Legal People

Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Holly A. Hubert has joined the firm as a staff attorney.

Hubert is a member of Bodman's Enterprise Procurement Group and is based in the firm's Troy office. She represents business clients in connection with a variety of commercial transactions, including the drafting and negotiation of vendor contracts.

Before joining Bodman as a staff attorney Hubert worked as a research clerk for a boutique general practice law firm in the metro Detroit area where she drafted briefs and memoranda and conducted research on a variety of legal matters involving real estate, contract, general corporate, warranties, the Consumer Protection Act, and related issues.

Hubert received her law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan (Information Technology Law Section) and the Oakland County Bar Association.

- - -

Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that the firm has received five practice rankings and 15 attorneys in Michigan have been ranked in this year's The Legal 500 United States 2019.

The Legal 500 United States 2019 recognized Dickinson Wright in the following practice areas:

  • Dispute Resolution General Commercial Disputes

  • Labor and Employment Labor and Employment Disputes (including Collective Actions): Defense

  • M&A/Corporate and Commercial M&A: Middle-Market (sub-$500m)

  • Real Estate Construction (including Construction Litigation)

  • Real Estate

The Legal 500 United States 2019 recognized the following local Dickinson Wright attorneys in Michigan as "Recommended Lawyers":

Dispute Resolution General Commercial Disputes

  • Thomas McNeill, Detroit
  • Daniel Quick, Troy

Labor and Employment Labor and Employment Disputes (including Collective Actions): Defense

  • Ben Dolan, Troy
  • Timothy Howlett, Detroit
  • Kathryn Wood, Troy

M&A/Corporate and Commercial M&A: Middle-Market (sub-$500m)

  • Richard Bolton, Detroit
  • Mark High, Detroit
  • Andrew MacLeod, Detroit

Real Estate Construction (including Construction Litigation)

  • Peter Webster, Troy

Real Estate

  • Stephen Dawson, Troy
  • Michael Lusardi, Troy
  • Katheryne Zelenock, Troy

Dickinson Wright is also pleased to announce that attorney Dan Quick (member, Troy) has been elected president of the Oakland County Bar Association (OCBA). Quick was sworn in at the OCBA Annual Meeting on June 3.

"I am humbled and honored to serve the Oakland County Bar Association as president for the 2019-2020 term," said Quick. "I look forward to working with the OCBA Board of Directors and our members to continue to advance and enrich the legal profession in Oakland County while building on the great work that OCBA does in the community."

The OCBA was formally established in 1934 by a small group of young attorneys with the express purpose of connecting Oakland County legal professionals with their colleagues, advancing and enriching the profession, serving the public, and promoting comradery. As the largest voluntary bar association in Michigan, the OCBA is committed to public service projects, committee work, and lending a strong and influential voice on current legislative activities and court rules. To learn more, visit www.ocba.org.

Quick is a commercial litigation trial attorney who specializes in business torts (including minority shareholder and "business divorce disputes," trade secrets, and noncompetes) and all facets of intellectual property litigation. He is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and is recognized as a leader in his field by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Michigan Super Lawyers, and DBusiness. He also serves on the Board of Commissioners of the State Bar of Michigan and is on the Governing Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Litigation. Quick received his B.A. and law degree from the University of Michigan.

In addition, Dickinson Wright is pleased to announce that Scott McBain and Paul Rodriguez have joined the firm's Troy office as members.

McBain concentrates his practice on domestic and international IP procurement and IP counseling, transactions and strategies for the protection and enforcement of IP assets. He has been an IP attorney for more than 25 years and has experience in licensing and other complex technology transfers, including IP due diligence and supporting the activities surrounding mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and IPOs.

McBain is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Intellectual Property Owners Association, and the State Bar of Michigan's Intellectual Property Law Section. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Michigan Technological University Alumni Association. McBain received his B.S. from Michigan Technological University and his law degree from Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School, magna cum laude.

Rodriguez assists individuals, small businesses, and Fortune 100 companies in building and managing intellectual property portfolios. He has experience in many areas of intellectual property law, with a focus on patent and trademark matters. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as various bar and professional organizations.

Rodriguez received his B.S.E. from the University of Michigan and his law degree from DePaul University College of Law.

