Columns

Butzel attorney Beth S. Gotthelf will be a featured speaker during the Michigan Environmental Compliance Conference on Wednesday, June 10, in Lansing. The presentation will offer lessons on permitting a new industrial facility, with a focus on environmental approvals and compliance challenges. 

Gotthelf is Butzel’s director of Innovation and External Relations, co-chair of the Energy & Sustainability Practice, and chair of the Aerospace & Defense Industry Team.

She represents a diverse client base including those in the automotive, defense, and aerospace fields. She has environmental, renewable energy, and sustainability experience. She assists clients with remediation, redevelopment, permitting, and compliance.  

Gotthelf serves as chair of the Michigan Manufacturers Association’s Environmental Policy Committee; board member, NAATBatt, the National Battery Association; general counsel to the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Surface Finishers; board member and former chair, Michigan Israel Business Accelerator; and Michigan Advisory Board, Women in Defense. 
Gotthelf also was board directorship certified through the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Gotthelf was named to Crain’s Detroit Business’ 2025 Notable Leaders in Sustainability list.

In addition, attorney Kevin DiDio has rejoined Butzel as a shareholder in the firm’s Detroit office. He helps clients achieve their business objectives, guiding enterprises of all sizes in a multitude of sectors through complex corporate transactions and legal challenges. 

Backed by decades of experience and a history filled with successful deals, and having earned the credential of Certified Merger & Acquisition advisor, DiDio counsels clients through intricate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and cross-border transactions. His industry knowledge and experience include the following industries: automotive, health care and pharma, manufacturing, financial services, and technology.

A former United States marine, DiDio earned his law degree from Michigan State University College of Law and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

DiDio has been named to The Best Lawyers in America® – Corporate Law, 2018-2026. He is an active member of several bar associations and professional organizations including the French-American Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Chapter, and Lex Mundi, where he previously served as chairperson of the Pro Bono Committee.

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The Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ) has named attorney Barry Conybeare, of Conybeare Injury and Accident Lawyers, as its 74th president. Conybeare officially began his one-year term on June 1.  Stephen Pontoni, MAJ executive director, made the announcement.

“As president of MAJ, I look forward to continuing our work to ensure every person in Michigan has a fair opportunity to be heard in our civil justice system while strengthening the collaboration, shared knowledge and professional support that help our members better serve the people they represent every day,” said Conybeare. 

Along with Conybeare, new MAJ officers for 2026-2027 include: 

President-Elect – Wayne J. Miller, Miller, Tischler & Vislosky PC.
Vice President – Alan Latham, Latham Law Group.
Secretary – Steffani Chocron, Lipton Law.
Treasurer – Emily Peacock, Olsman MacKenzie Peacock. 
Immediate Past President – Nick Andrews, Liss & Andrews PC.

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Honigman announced Tom Appledorn and Harold Fox will succeed Jonathan O’Brien as co-chairs of the Intellectual Property (IP) Department. Appledorn will be stepping up from his prior role as vice chair of Honigman’s IP Department and Fox has led the firm’s Washington, D.C. office as managing partner, playing a key role in building and leading Honigman’s Life Sciences practice.

Appledorn, who has been with the firm for more than two decades, has been involved in firm leadership as co-managing partner of the Bloomfield Hills office and as a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. Over his 20-year tenure, Appledorn has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor on matters involving technology, data privacy, and other complex technical issues. 

“I’ve grown my career and practice at Honigman, and I’m honored to step into this role and build upon the strong foundation Jonathan has established,” said Appledorn. “I look forward to working alongside Harold and our talented colleagues to drive continued growth and impact for our clients and partners in the IP Department.”

Honigman is also pleased to announce that Senior Counsel Mike Carter was recently recognized by the Eastern District of Michigan Bar Association with the Leonard R. Gilman Award. 

Carter focuses his practice on white collar defense and complex criminal matters, representing individuals in investigations, prosecutions, and other high-stakes proceedings in federal and state courts. He advises clients navigating sensitive legal issues and brings courtroom, trial, and leadership experience to his practice.

In addition, Honigman was recognized in the Chambers USA 2026 Guide with national and regional rankings across 12 practice areas and 33 attorneys. 

Chambers awarded the highest “Band 1” ranking to the following Honigman practices regionally in Michigan:

• Bankruptcy/Restructuring
• Corporate/M&A
• Insurance
• Intellectual Property
• Litigation: General Commercial
• Real Estate

In Michigan, the firm earned rankings for its Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations, Immigration, and Labor & Employment practices.

