Dornbos joins Smith Haughey as part of its expansion in West Michigan

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LEGAL NEWS PHOTOS  BY CYNTHIA PRICE

by Cynthia Price
Legal News

Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge has added a litigator to its Holland office in the person of Jeffrey S. Dornbos.

As part of its expansion plans, the  firm is concentrating on West Michigan for its business practice, though its litigation work has made it well-respected throughout the state and beyond.

“I wouldn’t say that we wouldn’t or won’t expand our business practice elsewhere, but it’s just that we see such opportunity in the West Michigan area. There are so many growing businesses here,” says Lori Gibson, Smith Haughey’s Chief Operating Officer. “And there is excellent synergy among those offices,” she adds, speaking of the Holland, Grand Rapids, and Muskegon locations.

Dornbos will work from all three locations. Having just returned from a six-month stint as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C., he has hit the ground running, primarily based at the five-attorney office in Holland.

His litigation practice, however, is statewide, as is Smith Haughey’s, and he will specialize in legal malpractice defense and employment litigation.

In an earlier career, Dornbos was a teacher in Holland, as well as indulging his great love of the water as a sailing captain on the lakeshore.

After graduating from Calvin College, Dornbos received his Masters Degree in International Development Administration in 2004 from Western Michigan University. He returned to school to obtain his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University. He excelled there, graduating magna cum laude, serving as Law Review Senior Editor, and becoming a member of the Order of the Coif.

Dornbos has traveled extensively, and led student trips to Spain and Honduras. Along the way, he spent a year in Guatemala. About that “phenomenal experience,” he says, “The year that I spent in Guatemala... gave me the opportunity to hone my Spanish skills and to see first-hand the importance of rule of law in the context of international development.”

Among his many honors, Dornbos was selected in 2009 to draft recommendations for the government of Uganda in “Proposed Revisions to Uganda’s Rules of Evidence and Procedure for the New War Crimes Division,” available with restricted access on the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center War Crimes Research Portal.

Additional recognition includes being named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” from 2014 to 2016; a recent invitation to join Lawyers of Distinction;  receiving the Distinguished Scholar Award from 2007 to 2010 at Case Western; and taking first place in the 2010 Law Student Legal Writing Contest held by the State Bar of Texas.

He also served as an associate editor of War Crimes Prosecution Watch.

“I enjoy being based in Holland and being actively involved in Ottawa County organizations,” Dornbos says. His service has included Ottawa County Red Cross, as well as serving on the national advisory board for the national Red Cross Restoring Family Links; and being on the board of the Child  Development Services Lakeshore Head Start.

His wife, Erin, is an attorney as well, at Pinsky Smith Lafayette and Kennedy, and the family includes two children, a boy and a girl. Dornbos says that when his wife was sworn in by Judge Ed Post in Ottawa County, Post allowed their daughter, then six, to sit in the judge’s seat. “She banged the gavel with such exuberance I am reasonably certain she will be a judge one day,” Dornbos comments.

After law school and before heading off to Washington, Dornbos practiced for six years as a civil litigator at Warner Norcross & Judd. At the DOJ, he represented the United States in various federal courts, including the  U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the Federal Court of Claims. He successfully obtained summary judgment in a case challenging activities of the Bureau of Land Management.

Those experiences have led him to love litigation. “The highlights of my career so far have been the many opportunities I have had to get into the courtroom, including first-chairing both state and federal jury trials and arguing before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals,” he says.

That passion for litigation will serve him well at Smith Haughey, whose reputation for excellence in Michigan has been reflected in a number of its attorneys becoming president of the Michigan Defense Trial Council as well as an impressive list of state awards.

Lori Gibson says that the firm’s Ann Arbor office has been “a critical part” of building and maintaining that reputation, particularly in the area of medical malpractice defense, a mainstay of Smith Haughey’s litigation practice.
By mutual agreement, Smith Haughey and the attorneys staffing its former office in Traverse City have parted ways, so their business practices will focus on expanding at the lakeshore.

“We can’t say anything specific right now, but there will be additional folks in Holland soon. We’re moving into a new space that gives us room for that. And we’re looking at more growth in Muskegon, too,” says Gibson. “That’s really our immediate short-term focus.”
 

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