Legal People

Former summer associates Emily M. Coyle, Catherine M. Derthick, and Mark A. Nasr have returned to Plunkett Cooney as attorneys in the Bloomfield Hills office.

Plunkett Cooney’s 12-week summer associate program provides participants with an opportunity to demonstrate their potential by working alongside the firm’s attorneys on actual client matters. Coyle, Derthick and Nasr were members of Plunkett Cooney’s 2009 summer associate class.

Coyle, who joined the firm as a member of the Banking, Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights Practice Group, focuses her practice in the areas of loan workouts and foreclosures, commercial real estate transactions and loan documentation. She represents financial institutions in commercial lending actions, including collections and real estate disputes.

A member of the State Bar of Michigan and American Bar Association, Coyle earned her law degree earlier this year from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Coyle earned her undergraduate degree in 2003 from Juniata College.

Derthick joined Plunkett Cooney as a member of the Labor and Employment Law and Commercial Litigation practice groups. Her practice includes the representation of banks and other financial institutions in commercial loan disputes. She also represents private and public sector employers in litigation involving allegations of discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and disputes arising from alleged non-compliance with federal employment statutes such as the Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

While in law school, Derthick worked as a research assistant, focusing her efforts on constitutional law issues. She graduated from Michigan State University College of Law in 2010. Derthick earned her undergraduate degree in 2006 from Michigan State University.

A member of Plunkett Cooney’s Construction Law Practice Group, Nasr concentrates his litigation practice on the defense of construction professionals and their firms. His clients include architects, engineers, design firms, construction managers, general contractors, subcontractors, owners and property developers. He also represents product manufacturers and suppliers in product liability litigation.

Nasr earned his law degree in 2010 from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He also earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Wayne State University in 2007.

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Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that Todd C. Fracassi has been elected to the partnership. Fracassi is a member of the Environmental Practice Group, resident in the firm’s Detroit office. He also is a member of the firm’s Sustainability, CleanTech and Climate Change Team. Fracassi is engaged primarily in matters of environmental litigation and regulatory affairs, and corporate environmental counseling.

Fracassi is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School (2000), the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in association with Syracuse University (M.S., environmental policy, 1995) and the University of Michigan (B.A., 1993).

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Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Carl Rashid Jr. was the featured speaker on Jan. 13 at a seminar hosted by the Michigan Manufacturers Association in Lansing. The seminar was titled, “Are You Being Taxed Fairly?” The objective of the seminar was to provide attendees with an understanding of the tax assessment process and how to appeal an assessment.

Rashid’s areas of practice include real estate, state and local taxes, investment related economic and tax incentives, condemnation law and government affairs matters.

His investment related tax incentives practice includes implementing the first Act 198 Industrial Development District in the State of Michigan.

Rashid has authored property tax legislation including the Commercial Redevelopment District Act (Act 255 of 1978), and Public Act 317 of 2000, involving personal property inventory.

Rashid has experience representing clients in federal and state courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County Circuit Courts, the Michigan Tax Tribunal and the Michigan State Tax Commission.

Rashid is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, American Bar Association and Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association’s Committees on Real Property and Taxation. He is a co-author of “Michigan Tax Practice and Procedure” and co-editor of “Michigan Real Estate Law.” He also has served as co-chair and lecturer for ICLE seminars on property tax and is a frequent lecturer for the Michigan Municipal League.

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Maddin, Hauser, Wartell, Roth, & Heller PC has named three new shareholders: Brandon K. Buck, Michael K. Hauser and Rebecca M. Turner.

Buck earned his B.S. from Wayne State University and his law degree from Wayne State University Law School. He concentrates his practice in the areas of business disputes, franchising, real estate, commercial and general litigation and creditor’s rights law.

Hauser focuses his practice on partnership and corporate tax, state and federal taxation of estate transactions, gift and estate tax and general business matters. A CPA, he earned his B.A. from Dartmouth College and graduated from Wayne State University Law School. An adjunct professor in the Cooley Law School LLM program, he is a frequently published author on tax issues.

Turner focuses her practice in the areas of franchise law, corporate and business law and real estate transactions. She earned her B.B.A. in Accounting from Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business and her law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.