The following local Honigman lawyers were ranked in this year’s guide. 

Band 1 Ranked Attorneys:
E. Todd Sable, Bankruptcy/ Restructuring 
Tracy T. Larsen, Corporate/ M&A 
Jennifer Benedict, Healthcare 
Meghan Covino, Immigration 
Sara J. Brundage, Insurance 
J. Michael Huget, Intellectual Property 
Anessa Kramer, Intellectual Property 
Jonathan O’Brien, Intellectual Property 
I.W. Winsten, Litigation: General Commercial 
Matthew Schneider, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations 
Lowell D. Salesin, Real Estate 

Additional Ranked Attorneys:
Glenn Walter, Bankruptcy/ Restructuring 
Michael D. DuBay, Corporate/M&A 
Phillip D. Torrence, Corporate/M&A 
Samantha Kopacz, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation 
Deborah Swedlow, Intellectual Property 
Heidi Berven, Intellectual Property 
Michelle Crockett, Labor & Employment 
Sean Crotty, Labor & Employment 
Joseph Aviv, Litigation: General Commercial 
Jeffrey Lamb, Litigation: General Commercial 
Mark Pendery, Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations 
David Jacob, Real Estate 
Karen R. Pifer, Real Estate 
J. Adam Rothstein, Real Estate 

Senior Statespeople:
Donald Kunz, Corporate/ M&A 

Eminent Practitioners
David Foltyn, Corporate/ M&A 

Up and Coming:
Sarah Iyer, Immigration 

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Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido announces that Kurt L. Heise is the new head of the Hate Crimes Unit within the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office, effective as of March 30. Heise brings with him more than three decades of legal, legislative, and executive leadership experience to the role.

In this role, Heise will oversee the investigation and prosecution of bias-motivated offenses, working closely with law enforcement and community stakeholders to ensure that hate crimes are addressed with the seriousness, sensitivity, and rigor they demand. 

As Heise assumes leadership of the Hate Crimes Unit, former Chief Patrick Coletta has transitioned into the role of deputy chief of the district courts. In this capacity, he will serve as a link between investigative efforts and initial district court prosecutions. His responsibilities include supervising district court assistant prosecutors, ensuring adherence to office policies, managing caseload distribution, and coordinating closely with law enforcement agencies.

“I am honored to lead the Hate Crime Unit. Ensuring that the criminal justice system operates fairly, transparently, and with integrity is a top priority. Macomb County is home to a diverse and vibrant community, and every resident deserves to live in safety and peace. I am committed to protecting our community while also working closely with law enforcement to identify and implement best practices that uphold the law and strengthen public trust,” said Heise.

An attorney who earned his law degrees from Wayne State University Law School, Heise has been a licensed member of the State Bar of Michigan since 1991. His legal career includes work in municipal law, labor and employment matters, environmental law, and complex litigation—providing a strong foundation in statutory interpretation, enforcement, and the pursuit of justice across diverse communities.

As a state representative, Heise served as chair of the Criminal Justice Committee, a role particularly relevant to his leadership of the Hate Crimes Unit. He helped shape criminal justice policy, sponsored dozens of public acts, and co-chaired the Michigan Human Trafficking Commission. His legislative work reflects an understanding of criminal law, victim-centered policy, and the systemic challenges involved in prosecuting sensitive and high-impact crimes.

In addition to his legislative service, Heise held senior executive positions overseeing large organizations and complex operations. As township supervisor of the Charter Township of Plymouth, he served as the chief executive of a municipal government, managing public safety departments including police and fire services. 

Earlier in his career, Heise served as director of the Wayne County Department of Environment, where he managed a large workforce and represented the county in litigation matters. 

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Warner Norcross + Judd LLP has welcomed Alexandra Hathaway Tillman as an associate.

Tillman will join Warner’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Group where she will leverage her experience representing corporate clients in complex commercial, employment and product liability matters in both state and federal courts. Tillman regularly drafts motions and appellate briefs, conducts dispositions and supports trial strategy through motion practice and evidentiary analysis.

Tillman will also leverage her governmental experience by joining Warner’s Aerospace and Defense and Government and DoD Contracting industry groups. She will practice in the firm’s Detroit office.

