Plunkett Cooney
Douglas C. Bernstein, a partner at Plunkett Cooney, was recently selected as a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.
The college board approved Bernstein’s nomination to become a fellow during its October meeting in Las Vegas. He is the only Michigan attorney, as well as the only attorney from the federal Sixth Circuit, nominated for the 2018 class. He will join 21 other attorneys from Michigan who are also fellows in the college.
A member of the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office and the firm’s Banking, Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights Practice Group leader, Bernstein concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, loan restructuring, commercial loan documentation, bankruptcy, banking-related litigation and appeals.
Prior to joining Plunkett Cooney, Bernstein worked as an in-house attorney at Michigan National Corporation for more than 20 years. He subsequently joined the Standard Federal Bank Legal Department when the bank merged with Michigan National Corporation in 2001.
Bernstein earned his undergraduate degree in 1978 from Wayne State University and his law degree in 1982 from the Detroit College of Law (now Michigan?State University College of Law). He has received several honors for his legal work, including an AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell, a leading peer-to-peer professional ratings service, and selection as a Michigan Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers magazine from 2008 to 2017 and a Best Lawyers in America® from 2014 to 2018.
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Bodman PLC
Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that several associate attorneys have joined the firm: Megan Baxter-Labut, Jaron M. Bentley, Serena G. Rabie, Christopher Rambus, and Tyler D. Schofield. All were members of the firm’s 2016 class of summer associates.
Baxter-Labut is a member of Bodman’s Banking Practice Group in the Detroit office. Before becoming an attorney, she gained experience as a border service officer with the Canada Border Service Agency. In that role, she worked extensively on matters involving Canadian commercial importation and immigration laws, NAFTA, the Canadian Customs Act, and other laws and regulations affecting cross-border commerce. She also worked as a quality control supervisor for Canada’s national statistics agency, Statistics Canada, and as a human resources officer for multiple organizations. Baxter-Labut earned her law degree from Wayne State University Law School.
Rabie is a member of the Litigation Practice Group practicing in Bodman’s Troy office. She represents clients involved in complex commercial litigation matters. She served as a summer judicial clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Stephen J. Murphy III, Eastern District of Michigan. She earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Rabie is fluent in Arabic.
Rambus is a member of the High Net Worth practice group, representing individual clients in connection with estate planning and related tax matters and the administration of complex trusts and estates. In addition to serving as a summer associate with Bodman, Rambus served as a law clerk with a southeast Michigan-based litigation defense law firm. He also worked as a client services executive with a global business consulting firm, as a sales and marketing intern with an international software company, and as a development intern and small banking liaison for the Urban Affairs Coalition, a Philadelphia-based community development organization. Rambus earned his law degree from Wayne Law.
Schofield is a member of the Real Estate Practice Group in Bodman’s Detroit office. He represents businesses and individual clients in connection with commercial and significant residential real estate transactions. Prior to his summer with Bodman, he served as a legal extern to Judge Kathleen Kennedy of the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division. He has held a variety of roles with sports organizations dedicated to baseball and hockey, including as bookkeeper, head coach, and general manager. Schofield is a graduate of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
In addition, Bodman is pleased to announce that ProsperUS Detroit, a non-profit organization that works to revitalize communities by concentrating micro-enterprise development in low-income immigrant and minority neighborhoods, has named the firm its “Service Provider of the Year” for 2017.
Bodman has partnered with ProsperUS since 2014 by providing free legal services to its qualifying entrepreneur clients and their small businesses that would otherwise not be able to afford legal assistance.
Bodman received the award on November 15 at the ProsperUS Detroit Fall Convening, an event which brings together ProsperUS staff, clients, community partners, and service providers who assist their clients. Bodman is the first recipient of the Service Provider of the Year award.
Bodman’s multi-award winning pro bono program is managed by a full-time pro bono counsel, Kimberly A. Paulson, under the guidance of a standing Pro Bono Committee chaired by firm members Susan M. Kornfield and Christopher J. Dine. Paulson joined Bodman 2012 and is one of only three dedicated pro bono counsel to be employed by large Michigan law firms.
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The Miller Law Firm
After 4 years of distinguished service to the City of Detroit, Melvin Butch Hollowell is stepping down as Detroit’s corporation counsel and has accepted the position of managing partner of The Miller Law Firm Detroit. As managing partner, Hollowell will launch the Detroit office with the aim of expanding the firm’s national presence and building a strong base of talented attorneys in Detroit.
In his time with the City of Detroit, Hollowell has had a string of accomplishments including:
• Reducing litigation payouts by nearly 50%, from a historic average of $30 million per year to $16 million in 2016.
• Led the case that ended 11 years of Department of Justice oversight of the Detroit Police Department, saving the City $86,000 per month and establishing the Detroit Police Department as a constitutional policing agency.
• Collected $20 million from bankruptcy consultants for overbilling.
• Created the Commercial Blight Unit to hold property owners accountable for compliance with City of Detroit standards.
• Created Income Tax Unit which has collected $5.3 Million to date.
• Managed the City’s legal process through the 2014 bankruptcy proceedings.
