have spent years watching some of the finest jurists in our state decide cases in a manner that promotes equal access to justice for all, including now retired Michigan Supreme Court justices like Justice Bridget McCormack and Justice Marilyn Kelly, and now retired judges like Judge Elizabeth Gleicher and Judge Douglas Shapiro, just to name a few. One of my first jury trials was presided over by Judge Deborah Servitto, who was then a judge on the Macomb County Circuit Court, and who treated all the participants with the utmost respect. I will do my very best to follow the examples set by those esteemed members of the bench and I will work hard as a humble servant of the people of the State of Michigan.”
This appointment was made to fill a partial term following the resignation of Judge Deborah Servitto. Wallace’s term will commence on August 12, 2024, and expire at twelve o’clock noon on January 1, 2025.
• • •
Dykema announced that Mark Chutkow was named a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation. Chutkow will be recognized at the organization’s Annual Fellows Reception taking place Sept. 18 at the Hall of Justice in Lansing.
Chutkow is the leader of Dykema’s Government Investigations and Corporate Compliance practice. He helps companies and executives navigate complex, high-stakes government enforcement and civil litigation matters. Chutkow has more than 20 years of service and leadership at the Department of Justice. Prior to joining Dykema, he was a federal prosecutor who won landmark cases and led the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
Chutkow earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. from Yale University.
Mersino is responsible for the operations and management of the 150+ attorney firm, including budgeting, setting strategic goals, and more. He was elected to the firm’s Board of Directors in 2020 and assumed the position of president and CEO in March, 2023.
Mersino was named to DBusiness magazine’s Detroit 500 – 2023 list of the Most Powerful Business Leaders in Metro Detroit. He also was named to Crain’s Detroit Business magazine’s 2021 Class of “40 Under 40” list. In 2020, he was named to DBusiness magazine’s “30 in Their Thirties.”
Mersino has been recognized as a Top Lawyer by DBusiness magazine, as a Michigan Super Lawyer and as one of Oakland County’s Elite 40 under 40, He also was named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Leaders in the Law” as well as to “Up and Coming Lawyers.”
In his practice, Mersino represents public and private companies in a number of areas including complex commercial litigation, contract disputes, non-compete and trade secret disputes, automotive supplier disputes, construction litigation, and First Amendment litigation.
Mersino also represents and advises a number of startup companies, assisting them with their legal needs and matching them with potential venture capital funding. He handles appeals in the Michigan Court of Appeals, the Michigan Supreme Court, and in federal courts across the country.
Mersino formerly served as Butzel’s Litigation Practice Department chair. He was responsible for the management and oversight of the firm’s Commercial Litigation attorneys who reported to him as well as their strategic goals, budgeting, forecasting, and proposed direction for the practice group. Mersino also has served as trustee of the Butzel Charitable Trust.
He has served on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Bar Association and as an advisor to the Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Litigation Advisory Board.
Mersino is a 2008 graduate of Ave Maria School of Law. He earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Northwood University (B.A., 2005).
• • •
The State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners elected Commissioner David C. Anderson to serve as secretary in the 2024-2025 Bar year. He will join other incoming officers Joseph P. McGill as president, Lisa J. Hamameh as president-elect, Erika L. Bryant as vice president, and Thomas H. Howlett as treasurer.
Anderson is a shareholder at Collins Einhorn Farrell PC with more than 25 years of litigation experience focusing on defending professional and product liability claims. Also an author, Anderson speaks on topics related to professional and product liability claims.
Anderson has served on the Board of Commissioners since 2017 and previously served on the State Bar of Michigan Character and Fitness Committee. He is also a former president of the Oakland County Bar Association.
Anderson graduated from the University of Michigan and earned his law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
The election of Anderson as secretary follows a Board decision earlier this year to change the order of service for officers. Incoming officers now serve as secretary then successively as treasurer, vice president, president-elect, and president.
• • •
Joshua J. Leadford has joined Miller Johnson as an addition to the firm’s Employment and Labor practice in the firm’s Detroit office. Leadford brings experience representing employers in both the private and public sectors, ranging from local businesses to large national corporations.
Leadford’s practice focuses on traditional labor law, collective bargaining, grievance arbitrations, and counseling employers on all matters related to employment and labor law compliance and defense. He is known for his practical approach, providing real-time advice to employers to formulate effective strategies for resolving employment issues efficiently.
