Outstanding Business Lawyer Award presented

East Grand Rapids resident Jeffrey S. Ammon, a member of Miller, Johnson, Snell, & Cummiskey PLC (Miller Johnson) in Grand Rapids, has been named the recipient of the 2012 Stephen H. Schulman Outstanding Business Lawyer Award by the State Bar of Michigan’s Business Law Section.
 
Ammon, who practices in a variety of specialties, including business/corporate, construction, manufacturing, municipal law, property taxation, real estate and others, was presented with the award at the Section’s Annual Meeting on Thursday, Sept. 20, at the Sheraton Novi Detroit. 
 
Ammon served as chair of the Section in 1999-2000 and previously served as vice-chair and as part of the nominating committee. He is a member of the American Bar Association, State Bar of Michigan (fellow), Grand Rapids Bar Association, Associated Builders and Contractors, Building Owners and Managers Association, Construction Financial Management Association and Michigan Chamber of Commerce.  
 
Upon learning that he was to receive the award, Ammon said it is hard to describe how much the recognition means to him personally. “There is no greater honor than to have my colleagues recognize me in this way,” he said. 
 
Ammon related how he has learned during his legal career that it is important to present information and options from the clients’ perspective, an understanding that has led to part of his successes—something he learned from other colleagues. 
 
Being a part of the Business Law Section has also helped Ammon to grow his practice and improve upon the knowledge he takes into his work, he added. 
 
“When you are involved in the Section you will learn from other lawyers through shared knowledge and collaboration and it’s a great business tool,” Ammon noted. “I encourage everyone to become active in the Section and consider joining one of our committees.”
 
Ammon is listed in the Best Lawyers in America® for Banking Law, Construction Law, Corporate Law, Land Use and Zoning Law, Mergers & Acquisitions Law, Real Estate Law and Closely-Held Companies and Family Business Law. He was named as a Michigan Super Lawyer in Business/Corporate for many years and was on the Top 100 list from 2006-2010. He also has been recognized in Chambers USA-Leading Lawyers for Business. Ammon earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1978. 
 
The Outstanding Business Lawyer Award was named after Prof. Stephen Schulman who taught several business law courses during a lengthy tenure at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. There he taught courses in corporations, business planning, administrative law and more. In addition to receiving the Donald H. Gordon Award for Excellence in Teaching, his students selected him multiple times as the school’s Professor of the Year. Schulman served as faculty advisor and regular contributor to The Wayne Law Review for several decades and was co-reporter for the Business Law Section’s Subcommittee on the Revision of the Michigan Business Corporation Act (MCBA).  He also was instrumental in the drafting of much of Michigan’s corporate law that still is in place today. Schulman passed away in 2000.
 
The Business Law Section established the Stephen H. Schulman Outstanding Business Lawyer Award in 2006 to be presented annually. The award honors Michigan business lawyers who consistently exemplify the characteristics the Business Law Section seeks to foster and facilitate: the highest quality of professionalism, the highest quality of practice, and an unwavering dedication to service, ethical conduct, and collegiality within the practice of law. 
 
Ammon never knew Schulman personally but he was in the audience for many of Schulman’s presentations at ICLE and other professional seminars. “I would attend any speech that I could of Professor Schulman’s,” Ammon said. “He was really one of the preeminent experts on Michigan corporation law.”
 
The Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan provides education, information and analysis about issues of concern through meetings, seminars, its website, public service programs and publication of a professional journal. Visit www.michbar.org for additional information.

––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available