Legal People ...

An investiture ceremony was held on Tuesday, Nov. 17, for Judge Cynthia M. Arvant who was appointed to the Oakland County 46th District Court by Governor Rick Snyder in July to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Chief Judge William Richards. The 46th District Court serves the cities of Southfield and Lathrup Village, the Villages of Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms and Franklin, and the Township of Southfield.

Prior to her appointment to the bench, Arvant spent six years at the 46th District Court, appointed by the judges to serve in various roles.  She was hired as the court’s research attorney in 2009 and was appointed as magistrate in 2010, serving in both capacities until 2012, when she was appointed as court administrator. She served in the dual roles of court administrator and magistrate until her appointment to the bench.

Arvant welcomed family and friends to the ceremony which was held at the Southfield Council Chambers.  She was given the Oath of Office by Richards whose very seat she now fills. 

“I was honored to have friends, family and colleagues share this important event with me,” Arvant said.  “I am thankful for the tremendous support as I transition into this new role at the court, and look forward to serving the people of Southfield, Lathrup Village, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, and Franklin.”

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Butzel Long attorney and shareholder David F. DuMouchel, who chairs the firm’s Internal Investigation and White Collar Practice Group, has been named one of the Top 10 Lawyers in the state of Michigan by DBusiness magazine. DuMouchel’s practice specializes in the areas of white collar criminal defense, professional licensure and criminal health care, criminal IRS investigations of both taxpayers and professionals, SEC enforcement of corporate executives, public corruption, as well as grand jury investigations, internal corporate investigations and compliance. 

In 2013, DuMouchel was appointed to serve as a voting member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission Practitioners Advisory Group. One person from each of the 11 federal circuits is appointed to this group.

He also was appointed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan as a member of the Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel, and was appointed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as a member of the Planning Committee for the 2015 Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference.

DuMouchel is a recipient of the Leonard Gilman Award from the Federal Bar Association as the outstanding criminal law practitioner in the Eastern District of Michigan. He was named by Best Lawyers as the “2010 Detroit Criminal Defense: White-Collar Lawyer of the Year.”

He has been listed in each Best Lawyers edition for the last 30 years, up to and including the most recent. He also is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers, and in Michigan Super Lawyers. DuMouchel is a frequent speaker on internal corporate investigations and federal criminal procedural matters.

DuMouchel is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization limited to one percent of the trial lawyers in a state by invitation; serves as a member of the Criminal Procedure Committee; and, is a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers. DuMouchel served as the first chairman of the State of Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission.

In addition, Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Angela Emmerling Shapiro recently passed the Certified E-Discovery Specialists certification examination, earning the right to use the prestigious CEDS designation.

The CEDS credential is earned by individuals who pass a comprehensive four-hour examination that provides a tough and objective measure of an individual’s mastery of all aspects of E-Discovery. The certification program is administered by the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS). In addition to handling traditional litigation matters, Shapiro oversees all stages of the E-Discovery life cycle for her clients. She assists with information management, developing and executing preservation plans, working with IT and vendors to identify and collect data, creating efficient review workflows, assessing and utilizing technology assisted review where appropriate, managing contract reviewers, negotiating production protocols and approving final deliverables for production. She also has litigated electronic discovery issues, including spoliation and cost shifting.

Shapiro also serves as the chair of Butzel Long’s Women’s Leadership Committee and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel (MDTC). She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, the Oakland County Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association.

Shapiro graduated from Michigan State University (1994) and the Michigan State University College of Law (1998) and is admitted to practice in all Michigan state and federal courts, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Butzel Long also announces that James S. Rosenfeld, labor and employment attorney, will discuss “Hot Topics in HR” during a program presented by Automation Alley on December 8 in Troy. 

Rosenfeld along with Gail Cober, director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Detroit Field Office, will discuss hot topics in legal employment from employer, employee and agency perspectives.

Based in Butzel Long’s Detroit office, Rosenfeld has served as the manager of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and has experience in litigating a wide variety of labor and employment cases. 

He has completed 40-hour General Civil Case Mediator Training and has served as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School teaching alternative dispute resolution.  He frequently lectures and conducts training for employers and supervisors on various employment issues. 

Rosenfeld is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Michigan Super Lawyers in Labor and Employment,.   He is a winner of the 2013 Client Choice Awards, presented by the International Law Office (ILO) and Lexology.

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Demorest Law Firm PLLC is pleased to announce that managing member, Mark Demorest, was once again selected a Top Lawyer in Metro Detroit by DBusiness Magazine for 2015, in the category of real estate.  This is the fourth different category in which Mark has been selected as a DBusiness Top Lawyer.