- - -

Dykema recently announced that Eric S. Klein, a member in the firm's Bloomfield Hills office, has been appointed as leader of Dykema's Health Care Practice Group.

Throughout his career, Klein has devoted his practice to representing clients in the health care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory issues, including hospitals, physician groups, ambulatory surgery centers, dental service organizations, medical billing companies, and managed care organizations. In particular, he has provided counsel to clients on compliance and reimbursement issues as well as health facility and physician practice acquisitions and other changes of ownership, including related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters. Klein has also advised clients regarding governmental investigations, compliance programs, and structuring businesses and transactions while addressing anti-kickback, Stark and other legal restrictions.

Prior to joining Dykema, Klein gained experience working for Health Net Inc., a health insurance company, where he developed financial models to analyze hospital, physician group, and ancillary contracts.

Klein received his law degree from George Washington University and a B.A. from Yale University.

- - -

Michael A. Stone, an experienced attorney and a major general in the Michigan National Guard, has joined law firm Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP as senior counsel.

At Warner, Stone will bring expertise from his nearly 20-year career serving in both the public and private sector as part of the firm's Cybersecurity and Privacy and Government Contracting practice groups. He will practice in the firm's Southfield office.

Prior to joining Warner, Stone had a military career culminating in his position as assistant adjutant general, deputy director and commanding general of the 46th Military Police Command of the Michigan National Guard. As part of his service, Stone was deployed overseas on three occasions, including two combat tours in the Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He was chair of the National Guard Association of U.S. Cyber Task Force and also was a former member of the Michigan Governor Cyber Executive Team. Stone also served as a military police brigade fiscal officer, initiating more than $900 million in contracts to support combat zone operations.

Over the past several years, Stone was the CEO of Stone IP LLC, an intellectual property firm where he licensed rights to advanced filtration and alternative energy technologies. He previously served as president to Carew Filtration Systems and its related companies, was general counsel and corporate secretary at Eastman Outdoors and corporate counsel at Plastipak Packaging, Absopure Water Co. He was also a litigation attorney at Kell & Lynch and a trial attorney with Secrest, Wardle, Lynch, Hampton, Truex, & Morley.

As a citizen-soldier, Stone earned numerous awards and decorations including the Bronze Star, National Guard Association of Michigan's Soldier of the Year-Army, General George C. Marshall Leadership Award and the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award-Michigan. He has also been recognized for his work by the National Defense Industrial Association (Silver Medal), Merit Networks - Innovation in Networking and Information Technology Award and was the 2018 recipient of the Governor's Energy Excellence Award as the Innovator of the Year.

Stone earned his bachelor degree from the University of Detroit. He completed his law degree from Michigan State University College of Law. Stone also received a master of science degree from the U.S. Army War College.

- - -

The Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ) recently announced attorney Robert J. MacDonald of MacDonald & MacDonald PLLC has officially begun his tenure as the association's 67th president. MacDonald was unanimously elected by the MAJ general membership and ceremoniously sworn in by Michigan Supreme Court Justice David Viviano at MAJ's annual banquet May 11 in Detroit. His one-year term runs from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020.

"It is a tremendous honor to lead an organization made up of men and women who fight every day to make sure that ordinary folks can obtain justice, even when taking on the rich, powerful, and well-connected," MacDonald said. "Now, more than ever, the people of Michigan-workers, the disabled, accident victims, and consumers-need advocates who will stand up for them. Government has a solemn moral responsibility to provide a civil justice system and social safety net that protects the injured and the vulnerable. MAJ members are more determined than ever to ensure that Michigan law provides fair and just relief and remedies to those in need and to those who have been harmed or wronged."

MacDonald, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, has been practicing law for more than 20 years and specializes in workers' compensation, Social Security disability, and personal injury. He and members of his family have been representing disabled workers in Flint and throughout Michigan for over 80 years.

Joining MAJ in 1997, MacDonald has served as an officer in the association for the past four years, holding positions as treasurer, secretary, vice president and president-elect. He is also a board member of the Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group. He belongs to several professional organizations, including the State Bar of Michigan sections on Workers' Compensation, Negligence, and Labor and Employment Law; National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives; American Association for Justice; Pound Civil Justice Institute; and Public Justice.

