LEGAL PEOPLE

Farmington Hills-based Trott & Trott PC recently announced the addition of Caren Bales, Sarah Biedron, Christina Sayegh, Theresa Woodbridge, and Jonathan Zadoff to the firm's foreclosure and litigation departments. Trott Chairman David A. Trott made the announcement. Bales joins Trott as an attorney in the litigation department. Bales earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wayne State University and her law degree from Wayne State University Law School. Prior to joining the firm, she served as an associate attorney with Bingham Farms-based Blatt, Hasenmiller, Leibsker, & Moore LLC. Biedron joins Trott as a post-sale attorney in the foreclosure department. Biedron earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and her law degree from Wayne State University Law School. She formerly served as an executive assistant at Universal Health Group Management LLC in Southfield and a law clerk at Aldrich Legal Services in Plymouth. Sayegh joins Trott as an attorney in the judicial foreclosure department. Sayegh earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wayne State University and her law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Prior to joining Trott, she worked as an independent contractor and completed externships with Clinton Township-based Metalase Technologies and Bloomfield Hills-based Maloof Law Group PLLC. Woodbridge joins Trott as a trial review attorney in the foreclosure department. Woodbridge received her Bachelor of Arts from Aquinas College and her law degree from Michigan State University College of Law. She formerly served as a legal extern for the United States Coast Guard Office of Maritime & International Law in Washington, D.C. Zadoff joins Trott as an attorney in the litigation department. Zadoff earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from George Washington University and his law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. Prior to joining Trott, he practiced litigation as an attorney with Ekonomou, Atkinson, & Lambros in Atlanta. * * * The attorneys and staff of the Southfield-based law firm Kupelian, Ormond, & Magy PC joined Clark Hill PLC effective June 30, Clark Hill CEO John Hern announced recently. KOM's attorneys have been representing individuals, businesses and municipal clients for over 23 years locally, nationally and internationally. "We're pleased to announce that our attorneys and staff will join Clark Hill," KOM Managing Shareholder Steve Ormond said. "We are delighted to add Clark Hill's broad range and depth of legal services to our existing suite of value based legal services." In addition to Ormond, attorneys Peter Kupelian and Paul Magy will join Clark Hill as Members. Attorneys Stephon Bagne, Douglas Chapman, Matthew Schlegel, and Carol Schley will join as senior counsel; and attorneys David Blau and Jason Canvasser will join Clark Hill as associates. * * * Pepper Hamilton LLP has earned Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF), a designation based on how firms compensate women and integrate them in top leadership positions. Pepper is one of only 50 firms to receive the certification from WILEF. Firms with more than 100 attorneys were invited to submit data to earn WILEF's Gold Standard Certification. The firms that were selected for certification were chosen based on the extent to which the firm has successfully made women equity partners, integrated women partners into its governance structure, and recognized the contributions of women through compensation. * * * Andrew B. Wachler of Wachler & Associates presented "How to Survive a RAC Audit: A Different Perspective" to members of the Heart Rhythm Society at the group's annual event, Heart Rhythm 2012, in Boston,. In addition, Wachler enlightened an audience at the Region I Healthcare Financial Management Association's conference in Uncasville, CT, with a presentation titled, "Audits - All Kinds, All Payers." Wachler has been practicing health care law for more than 25 years. He counsels health care providers and organizations nationwide in a variety of health care legal matters. In addition, he writes and speaks nationally to professional organizations and other entities on health care law topics such as Medicare appeals, Stark and fraud and abuse, HIPAA, and other topics. * * * Butzel Long senior attorney Angela Emmerling Boufford has been appointed to the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel (MDTC) Board of Directors. Based in Butzel Long's Bloomfield Hills office, Boufford represents corporate clients in complex business and commercial litigation. She has experience representing Tier 1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers in state and federal courts. She has also defended securities brokers and broker/dealers in customer arbitrations (NASD/FINRA) across the country and served as an adjunct securities regulations professor at Ave Maria Law School. In addition, she has experience with electronic discovery (ESI) and has been a speaker for both in-firm and public E-Discovery training events. Boufford is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, the Oakland County Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and has been admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Boufford is a graduate of Michigan State University (1994) and the Michigan State University College of Law (1998). * * * Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce the opening of the firm's eleventh office in Columbus, Ohio. Joining the office will be members Harlan W. Robins and Michael D. Bridges. The office opened in downtown Columbus on June 25. * * * Attorneys with Nemeth Burwell PC, a Detroit law firm exclusively serving employers in the areas of labor and employment law, have been active recently in leading discussions on a variety of employment law topics. Patricia Nemeth made a presentation on "Starting your own Practice" at the annual summit meeting of the Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar of Michigan on June 16. Nemeth Burwell attorney Cliff Hammond, a former attorney for the SEIU, presented "Confessions of a Union Organizer" on June 13th at HR Law Day in Lansing. Anne Widlak and Terry Bonnette addressed strategies for responding to employees' internal complaints at the April 18 presentation of Nemeth Burwell's Raising the Bar, an educational series raising employer awareness of current issues in employment and labor law. Bonnette presented "Hiring and Firing within the Law" for The American Society of Employers (ASE) on April 11. * * * Plunkett Cooney was recently named by American Lawyer Media (ALM) as a "go-to" law firm in the area of litigation for companies among the Fortune 500. All firms appearing on the "go-to" list must be named unprompted by Fortune 500 clients surveyed by ALM, a leading provider of legal news and publications such as Corporate Counsel and The National Law Journal. Plunkett Cooney has the distinction of being named to the top performing law firm list by Home Depot. "To be named one of Home Depot's "go-to" law firms is a great honor," said Plunkett Cooney President and CEO Henry B. Cooney. "Being named to this prestigious list of firms is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our attorneys and staff who try to deliver value to their clients every day." * * * The law firm of Miller Canfield announces that Wendolyn W. Richards, a senior attorney in the Litigation and Trial Group in the Detroit office, has been appointed to the City of Grosse Pointe Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Her term will expire September 2013. The City of Grosse Pointe DDA helps to promote future development in the Village shopping district and to provide a mechanism to fund public improvements that will support the vitality of the city's central business district. At Miller Canfield, Richards specializes in intellectual property, contract disputes and general complex commercial litigation. She has worked on numerous multimillion-dollar actions involving trade secrets, securities, consumer protection and fraud issues. She is a member of the Greening of Detroit, Policy and Advocacy Committee, Detroit Institute of Arts Founders' Junior Council, Michigan Venture Capital Association, and the Detroit Athletic Club. She earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Michigan. * * * Rader, Fishman, & Grauer PLLC is proud to congratulate Managing Partner Kristin L. Murphy on her recent election as president of the Women's Bar Association (WBA) - Oakland County Region of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan (WLAM). Murphy has been an active executive board member of the WBA for nine years. She is also an executive board member of the Michigan Intellectual Property Law Association (MIPLA), a former co-chair of the Industrial Advisory Council for the School of Engineering at Western New England University, and serves on the Board of Directors for The Pink Fund - a Michigan-based charity that provides short-term financial aid to women and men who are in active treatment for and recovery from breast cancer. Murphy joined Rader, Fishman, & Grauer in 1997 as an associate attorney. In 2003, she was elected as a partner at the firm. As of January 1, 2011 Murphy serves as the first woman managing partner on the firm's Board of Managers. Murphy's practice focuses on trademark, unfair competition, antitrust and patent litigation at the district court level and the Court of Appeals for the federal circuit. She also has experience in patent prosecution, both domestically and internationally, as well as drafting and negotiating agreements relating to intellectual property. Murphy earned her law degrees from Franklin Pierce Law Center (Now University of New Hampshire School of Law) and a B.S.M.E. from Western New England University. She is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and is a member of the State Bar of Michigan. * * * Michal Terebelo has been promoted to supervising attorney at Fakhoury Law Group, a Troy-based business immigration law firm. As supervising attorney, Terebelo will lead and oversee legal teams and plan and implement training programs for attorneys and paralegals. She also will continue to provide immigration services and counsel to corporate clients. Terebelo has three years of experience in business and family immigration law issues, and has been with Fakhoury Law Group since August 2011. She received a B.A. in communications studies from the University of Michigan and her law degree from Wayne State University Law School. She is fluent in English, Spanish, and Hebrew. Published: Mon, Jul 2, 2012