Leadford earned his law degree from Cooley Law School in 2011 and clerked for the Michigan Employment Relations Commission while attending law school. He also earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central Michigan University.
• • •
Varnum partner Kathleen Cieslik has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors for the Planned Giving Roundtable of Southeast Michigan which works to enhance the use of planned gifts as essential tools for supporting charitable organizations.
Through continuing education, information exchange, and networking, Planned Giving Roundtable of Southeast Michigan assists donors and their advisors in identifying the most effective planned giving strategies in effort to improve the quality and quantity of planned gifts.
“I am honored to join the Board of Directors for the Planned Giving Roundtable of Southeast Michigan,” said Cieslik. “I am excited to contribute my expertise in trusts and estates to furthering the mission of enhancing the impact of planned gifts in our community.”
As a board member, Cieslik will leverage her trusts and estates expertise, which includes creating customized planning focused on tax avoidance, business succession, and charitable giving. In addition, Cieslik provides counsel to individual and corporate fiduciaries on managing trusts and estates efficiently, including probate administration when necessary.
• • •
The journal Chambers High Net Worth (HNW), which evaluates legal and financial advisors worldwide, has ranked Bodman PLC at the highest “Band One” level for services to high net worth individuals and families and their closely held businesses for the sixth consecutive year.
In the newly released 2024 edition of Chambers HNW, Bodman is one of only three law firms based in Michigan to be ranked in “Band One” for private wealth law.
Chambers HNW also recognizes individual attorneys who are viewed by their clients and peers as leaders in the field of private wealth law. Bodman attorneys listed in the 2024 edition include David P. Larsen, Andrew H. Curoe, and Kelly M. Burnell of the firm’s Detroit office and Anthony P. Cracchiolo and Marguerite Munson Lentz of the Troy office. For 2024, Larsen and Curoe are both ranked at the Band One level as individuals.
The attorneys in Bodman’s High Net Worth Group provide comprehensive legal services to affluent individuals and families. The firm’s clients include some of the region’s most well-known families, as well as business owners, executives, athletes, and other professionals seeking to minimize the tax burden on their heirs, make significant charitable donations, or complete complex personal transactions.
• • •
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced the appointment of Randy Wallace to the Michigan Court of Appeals, Second District, effective August 12, 2024.
Wallace currently works as an attorney and shareholder at Olsman, MacKenzie, Peacock, & Wallace PC in Berkley where he has worked since 1998. He has served as an executive board member of the Michigan Association for Justice since 2004 and is also a member of the American Association for Justice. Wallace serves as a member of the Michigan Supreme Court’s Committee on Model Jury Instructions and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan Civil Procedure & Courts Committee, of which he previously served as chair. He also serves as a case evaluator at the Oakland County Circuit Court ADR Office.
Wallace received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and his law degree from Wayne State University Law School.
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Governor Whitmer for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of the great state of Michigan on the Court of Appeals,” said Wallace. “I have spent years watching some of the finest jurists in our state decide cases in a manner that promotes equal access to justice for all, including now retired Michigan Supreme Court justices like Justice Bridget McCormack and Justice Marilyn Kelly, and now retired judges like Judge Elizabeth Gleicher and Judge Douglas Shapiro, just to name a few. One of my first jury trials was presided over by Judge Deborah Servitto, who was then a judge on the Macomb County Circuit Court, and who treated all the participants with the utmost respect. I will do my very best to follow the examples set by those esteemed members of the bench and I will work hard as a humble servant of the people of the State of Michigan.”
This appointment was made to fill a partial term following the resignation of Judge Deborah Servitto. Wallace’s term will commence on August 12, 2024, and expire at twelve o’clock noon on January 1, 2025.
• • •
Dykema announced that Mark Chutkow was named a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation. Chutkow will be recognized at the organization’s Annual Fellows Reception taking place Sept. 18 at the Hall of Justice in Lansing.
Chutkow is the leader of Dykema’s Government Investigations and Corporate Compliance practice. He helps companies and executives navigate complex, high-stakes government enforcement and civil litigation matters. Chutkow has more than 20 years of service and leadership at the Department of Justice. Prior to joining Dykema, he was a federal prosecutor who won landmark cases and led the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
Chutkow earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. from Yale University.