“Our firm handles business and real estate transactions and litigation.  We view ourselves as business and real estate generalists, unlike many attorneys in larger firms who have narrow specialties.  We believe that this broader perspective enables us to better serve our clients,” stated Demorest.  This strategy has been validated by Demorest’s selection as a Top Lawyer in four different, but related, categories.  In addition to his 2015 selection for real estate law, Demorest has previously been selected as a DBusiness Top Lawyer in the areas of business law (2010), condemnation and eminent domain (2011), and business litigation (2012).

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Ronda Tate Truvillion has been named partner at Lewis & Munday PC, one of the nation’s oldest and largest law firms founded by African-Americans.

Tate Truvillion began working at the firm during her third year of law school after Wayne State University Law School’s former Dean of Students Michelle Miller recommended her for a law clerk position. To this day, Tate Truvillion still credits much of her career success to the guidance and wisdom that she received from Miller and other caring administrative staff at Wayne Law.

As a member of the firm’s Litigation Group, Tate Truvillion represents a wide array of clients in the public and private sectors, ranging from municipalities to Fortune 100 corporations. Her legal practice includes labor and employment law, commercial litigation, insurance defense and appellate law. Prior to joining Lewis & Munday, she interned for the U.S. Distrcit Court Judge Victoria A. Roberts, Eastern District of Michigan, and the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

Since the inception of her legal career, Tate Truvillion has demonstrated a commitment to enriching the metropolitan Detroit community through both work and service. She is past president of the Wolverine Bar Association (WBA) and she has served on the board of directors for the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association’s Barristers Section (DMBA).

She has distinguished herself in the labor and employment field by becoming the youngest attorney appointed to the Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s (ICLE) Labor and Employment Advisory Board in 2011. Tate Truvillion regularly serves as a faculty presenter for ICLE’s Annual Labor and Employment Institute and as a panelist for an array of local and national programs.

An avid proponent of youth education and empowerment, Tate Truvillion has further dedicated herself to engaging in career development programming for students. In addition to coordinating programs for the WBA and DMBA, she has volunteered with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and Just the Beginning Foundation, among other organizations. Through her participation in these groups, she is regularly paired with new mentees. Over the years, she has helped a dozen young women gain admission to college or law school and pass their bar examinations.

In recognition of her commitment to professional and public service, Tate Truvillion has received the State Bar of Michigan Regeana Myrick Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, University of Michigan Black Alumni Young Alumni Award, and U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan Pro Bono Recognition Award. She has also been repeatedly named a Rising Star by Michigan Super Lawyers and selected as an honoree for the Michigan Lawyers Weekly Up and Coming Lawyers, as well as Who’s Who in Black Detroit.

Tate Truvillion received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.

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DBusiness magazine recently named 11 attorneys from Plunkett Cooney to its 2016 list of “Top Lawyers.”

Below is a list of Plunkett Cooney’s attorney who have received the 2016 DBusiness Top Lawyer designation:

D. Jennifer Andreou (partner, Detroit) – Medical Malpractice Law.
Michael P. Ashcraft Jr. (partner, Bloomfield Hills) – Professional Malpractice Law.
Douglas C. Bernstein (partner, Bloomfield Hills) – Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights Law, Banking and Financial Service Law.
Charles W. Browning (partner, Bloomfield Hills) – Insurance Law.
James R. Geroux (partner, Detroit) – Workers’ Compensation Law.
Mary Massaron (partner, Bloomfield Hills) – Appellate Law.
Megan P. McKnight (associate, Bloomfield Hills) – Information Management & Discovery Law.
Saulius K. Mikalonis (senior attorney, Bloomfield Hills) – Environmental Law.
Kenneth C. Newa (partner, Bloomfield Hills) – Insurance Law.
Stanley A. Prokop (partner, Detroit) – Insurance Law.
Anthony J. Rusciano (partner, Bloomfield Hills) – Health Care Law.

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Robert J. Gordon, a partner at Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss PC, has been appointed as co-chair to the Jewish Education and Identity Division (JEdI) of the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit (JFMD). He has also been appointed a member of the Jewish Education/ Engagement Steering Committee of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Jaffe CEO William Sider made the announcement. As a member of JEdI, Gordon will be responsible for engaging more Jewish children, teens and adults of all ages in meaningful Jewish experiences that enhance connections to Judaism and the Jewish community.

As a member of the Jewish Education/Engagement Steering Committee of JFNA, Gordon is responsible for shaping strategies to enhance the cohesiveness of the Jewish community across North America and ensure all JFNA initiatives are driven by the needs of local federations.

Gordon serves in Jaffe’s Corporate Practice Group, where he specializes in business law and transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, formation, governance and operations, general contract and succession planning.

In addition to his two positions with JEdI and JFNA, Gordon serves on the North American Board of Trustees of the Union of Reform Judaism and the Michigan Advisory Committee of the United States Civil Rights Commission. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of the Boston University School of Law.