• Created Project Clean Slate, a pioneering program in which 100 volunteer lawyers and law students provide free legal representation in non-violent criminal expungements.
“The last four years has been a remarkable period in the life of our City,” Hollowell said. “It has been the high honor of my professional career to have served as Corporation Counsel during this period, and I am very grateful to Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit City Council for giving me the opportunity to serve in this role. I also want to thank the talented men and women of the Law Department for their skill and dedication to justice.
“While I will miss my colleagues at City Hall, I am looking forward to the opportunity of joining The Miller Law Firm as Managing Partner of its new Detroit office in January, 2018.”
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Butzel Long
Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Robin Luce Herrmann has been elected to the Executive Committee of The Defense Counsel Section of the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC). The MLRC Executive Committee oversees activities of MLRC’s law firm members.
The MLRC, founded in 1980, is the leading professional association for media organizations and their lawyers. It provides its members with a wide-range of resources, including: daily updates on legal, regulatory and legislative developments; numerous publications; legal and policy analysis; media litigation practice guides; and national and international media law conferences. MLRC has more than 110 media company members. The MLRC Defense Counsel Section includes over 200 law firms which represent media clients.
Herrmann leads Butzel Long’s media team and concentrates her practice in the areas of media law, particularly defamation and access issues; commercial litigation; and civil rights.
At the same time, Herrmann serves as general counsel to the Michigan Press Association, the official trade association for the newspapers of Michigan, with more than 300 members throughout the State.
She previously taught Law of the Press in the Journalism Department at Oakland University. Herrmann has been a guest speaker on Law of the Press at Wayne State University, Central Michigan University, and Oakland University.
Herrmann earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law).
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Dickinson Wright PLLC
Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that attorney William H. Honaker is co-author of the “Entrepreneur’s Guide to Michigan Medical Marijuana Laws.”
Honaker contributed his intellectual property expertise to provide readers with information for identifying and protecting a business’ intellectual property within the medical marijuana industry. “Entrepreneur’s Guide to Michigan Medical Marijuana Laws” is a step-by-step guide, written by some of Michigan’s top legal and financial experts, on how to start and run a successful business within a growing industry. To learn more about this book, visit Amazon.com.
With more than 25 years of experience, Honaker has knowledge and expertise in all aspects of patent, trademark, trade secret, and copyright matters including litigation in a broad range of technologies/industries. For his clients, he evaluates patents, trademarks and copyrights along with advising clients on the protection of inventions, trademarks and copyrightable subject matter. His representation includes Fortune 500 companies, small to mid-size privately held companies and startups.
Honaker is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the International Trademark Association. He is recognized as a leader in his field by Best Lawyers in America and Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars. Honaker received his B.S.M.E. from the University of Toledo and his law degree from University of Toledo College of Law.
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Kotz Sangster
DBusiness Magazine has published its annual listing of Top Lawyers for 2018 in Metro Detroit. This year, 13 attorneys from Kotz Sangster’s offices in Detroit and Bloomfield Hills have been recognized. The recognition includes the primary practice area(s) for which each attorney has been selected. Those recognized include:
• Ed Boucher – Construction Law
• Courtney Ciullo – Litigation / Commercial
• George Curran – Environmental Law
• David de Reyna – Trusts and Estates
• Joe Dragovic – Health Care Law
• Dennis Egan – Securities Litigation
• Rob Goldi – Banking and Financial Service Law
• Phil Grashoff – Environmental Law
• Ed Gusky – Banking and Financial Service Law
• Ed Gusky – Real Estate Law
• Jeff Sangster – Litigation / Construction
• Keith Soltis – Health Care Law
• Jeff Sternberg – Trusts and Estates
• Greg Wysocki – Mergers & Acquisitions
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Lipson, Neilson, Cole, Seltzer & Garin P.C.
Sandra D. Glazier, a principal of the Lipson, Neilson, Cole, Seltzer, Garin PC law firm, will co-present along with Laura Joy Lattman a webinar titled, “Disputes Over Estate or Trust Administration.” Sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Section of Real Property, Trust, and Estate Law, and approved for 1.50 general CLE credit hours, this webinar will be held on December 5, from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
An attorney for more than 35 years, Glazier is known for her expertise and successful track record in probate litigation, estate planning, trust and estate administration, and family law matters. The cases she works on tend to be very complex and require technical as well as legal expertise. Glazier has represented contestants and proponents of estate planning documents, as well as fiduciaries, in significant trust litigation proceedings. An AV Preeminent® rated attorney, she has also been recognized by “Super Lawyers” in probate litigation and a “Top Lawyer” by DBusiness, in the areas of probate, estate and family law.
Glazier has had numerous articles published by some of the legal industry’s leading publications. In addition, she has presented on estate planning and probate litigation related topics for the American Bar Association, Notre Dame Tax and Estate Planning Institute, Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium, Michigan’s Institute of Continuing Education, Oakland County Bar Association, Wayne County Probate Court appointed attorney training, Wilmington Trust’s New York Trust Symposium, and the Bloomberg BNA Estate and Gift Tax Advisory Board. She has also taught “Valuation for Federal, Estate and Gift Tax Purposes” in a Masters level course.