He has been recognized by Ten Leaders, Age 45 and Under, Michigan Personal Injury Lawyers, 2011-14; Michigan Super Lawyers, 2013-2019; and Leading Lawyers, Workers' Compensation & Social Security Disability, 2014-2019. MacDonald served on the Flint Public Library Board of Trustees as treasurer from 2004-2010 and president from 2010-2011.

Along with MacDonald, new MAJ officers for 2019-20 are:

  • President-Elect Donna M. MacKenzie, Olsman, MacKenzie, Peacock, & Wallace PC.
  • Vice President Ronald K. Weiner, Lipton Law PC.
  • Secretary Stuart A. Sklar, Fabian, Sklar, King, & Liss PC.
  • Treasurer Jennifer L. McManus, Fagan McManus PC.
  • Immediate Past President Debra A. Freid, Freid, Gallagher, Taylor, & Associates PC.

- - -

Bloomfield Hills attorney George Googasian has been presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who's Who, a premier publisher of biographical profiles.

With more than 55 years of legal experience, Googasian serves as the founding partner at The Googasian Firm in Bloomfield Hills, where he specializes in catastrophic injury cases, consumer class actions, and complex commercial litigation. He began his legal career in the early 1960s and gained expertise as an assistant U.S. attorney, appointed by then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. After the U.S. Attorney's Office, he worked in Oakland County as an associate and partner in private practice before forming The Googasian Firm.

Googasian, who holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan, earned his law degree from Northwestern University.

In recognition of his skill and respect as a trial attorney, Googasian has been named Detroit Area Best Lawyers' "Personal Injury Litigator of the Year." He also has been elected by his peers as a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, a fellow of the International Society of Barristers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the American Board of Trial Advocates.

As an attorney, Googasian has received many awards from local, state and national organizations for civility and contributions to the profession. These include the "Respected Advocate Award" from the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel Association and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He received a national honor, the Herbert Harley Award, from the American Judicature Society.

Googasian is a past president of the Oakland County Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan, and in 1995 he was the recipient of the Michigan State Bar's highest honor, the Roberts P. Hudson Award.

- - -

Jeff Hoover, an attorney at Royal Oak-based law firm Howard & Howard, has been selected as a recipient of the M&A Advisor's 2019 Emerging Leaders Awards. Hoover was chosen for his accomplishments and experience from a pool of nominees by an independent judging panel of distinguished business leaders.

The M&A Advisor, known globally for its recognition of leading M&A, financing, and turnaround professionals, created this event to promote mentorship and professional development among young business leaders.

Hoover concentrates his practice in business transactions and corporate matters, including mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations of business entities. He is a graduate of Western Michigan Cooley Law School and Eastern Michigan University. He has also been named a Michigan "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers (2011-2018) and to Michigan Leading Lawyers (2017-2019).

- - -

Justin G. Klimko, president and CEO, Butzel Long, was among seven business leaders who were featured during a program presented by the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Detroit on June 7 at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham. The title for the program was "Navigating Cross-Border Transactions." The discussion focused on the legal, business, banking, and accounting issues that arise in cross-border deals.

Klimko, based in the firm's Detroit office, has experience in securities regulation, corporate financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general corporate matters, areas in which he has practiced since 1980. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for business law matters and is ranked as one of Michigan's leading corporate and M&A lawyers. He also has chaired the State Bar of Michigan Business Law Section's Ad Hoc Committee on Legal Opinions, which has issued reports to address opinion issues in business transactions, including issues specific to Michigan law.

He previously taught corporation law as an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, frequently lectures and authors articles on business law subjects and has served as general editor of a treatise on Michigan Business Forms and as a contributing author for a treatise on Michigan contract law.

Klimko is included in the publication The Best Lawyers in America and enjoys an "AV" rating from the Martindale-Hubbell rating system. He is rated one of Michigan's top Corporate/M&A attorneys by Chambers USA Guide of America's Leading Lawyers for Business and is listed in Michigan Super Lawyers (Mergers and Acquisitions).

Published: Mon, Jun 10, 2019