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Sarah Weston, an associate with Southfield-based Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC, has been appointed to a one-year term on the Independent Sales Organization (ISO) Best Practices Committee of the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). Jaffe CEO Richard Zussman made the announcement.

Weston is a member of the firm’s finance and corporate practice groups. She is a graduate of Michigan State University and a graduate of the Michigan State University College of Law. She is a member of the ETA where she also serves on the Education Committee.

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Sylvan Lake attorney Thomas J. Ryan has been elected to serve as chairperson of the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. He was first elected to the Tenure Commission in 2004.

Ryan is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, American Bar Association, Oakland County Bar Association, and the Oakland County Ancient Order of Hibernians. He served as the 66th president of the State Bar of Michigan from Sept. 2000 to Sept. 2001. Ryan served on the Oakland County Bar Association’s Board of Directors and was its president from 1993 to 1994.

He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy.

He has been in the private practice of law since January 1977, and is the attorney for the Village of Beverly Hills, City of Keego Harbor, City of the Village of Clarkston, and City of Orchard Lake Village. He also does criminal defense work, civil litigation, and has an active facilitation/mediation/arbitration practice.

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The shareholders of Fraser Trebilcock has re-elected Michael P. Donnelly as vice president to the Board of Directors for 2011. Donnelly works out of the firm’s Detroit office.

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The law firm of Miller Canfield announces that Samantha S. Galecki has joined the firm in the Detroit office as an associate in the Litigation and Trial Practice Group focusing on all areas of business and commercial litigation.

Galecki is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. She serves on the board of the South University Area Association in Ann Arbor. She previously served as an intern for the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office appearing on behalf of the People of the State of Michigan in various court proceedings such as pre-trials, hearings and sentencings.

She earned her law degree from Indiana University School of Law and B.A. from Swarthmore College.

Additionally, Miller Canfield announces that Lavon M. Ammori has joined the firm as an associate in the Labor and Employment Group in the Detroit office representing employers in both national and international employment-related issues.

Ammori is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. She earned her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law and her B.A. and B.F.A. from the University of Michigan, where she was a James B. Angell Scholar.

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Honigman, Miller, Schwartz, and Cohn LLP is number one in the United States as the legal advisor for banks and thrifts ranked by number of deals in 2010, according to SNL Financial, a source for banking data and news. The ranking places Honigman at the top of the list with many of the nation’s most prominent law firms, including Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Hunton & Williams LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP & Affiliates; and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

In earning this top ranking, Honigman represented banks in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

According to Honigman, community and regional banks have generally benefited from real estate development and small business loans in the past, but these cash resources have diminished since the economic downturn beginning in late 2008. More than 150 small banks closed in the U.S. in 2010.

Indicators show that consumer and small business loans began to rise at the end of 2010 and the upward trend is expected to continue in 2011. In addition, Congress recently passed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which allows the Treasury Department to boost the capital levels of community banks to facilitate small-business lending.

In addition to the SNL ranking, Honigman’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice recently was recognized by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers as one of the top-rated practices nationally. Honigman was the only Michigan law firm to be ranked in the top tiers of this national ranking along with some of the largest money-center law firms in the country, including Goodwin Procter LLP, Jones Day and Winston & Strawn LLP.

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Flood, Lanctot, Connor, Stablein PLLC is proud to announce that David G. Gorcyca has been named Partner.

Gorcyca joined Flood, Lanctot, Connor, Stablein (FLCS) in 2009 when he retired from office as the Oakland County prosecutor after serving three terms. While prosecutor, Gorcyca led an office of more than 100 assistant prosecuting attorneys and handled the prosecution of some of the most highly publicized criminal cases in the United States. Throughout Gorcyca’s career he has received numerous awards and honors including: Prosecutor of the Year Award – Police Officers Association of Michigan; Champion Crime Fighter Award; Justice for Children Award; Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award; and Circle of Friends Award – Child Abuse & Neglect Counsel.

Gorcyca successfully represented the interests of his clients and played an important role in many of the major cases the firm has seen over the past two years. Gorcyca’s areas of practice include Criminal Defense and Civil Litigation.