LEGAL PEOPLE

Plunkett Cooney continued the growth of its Transportation Law Practice Group with the recent addition of attorney Michael C. Dennis.

Dennis is an associate in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office who concentrates his practice on the defense of insurers, corporations and individuals in a broad range of civil litigation matters.

While previously serving as in-house counsel for a Fortune 1000 property and casualty insurance company, Dennis developed expertise with first-party no-fault and third-party automobile negligence litigation, insurance coverage disputes and subrogation claims. He also has experience defending personal injury, premises, product and general liability cases throughout Michigan.

Dennis received his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law in 2011. While there, he served as a judicial extern for Judge Joseph A. Costello Jr. He also clerked for the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office.

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Twenty-four Fraser Trebilcock attorneys have been selected for inclusion in the list of Michigan’s Leading Lawyers for 2019.  Among those listed was local attorney Michael P. Donnelly, Commercial Litigation.

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Potestivo & Associates PC, a legal services provider to the default servicing industry, is proud to announce it has been selected for “The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” in the National competition. The firm will be honored at a ceremony in September, where a representative from the firm will accept the award.

“We are very proud to, once again, be named among the Best & Brightest Companies. It is truly an honor to be the recipients of this award. This award recognizes the high standard that we set for ourselves, to create and maintain a positive work environment,” President and Managing Attorney Brian Potestivo commented.

Potestivo & Associates PC has received similar awards in the past, including being named one of “Crain’s Cool Places to Work” and ranking in the “Detroit Free Press Top 100 Workplaces.”

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Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney Timothy Clise has joined the firm’s Troy office as Of Counsel.

Clise specializes in U.S. and international patent preparation and prosecution in the electrical, mechanical, and software arts. His practice also includes preparing opinions, including freedom to operate, patentability opinions, infringement opinions, and intellectual property transactions. He also advises his clients on designs, trademarks and trade secrets as part of his client’s worldwide intellectual property portfolios.

Clise’s experience spans across a wide range of industries and technologies. He has experience counseling clients from large, Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups. He has prepared and prosecuted patent applications on a variety of technologies including telecommunications, computers, computer software, fintech, gaming systems, automotive technologies, consumer appliances/electronics, building products, semiconductor fabrication and medical devices.

Clise is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the State Bar of Minnesota, as well as being registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and his law degree from the University of Dayton.

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Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Sarah L. Cylkowski, of the firm’s Detroit office, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Detroit Bar Association Foundation Board of Trustees.

The Detroit Bar Association Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that works to improve and facilitate the administration of justice in Detroit and throughout the State of Michigan. It is affiliated with the Detroit Bar Association which was founded in 1836 and is the oldest bar association in Michigan and one of the three oldest in the United States.

Cylkowski is a member of Bodman’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, Health Care, Insurance and Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Groups. She litigates complex matters in state and federal court, with a particular focus on commercial health care disputes, class actions, e-discovery and antitrust cases.  Her clients include insurance companies, banks, automotive manufacturers and various other corporate commercial litigants.  

Cylkowski is a long-time active member of the Detroit Bar Association and its young lawyers section, the Barristers. In 2017, she received the Barristers Pro Bono Award for her work seeking resentencing for Michigan prison inmates who had been sentences to mandatory life sentences under now-outmoded guidelines for crimes committed as juveniles.

Cylkowski is a contributor to Bodman’s pro bono program and is active with various community and charitable organizations. She is a co-founder of TechRead, a charitable organization that partners with community programs to identify a reading need, then raises money to buy technology, such as e-readers, to give students access to a wider range of reading materials.