LEGAL PEOPLE

Jennifer Dukarski, Butzel attorney and shareholder, was featured during the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE)’s Health Law Institute on March 15 in Plymouth.

Dukarski co-presented a program with Lauren Williens, in-house counsel, Henry Ford Health. The presentation was titled, “Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: It’s Happening. It’s Here. Now What?” The session included an overview of machine learning, language models (LLMs), rule-based expert systems, precision medicine, and challenges health care will face when adopting AI.

Dukarski focuses her practice at the intersection of technology and communications with an emphasis on emerging and disruptive issues: digital media and content, cybersecurity and privacy, artificial intelligence, and connected, electrified and autonomous cars.

Dukarski has become a national leader in legal issues facing emerging technology in multiple sectors including challenging intellectual property issues surrounding data, artificial intelligence and automated systems.

A self-titled “recovering engineer,” Dukarski was named one of the 30 Women Defining the Future of Technology in January 2020 by Warner Communications for her thoughts and contributions to the tech industry.

In addition, Butzel attorney and shareholder Sarah L. Nirenberg is one of 24 attorneys named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s “Go To Lawyers for Employment Law.”

Nirenberg, based in Butzel’s Troy office, specializes in representing employers for litigation in all areas of employment law, including statutory claims under federal and state law for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and payment of wages. She advises employers on various matters where the law is constantly evolving, such as employment applications, arbitration agreements, and workplace drug policies.

Nirenberg formerly served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the Oakland County Bar Association, The Best Lawyers in America - Ones to Watch, Labor and Employment Law - Management Litigation; Litigation - Labor and Employment, 2023, 2024.

Nirenberg was named to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2022 Class of Up & Coming Lawyers. She also has been recognized by Michigan Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, 2023.

She earned a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. She graduated with a B.A.from Michigan State University’s – James Madison College.

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Foley, Baron, Metzger ,& Juip PLLC
is pleased to announce the hiring of attorney Stacey McDaniel as an associate principal with the firm.

McDaniel’s practice focuses on defending health care professionals and organizations in complex medical malpractice claims. Her areas of expertise include neurosurgery, anesthesiology, orthopedics, neurology, birth trauma, cosmetic surgery, ophthalmology, pediatrics, general surgery, radiology, spinal cord stimulators, urology, and nursing home defense.

In addition to her medical malpractice experience, McDaniel has handled a broad range of defense cases including premises liability, general negligence, automobile liability, family law, employment law, workers compensation, and Americans with Disabilities actions.

McDaniel has received multiple no cause verdicts, as both first and second chair, has argued in the Michigan Court of Appeals, and has additional appellate experience in the Michigan Supreme Court. Prior to becoming an attorney, McDaniel worked as a medical assistant for a general practitioner in northeast Ohio for five years.

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Linda Paullin-Hebden,
a partner with Warner Norcross + Judd LLP, has been recognized as All-Star Advisor of the Year by ACG® Detroit for her excellence in mergers and acquisitions.  Her achievements will be recognized by ACG Detroit on May 6.

During 2023, Paullin-Hebden led 14 M&A transactions, nine of which closed during the year, two of which closed during the first quarter of 2024 and three of which are either waiting on regulatory approval or slated to close in the second quarter of 2024. Paullin-Hebden focuses her deal work in two areas: registered investment advisors, or RIAs, and broker-dealers, where she has built a national practice from her office in Detroit, and automotive suppliers.

Paullin-Hebden has 35 years of transaction experience and concentrates her practice in M&A, venture capital, investment adviser compliance and general corporate matters. As co-chair of Warner’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group, she leads nearly 40 attorneys focused on all aspects of M&A transactions for sellers, buyers, investors, independent director committees, management groups and others across the nation. Under her direction, Warner is launching a new video series for RIAs considering a merger or sale that will highlight the complexities – and potential pitfalls – in doing deals in this highly regulated area.  

A recognized leader at Warner, Paullin-Hebden has served as executive partner of the firm’s Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, and Southfield offices, on the Management Committee and as chair of the Corporate Practice Group, one of the largest groups in the firm.

Paullin-Hebden has been recognized by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a “Leader in the Law” and as one of its leading “Women in Law.” Crain’s Detroit Business has named her to its list of “Notable Women in the Law,” “100 Most Influential Women” and one of its “Notable Women Lawyers in Michigan.” DBusiness named her to its Detroit 500 list of influential business leaders and as a Top Lawyer in Securities Law. Additionally, she has been honored by Best Lawyers in America® and as a Michigan Super Lawyer for many years.