Prior to joining Warner, Tillman was an attorney with Bush Seyferth PLLC in Troy. Earlier in her career, she served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Sean F. Cox, Eastern District of Michigan. She also held roles with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Tillman also worked as a staff assistant for the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, and as a government contractor serving military and intelligence community clients for Thomson Reuters Special Services and Deloitte Business Intelligence Services.

Tillman is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the Detroit Bar Association where she serves on the board. She is a member of the Leadership Detroit class of 2024.

Tillman earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and a master’s degree from The London School of Economics and Political Science. She earned her law degree from The University of Richmond School of Law.

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McDonald Hopkins is pleased to announce that several attorneys and practice areas have been recognized in the 2026 edition of the Chambers USA guide. Among this year’s achievements, McDonald Hopkins expanded its Chambers footprint with new practice rankings for Privacy & Data Security: Highly Regarded (Nationwide) and Bankruptcy/ Restructuring.

Local attorneys recognized include:

• Stephen Gross, Bankruptcy/Restructuring

• Antoinette Pilzner, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

• Dominic Paluzzi, Privacy & Data Security: Cybersecurity.  In addition, Chambers also recognized Paluzzi in its 2026 Global Guide for Privacy & Data Security: Cybersecurity.

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Dickinson Wright is pleased to announce that Chambers & Partners has ranked 24 of the firm’s practices and 66 of the firm’s attorneys in the 2026 Chambers USA Guide.

Below is a list of Michian Dickinson Wright practices that are listed in Chambers USA 2026:

Banking & Finance (Band 1)
Bankruptcy & Restructuring (Band 1)
Corporate/M&A
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (Band 1)
Immigration
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Litigation: General Commercial (Band 1)
Public Finance (Band 1)
Real Estate (Band 1)

Below is a list of local Dickinson Wright attorneys who are listed in Chambers USA 2026:

Banking and Finance
Craig W. Hammond, Troy
William P. Shield Jr., Detroit (Star Individual)
Rachel Wolock, Detroit

Bankruptcy & Restructuring
Steven G. Howell, Detroit (Senior Statesperson)
James A. Plemmons, Detroit (Band 1)
Theodore B. Sylwestrzak, Detroit (Band 1)

Cannabis: Eastern US – Nationwide
Benjamin M. Sobczak, Troy

Construction
Christopher A. Cornwall, Detroit

Corporate/M&A
Andrew W. MacLeod, Detroit

Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
Deborah L. Grace, Troy
Roberta P. Granadier, Troy (Band 1)
Eric W. Gregory, Troy
Cynthia A. Moore, Troy

Health Care
Mark E. Wilson, Troy (Band 1)

Intellectual Property
William H. Honaker, Troy

Labor & Employment
Aaron V. Burrell, Detroit
Timothy H. Howlett, Detroit (Band 1)

Litigation: General Commercial
James A. Martone, Troy
Daniel D. Quick, Troy (Band 1)

Public Finance
Laura M. Bassett, Troy
Craig W. Hammond, Troy (Band 1)

Real Estate Law
Monica J. Labe, Troy (Band 1)
Michael J. Lusardi, Troy
Dawn Faxon Singer, Troy
Katheryne L. Zelenock, Troy

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Bodman PLC is pleased to announce that Travis J. Peterson has joined the firm as a senior associate in our Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group.

Based in Bodman’s Detroit office, Peterson represents clients in complex commercial litigation matters. Prior to joining Bodman, he was an associate with a Michigan-based civil defense firm, where he represented insurance companies and their insureds in complex, high-exposure litigation involving statutory and negligence-based claims.

Peterson earned his law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School.  He spent his summers clerking with the City of Detroit Law Department.

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Miller Canfield has earned 50 rankings in the 2026 edition of Chambers USA, including recognition for 38 attorneys and 12 practice areas across Michigan, Illinois, and the national rankings.

Miller Canfield was recognized in Michigan and Illinois in the areas of Banking and Finance, Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Corporate/M&A, Energy and Natural Resources, Immigration, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Litigation: General Commercial, Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations, Public Finance and Real Estate. The firm also earned a national ranking in Food & Beverages: Alcohol.

The firm received Chambers’ highest designation, Band 1, in five practice areas: Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Energy and Natural Resources, Litigation: General Commercial, Public Finance and Real Estate.

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Chambers USA has named 31 Clark Hill attorneys “Leaders in their Field” in the 2026 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. 

