Butzel Long
Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Claudia Rast has been reappointed to serve a one-year term on the American Bar Association's (ABA) Cybersecurity Legal Task Force by the ABA President-Elect. Task Force members are charged with examining risks posed by criminals, terrorists and nations that seek to steal personal and financial information, disrupt critical infrastructure, and wage cyberwar.
Rast co-authored a chapter to the second edition of The ABA Cybersecurity Handbook that will be published at the end of July.
Further, she will be a featured speaker at The Hague, during the World Justice Forum V, a conference of global leaders addressing the Rule of Law July 10-13 in The Netherlands. She will be speaking on the New Environmental Rule of Law Index workshop panel.
Rast blends her expertise in law, business, and science to assist companies in their strategic use of technology, counseling clients in the areas of privacy, cybersecurity, data theft, intellectual property licensing and registration, and the forensic preservation and analysis of electronically stored information.
With the rise of cyber events in recent years, her background in forensics, IT environments and security has proved invaluable in working with clients to both defend against and respond to pervasive cyber attacks and to conduct cybersecurity awareness and response training sessions. Similarly, over the past several years, she has worked within both the IT entrepreneur community and the automotive supplier network to negotiate contracts covering innovative technologies associated with autonomous and connected vehicles, to address security, privacy, IP ownership, and new and potential regulations.
Rast also is an experienced environmental lawyer, focusing on alternative energy and sustainability practices, including work on the development of a global Rule of Law Index for environment and energy with the World Justice Project.
Rast is a frequent national speaker on matters ranging from cybersecurity, privacy, data breach, eDiscovery, and social media. In addition, she has published numerous articles including an online course for CPE credit, CPA's Guide to Privacy (Bisk Education 2006, 2012, 2014 & 2016), a chapter on Privacy & Data Breach for Thompson Reuters' "Inside the Minds" Aspatore Book series (April 2013), and a chapter entitled "Confidentiality and Security in a Modern World" to be included in the 2017 ABA publication Ethics and Environmental Practice: A Lawyer's Guide.
Her memberships include the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, where she has been involved in the leadership of the Section since 1999, including chair of the Section in 2008-2009, Ann Arbor's New Enterprise Forum Board of Directors (2008-present), the Michigan League of Conservation Voters Board of Directors (2008-2013), and ICLE's Technology Training Advisory Board (1998-present). In 2001, she was the only lawyer named as a Technology Industry Leader in Crain's Detroit Business, and in 2003 the Ann Arbor Chapter of American Women in Computing named her as one of twenty "Top Michigan Women in Computing." In 2015, she was named by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a "Leader in the Law."
Rast is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.S., Natural Resources) and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. In 2014, she successfully completed the four-week online program, "Tackling the Challenges of Big Data," developed and taught by the faculty of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in collaboration with MIT Professional Education.
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Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC
Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC is pleased to announce that Michael D. Solt has joined the firm. He will practice out of the firm's Royal Oak office.
Solt concentrates his practice in intellectual property law with a focus on patent preparation, prosecution, and clearance work primarily in the mechanical arts. He has assisted clients in relation to a wide variety of mechanical and electro-mechanical technologies, including automotive transmission shifters, solenoid valves, vehicle starting systems, transmission controls, turbochargers, vehicle seats, motion transmission cables, differentials, medical devices, drilling systems, vehicle suspension systems, actuators, window assemblies, building door systems, and consumer products.
Solt joined Howard & Howard in 2012 as an Intellectual Property intern. While in this role, he worked full-time and attended law school in the evenings. Prior to joining Howard & Howard's Intellectual Property Intern Program, Solt worked as a technical intern in the engineering department of Valeo, where he performed tests and generated reports used to validate wiper systems. Before working at Valeo, he was a mechanical engineering co-op for DTE Energy. While at DTE, he worked in the central engineering organization for the combustion and draft support group, which supported all of DTE Energy's coal fired power plants. This included benchmarking emissions and heat rate of the coal fired units, increasing the efficiency of operations within the power plants, equipment inspections, validation of online coal analyzers, lubrication sampling and analyzing, testing of new filtration systems, and the testing of the accuracy of plant monitoring equipment.
Solt received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, along with a minor in Chemistry, from Oakland University in 2012, and his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2016. He is licensed in the State of Michigan.
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Bodman PLC
Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Jonathan P. Burleigh has been named chair of the firm's Enterprise Procurement Group (EPG).
Burleigh is a member of Bodman practicing in the Troy office. He joined the firm in 2007 and has been a member of the EPG since it was established in 2010. He succeeds Courtland Anderson, who co-founded the EPG, served as its initial chair, and will remain a full-time member of the group.
Bodman's EPG attorneys represent clients in drafting and negotiating commercial contracts agreements for all manner of software, products and services involving billions of dollars in spend. The group has gained significant attention for its innovative practices, such as implementing streamlined intake and workflow processes that harmonize with the corporate procurement function to achieve transactional efficiency and quick turnaround times. The group's attorneys negotiate more than 1,650 transactions annually for clients in a variety of industries.
As a founding member of the EPG, Burleigh has managed strategic projects and negotiated agreements with a multitude of vendors. He has particular experience negotiating procurement arrangements that involve information technology, financial services, corporate outsourcing, human resources, consulting services, records management, security services and equipment, facilities management, credit and prepaid card agreements, and transportation and logistics.
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Wachler & Associates PC
Wachler & Associates PC Managing Partner Andrew B. Wachler, along with Chief Judge Nancy J. Griswold of the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, will present "Appealing Reimbursement Denials Through the Changing Medicare Audit Appeal Landscape," to a group of Health Care Finance Leaders at the Healthcare Financial Management Association ANI meeting, June 27 in Orlando, Fla.
The session will focus on recent regulations and emerging legal issues in the Medicare audit appeal landscape. It will explain reform efforts underway to reduce the backlog of appeals and promote efficiency. The session also will provide attendees with practical tips and strategies for defending claims denials, and Wachler will discuss alternative approaches to receiving payment for claims denied following an audit.
"Government contractors are denying and recouping hundreds of millions of dollars a year from health care providers. Health care providers must understand the new rules of engagement to adequately appeal and defend against these denials," said Wachler.
The session's primary objectives are to examine the current reforms to the Medicare appeals process, including new regulations aimed at reducing the backlog of pending appeals, learn about initiatives of the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals designed to enable providers to participate in open settlement discussions with CMS and Discover practical tips and strategies for appealing overpayment determinations and claim denials.
Published: Mon, Jun 19, 2017