Paullin-Hebden serves on the board of the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Paullin-Hebden earned an undergraduate degree from Alma College and her law degree from Wayne State University Law School.

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Amanda Rice
of Jones Day has been named among Crain’s Detroit Business’ 2024 “Notable Women in Law.”

Rice’s practice focuses on appellate advocacy, critical motions, and difficult legal questions covering a range of substantive areas, including constitutional law, statutory interpretation, arbitration issues, Title IX questions, and class actions.

Rice has particular experience at the U.S. Supreme Court, which appointed her to brief and argue a Fourth Amendment question in Lange v. California, and she has played a primary role in drafting many other Supreme Court merits briefs, several successful petitions for certiorari, and a number of significant amicus briefs. She has also drafted dozens of winning briefs filed in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, state appellate courts, and trial courts across the country.

As the Detroit Office’s pro bono partner, Rice coordinates the office’s pro bono efforts and maintains her own active pro bono caseload, with a focus on civil rights, LGBTQ issues, and immigration. She has taught legal writing at the University of Michigan Law School and firearms law at Wayne State University Law School.

Rice also served as a judicial clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary, clerking first for Judge Boasberg on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, then for Judge Tatel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and finally for Justice Elena Kagan on the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Taft
Detroit partner Alicia Schehr will be a moderator during the ICSC+Continuing Education Michigan Conference on April 18. Schehr will moderate a panel discussion on “Interactive Negotiation of a Retail Lease: How to Seal the Deal between the Landlord and Tenant.” The panelists will discuss several contractual provisions from each side of the negotiation table, stepping behind the curtain to determine “why” and “how” landlord and tenant can meet in the middle to successfully finalize a lease agreement.

Schehr focuses her practice on commercial finance and high-end real estate financing, specifically manufactured housing, senior living residences, and multi-family units. She assists in all aspects of financing for both borrowers and lenders, including strategic planning to poise her clients for success beyond their immediate need.

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Kitch
is proud to announce that Michael Geraghty, as part of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel’s Amicus Committee, will be recognized with the Anita Comorski Volunteer of the Year Award during MDTC’s Past President’s Reception in April. This award is given in recognition of committee member’s generous and enthusiastic contributions to the mission and goals of MDTC.

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Harness IP
is pleased to announce that Senior Counsel Greg Schivley  has been named to the 2024 Michigan Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame. Schivley is honored for his outsized impact on the firm, his practice, and his communities for nearly 50 years.

Schivley’s practice focuses on global intellectual property (IP). He is a primary architect of the firm’s international growth strategy, and his productive work protecting clients’ innovations is a key reason for the opening of Harness IP’s Washington, D.C. post for its proximity to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He served as a member of the firm’s Administrative Committee as well as the Nominating Committee, responsible for developing associates into partners and choosing the most qualified to join their ranks. Among the firm’s roster of over 100 attorneys and patent agents, approximately one-third of the firm’s partners were hired by Schivley. He joined Harness Dickey (as the firm was known) in 1984 after beginning his career as a senior patent engineer at General Motors.

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Joseph Kimble,
a distinguished professor emeritus at Cooley Law School, has been recognized by TopLaw for his article “Minimize Prepositional Phrases. Question Every of (Part 1).” The article received an inaugural TopLaw 50 Award for 2024. It was a top-10 pick — as measured by reader clicks — within its LitigationWorld newletter Pick of the Week features.

Kimble’s article, published in Judicature by Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School in Summer 2023, examines unnecessary prepositional phrases. In his article, Kimble writes: “They are, in my view, the prime cause of sentence-level verbosity in legal writing. And the prime offender is of-phrases—hence my advice to question every ‘of.’ Naturally, not all prepositional phrases can be eliminated—perhaps most of them can’t be—but tight prose minimizes them.”

Kimble offers three techniques (with examples) to minimize prepositional phrases:

• Use a possessive form
• Change the prepositional phrase to an adjective
• Cut the prepositional phrase entirely

Kimble said of the award: “That article was actually the first of a two-parter in a column I do for Judicature called ‘Redlines.’ In the second part, I offered two more techniques: “liquidate zombie nouns” and “use the active voice” (with certain exceptions). It’s nice to see that readers found the advice useful. Let’s hope that they follow it—for the sake of their own readers.”