Clark Hill congratulates the following local attorneys:

Daniel Bretz – Bretz is ranked as a senior statesperson for Labor & Employment. He represents major private employers in various aspects of labor and employment law.

Stephen Campbell – Campbell is ranked in Band 2 for Energy & Natural Resources. He assists municipal, industrial, and commercial clients in regulatory, transactional, and litigation matters involving federal, state, and local energy and environmental laws and regulations.

David Cessante – Cessante is ranked Band 4 for Labor & Employment. He represents and counsels employers in the automotive, hospitality, retail, insurance, and transportation industries on all employment-related matters before administrative bodies and federal and state courts.

Maria Dwyer – Dwyer is ranked Band 4 for Labor & Employment. She is a litigator and advisor to senior leadership, representing employers in complex employment and business disputes. She provides counsel on workplace issues, conducts internal investigations, and serves as a certified Title IX hearing officer.

Edward Hammond – Hammond is ranked Band 4 for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation. He works in tandem with many of the firm practice groups in order to help their clients navigate the many hazards that accompany benefits offered through the workplace.

Christopher McMican – McMican is ranked Band 2 for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation. He focuses on assisting and advising employers with such issues as compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), retirement plans, health and welfare plans, executive compensation, fiduciary matters, phantom and equity plans, stock options, and all elements of the compensation package as well as corporate matters.

Daniel Minkus – Minkus is ranked Band 2 for Corporate/M&A. He advises clients with mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions, as well as business planning, joint ventures, governance, supply chain agreements, and various other contracts.

Michael Nowlan – Nowlan is ranked Band 1 for Immigration and Band 2 for Immigration (Nationwide). He represents companies and individuals as they navigate the complex U.S. immigration system from the initial transfer/move to the U.S. to U.S. citizenship.

Michael Pattwell – Pattwell is ranked Band 3 for Energy & Natural Resources. He manages high-stakes litigation and resolves complex regulatory and transactional impasses in environmental, energy and political law matters.

Anne-Marie Vercruysse Welch – Vercruysse Welch is ranked Band 2 for Labor & Employment. She defends employers in lawsuits and administrative proceedings against wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and related statutory and tort claims.

In addition, Clark Hill has achieved the following Michigan department rankings by Chambers:

Corporate/M&A – Band 4
Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation – Band 3
Energy & Natural Resources – Band 2
Immigration – Band 2
Labor & Employment – Band 2
Litigation: General Commercial – Band 4

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Brooks Kushman is proud to announce its recognition in the 2026 Chambers and Partners guide as one of the top intellectual property firms in Michigan. This marks the firm’s tenth consecutive year being ranked among Michigan’s leading IP law firms. In the 2026 Chambers USA rankings, Brooks Kushman is listed in Band 1 for Intellectual Property in Michigan.

Ranked attorneys include:

Frank Angileri has been named a senior statesperson in the Intellectual Property category for Michigan. Angileri focuses his practice on complex IP litigation and post-grant proceedings. He has served as lead trial counsel in patent, trade secret, trademark, and copyright cases across the country, including federal courts, the Court of Appeals for the federal circuit, and the International Trade Commission. His litigation experience spans a range of industries, including automotive, software, consumer products, and electronics. Angileri previously served as co-chair of the firm’s Post-Grant Proceedings practice, where he represented clients in more then 70 proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). 

John LeRoy, in his first year on the list, has been ranked in Band 2 for Intellectual Property in Michigan. LeRoy is an intellectual property attorney with experience counseling clients on patent procurement, portfolio management, licensing, and strategic IP development. He works with companies ranging from emerging businesses to global corporations, helping them protect and maximize the value of their intellectual property assets across a variety of technologies and industries.

By Chad D. Engelhardt

In a recent webinar presentation on behalf of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Michigan, retired mediator Sheldon “Shel” Stark distilled a half-century in and around Michigan courtrooms and mediation conference rooms into a single, critical proposition: the mediator’s most important work is to make the people in the room feel heard. 

Stark is one of the founders of ADR practice in Michigan. He served as Education Director and later Director of Specialty Programs at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education from 1999 onward, where the courses department earned seven international ACLEA Best Awards under his leadership; he is one of the three core trainers in ICLE’s 40-hour civil mediation course; and his contributions to the profession have been recognized with the Michael Franck Award from the State Bar’s Representative Assembly and, more recently, the ADR Section’s Distinguished Service Award. Before all of that, he spent twenty-seven years as a litigator.

