Among the participants in the Business Law Symposium were (l-r) Michael Molitor, Frank Simon, I.W. Winsten, retired U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts, Mark Rossman, Noah Matthews, and T. Maxwell Carey.
By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
In keeping with a venue like The Gem Theatre, a record crowd was on hand for the 8th Annual State Bar of Michigan Business Law Symposium on February 12 in downtown Detroit.
“This year’s Symposium was a great success,” said business attorney Mark Rossman, who has served as the organizer and chief producer of the event since its inception. “We sold more tickets than ever before and had our largest audience in the 8 years we’ve been doing this for the State Bar, with over 168 registrants, none of whom were disappointed by the new debate and conversation formats and highly engaging content.”
Rossman, a University of Michigan alum and head of a Troy law firm that bears his name, also made mention of “the comfort and accommodations at the elegant Gem Theatre, which are such a wonderful complement to both the substance of our four-hour program and the networking that runs commensurate throughout the evening.”
Added Rossman: “It was nice to get to see so many business litigators in one place.”
As is customary, Rossman delivered the “Opening Statement” at the annual event, while Business Law Section Chair Michael Molitor, who serves as general counsel of Cooley Law School, provided additional remarks to kick off the program.
“From the one-on-one conversation between Chuck Bullock (of Stevenson & Bullock in Southfield) and Paul Mersino (President and CEO of Butzel) and the three-on-three debate teams, the night was full of highly engaging and stimulating conversation, with topics focusing on what makes the business litigator and the cases they handle special and unique, and how some of the most successful lawyers navigate these waters, hitting on just about every litigation topic imaginable,” Rossman indicated.
“With over 25 law students from the Wayne State Business Law Journal in attendance and over a hundred business litigators, it affords the business law bar a great opportunity to connect different generations, and even network for that ever elusive first job,” added Rossman, co-chair of the Privately Held Businesses Forum.
Of special note, Rossman praised a series of moderators for “an excellent job moving the program along through the 115 PowerPoint presentation slides and hitting on every topic to inundate the 168-person audience” with information on a multitude of topics.
“Linda Oszust did a great job moderating an intriguing conversation between trial pros, Mike Weaver and Pat Lannen, who shared insights on the trials of business cases. Retired federal court judge, Victoria Roberts opened ‘Act I, Scene II’ of the theatrically themed program with a discussion between I.W. ‘Bill’ Winsten and Ian Williamson on ‘What makes the business litigator unique among lawyers,’ while retired federal court judge, Gerald Rosen, moderated the final scene of the night, which was a debate between E. Powell Miller and former State Bar President Dan Quick on a dozen different topics.”
Noted Rossman: “These speakers presented a veritable masterclass in business litigation which would be very difficult to top. This may be the ‘No. 1 word’ on what it means to be a business litigator and how to do it.
Literally, if there were a Hall of Fame for business litigators, these are the lawyers whose plaques we’d see in bronze up on the wall.”
The Symposium video and material from the 2026 event will be catalogued in the Symposium Archives, which contains almost 50 hours of video from symposia through the years, which can be found at
www.bixzsymposium.com, according to Rossman.
“As they do when they go to trial, my team at Rossman, P.C. again came together and put together a great program,” Rossman declared.
Legal News
In keeping with a venue like The Gem Theatre, a record crowd was on hand for the 8th Annual State Bar of Michigan Business Law Symposium on February 12 in downtown Detroit.
“This year’s Symposium was a great success,” said business attorney Mark Rossman, who has served as the organizer and chief producer of the event since its inception. “We sold more tickets than ever before and had our largest audience in the 8 years we’ve been doing this for the State Bar, with over 168 registrants, none of whom were disappointed by the new debate and conversation formats and highly engaging content.”
Rossman, a University of Michigan alum and head of a Troy law firm that bears his name, also made mention of “the comfort and accommodations at the elegant Gem Theatre, which are such a wonderful complement to both the substance of our four-hour program and the networking that runs commensurate throughout the evening.”
Added Rossman: “It was nice to get to see so many business litigators in one place.”
As is customary, Rossman delivered the “Opening Statement” at the annual event, while Business Law Section Chair Michael Molitor, who serves as general counsel of Cooley Law School, provided additional remarks to kick off the program.
“From the one-on-one conversation between Chuck Bullock (of Stevenson & Bullock in Southfield) and Paul Mersino (President and CEO of Butzel) and the three-on-three debate teams, the night was full of highly engaging and stimulating conversation, with topics focusing on what makes the business litigator and the cases they handle special and unique, and how some of the most successful lawyers navigate these waters, hitting on just about every litigation topic imaginable,” Rossman indicated.
“With over 25 law students from the Wayne State Business Law Journal in attendance and over a hundred business litigators, it affords the business law bar a great opportunity to connect different generations, and even network for that ever elusive first job,” added Rossman, co-chair of the Privately Held Businesses Forum.
Of special note, Rossman praised a series of moderators for “an excellent job moving the program along through the 115 PowerPoint presentation slides and hitting on every topic to inundate the 168-person audience” with information on a multitude of topics.
“Linda Oszust did a great job moderating an intriguing conversation between trial pros, Mike Weaver and Pat Lannen, who shared insights on the trials of business cases. Retired federal court judge, Victoria Roberts opened ‘Act I, Scene II’ of the theatrically themed program with a discussion between I.W. ‘Bill’ Winsten and Ian Williamson on ‘What makes the business litigator unique among lawyers,’ while retired federal court judge, Gerald Rosen, moderated the final scene of the night, which was a debate between E. Powell Miller and former State Bar President Dan Quick on a dozen different topics.”
Noted Rossman: “These speakers presented a veritable masterclass in business litigation which would be very difficult to top. This may be the ‘No. 1 word’ on what it means to be a business litigator and how to do it.
Literally, if there were a Hall of Fame for business litigators, these are the lawyers whose plaques we’d see in bronze up on the wall.”
The Symposium video and material from the 2026 event will be catalogued in the Symposium Archives, which contains almost 50 hours of video from symposia through the years, which can be found at
www.bixzsymposium.com, according to Rossman.
“As they do when they go to trial, my team at Rossman, P.C. again came together and put together a great program,” Rossman declared.
Two former chief judges of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Gerald Rosen (center) and Sean Cox (right) were among the legal luminaries at the Business Law Symposium, joining with Paul Abbate, senior managing director of FTI Consulting, for a photo op.
Sharing a smile at the February 12 event were (l-r) H. Joel Newman, Mike Weaver, Linda Oszust, and Harvey Weingarten.
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