Get to Know Andrea Hayden

By Jo Mathis
Legal News

Andrea Hayden specializes in matters related to infrastructure, energy and environmental law as well as general business matters. She started her legal career with Fausone Bohn in 2008. She then practiced in the Detroit office of a national law firm for five years. In 2016, she joined DTE Energy to work on energy and environmental matters and also represented the company’s electric and gas utilities before the Michigan Public Service Commission. In July 2019, she returned to Fausone Bohn.

The Beverly Hills resident is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. Prior to her legal career, she worked for an environmental engineering firm for four years.

When you were considering law school, what was Plan B? Law school was my Plan B. I started out as an engineer and got involved as a fact witness in a nuisance lawsuit involving a hazardous waste disposal site. I enjoyed the experience and it got me exploring a potential second career in law. After four years as an engineering consultant, I decided to go to law school.

What is your proudest moment as a lawyer? Probably the first time I won a case on a motion for summary disposition. I was a young lawyer and had a file handed to me on a subject I knew nothing about. The attorney on the other side was much more experienced and I had never argued a motion for summary disposition before. I was probably way over-prepared because the judge ruled from the bench, but it was the right outcome and it was very gratifying especially because I was just starting out.

What would surprise people about your job?
How diverse it is. Every client brings new issues, factual and legal, that require you to constantly think differently.

What is the best advice you ever received?
Early on in my career I received a bad opinion in a case and I did not handle it well. Someone much wiser than me told me to take a breath, wait 24 hours, then regroup and figure out what the next step should be. It’s advice I have learned to use in all areas of my life. Unless something is actually on fire, take a minute before reacting.

What was always written on your grade school report card? There was a pretty diverse assortment of letters up until I got to high school. Then it got real boring.

What is your happiest childhood memory? My childhood best friend and I would save our allowances and every week in the summer we would walk to the corner store down the block from our houses to buy packs of Topps baseball cards — the kind in the wax paper with the rock-hard piece of bubble gum. We would spend hours sorting them and trading them. That memory, and baking Christmas cookies with my mom.

What is your most treasured material possession? A few years ago my grandparents gave me the crystal set they received for a wedding gift almost 75 years ago. I felt very honored they offered it to me and it is the only possession of mine that is not subject to my 3-year rule (if it has not been used in three years, it is donated or discarded).

What were you doing in your last selfie? I was at a golf outing. In fact, my last two selfies were at golf outings. I’m mediocre at best, but I keep going back.

What question do you most often ask yourself? Every day: “What does my calendar look like tomorrow?” I live by my calendar.

If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be? My four-year-old son. I don’t remember anything from when I was that age. I would love to be able see the world through his eyes and to process it and appreciate it as an adult.

What’s the most awe-inspiring place you’ve ever been?
The top of a mountain—I’ve climbed several out west and summiting 14,000-foot peaks really resets your frame of mind.

 

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