The Mediator as Listener

Stark’s central message is that mediation is, before anything else, an act of listening. By the time a case reaches a neutral, the parties have spent months or years feeling unheard by the other side, often by their own lawyers, sometimes by the system itself. 

The papers in front of the mediator were drafted by counsel, not the parties, and the facts in them may be incomplete or wrong. Many lawyers, even good ones, have never had a hard conversation with the client about what the client actually wants. The mediator is often the first person to ask the parties, with genuine curiosity, what is driving the conflict.

That is why Stark begins every mediation by getting acquainted, building rapport and trust. He asks parties to tell him about themselves, taking their measure not just as decision-makers but as people. He asks how they prefer to be addressed; where a title like “Doctor” might create a power imbalance, he addresses everyone uniformly as “Mr.,” “Ms.” He maintains eye contact throughout, checking in across the room when a witness concedes a point, when a number lands, when a risk is named. Eye contact, he reminded the section, is not a courtesy. It is the simplest signal that someone has been seen.

Civility as a Core Method, Not Just Manners

Stark’s career has tracked the State Bar’s long effort to make civility a defining feature of Michigan practice, and his talk made plain that civility in mediation is not decorative. It is the method. 

When a lawyer escalates in a joint session, even after promising to be a joint problem-solver, Stark listens fully, lets the emotion run, and then says, “Wow, I love your passion. I really respect lawyers who believe in their clients.” The reframe acknowledges the feeling, honors the advocacy, and clears the air without anyone having to back down. When the client escalates, the same 
discipline applies: listen, reflect, show that the message has been received.

He cautioned against the casual register that erodes professionalism, the “okay, you guys” creeping into joint sessions, and against jargon thrown at parties who cannot follow it. ADA, FMLA, FLSA, Daubert, summary judgment: every unexplained acronym is a moment of exclusion. The mediator who translates is the mediator who is trusted, and trust is what civility produces. 
Mediators are also always being watched in the elevator, in the parking lot, at the lunch table. Civility off-stage matters as much as civility in caucus, and the mediator who models it gives every participant permission to do the same.

Finding the Truth of the Human Story

By the time disputes reach mediation, lawyers and clients have fallen in love with their claims and defenses. And, as the saying goes, “love is blind”. The mediator’s task is not to take sides but to surface the warts symmetrically in both rooms, so each party can see the case as the other side and a fact-finder might. That is honest work, and it can only be done after the parties feel heard. Risk questions land very differently when the person being asked believes the mediator is asking from respect rather than judgment.

Every case, Stark insisted, contains its own truths. The mediator’s discipline is to find them and help each side build a plausible human story from them for the other room. “Once I understand the dynamics of the conflict,” he has put it elsewhere, “I derive great satisfaction from the search for a solution that will work for both sides. Some would call this ‘peace making.’” It is a fair description, and it explains why authentic listening and the trust it engenders, not technique, not posture, not pressure, is the threshold capacity for the work of the mediator.

Teaching, Coaching, and Modeling the ‘Adult in the Room’

A mediator who builds trust and teaches inherits what social scientists call the halo effect. The trust and goodwill we extend to a teacher we once admired. Stark leans into this deliberately. He maintains a website with guides on negotiation, mediation summaries, and presentations to opposing decision-makers, and he carries a deck of slides on his iPad to illustrate concepts visually.

When summary judgment becomes a risk topic, as it does in nearly every employment case, he stops and explains what the motion is, how often it is granted, and what happens to a plaintiff who loses one. Parties cannot weigh a risk they do not understand, and translating doctrine into stakes is part of how the mediator earns the room’s confidence.

He coaches the lawyers during the negotiation, too. The complaint that mediators merely shuttle numbers is fair when it is true and avoidable when it is not. Stark asks counsel’s permission to coach, then probes the message a particular number sends and how it was derived. A figure grounded in a reasoned rationale, back-pay assumptions, future losses, an emotional-distress methodology, fee and cost records, and an honest probability assessment anchors the room in shared assumptions rather than competing instincts. “If it’s my gut versus your gut,” he quoted Paul Monaghan, “you’re not going to get very far.”

Through all of it, he is modeling the “adult in the room.” Calm in the face of emotion, prepared, present, and unfailingly respectful, including to the lawyer who is being difficult and the client who is escalating. Modeling civility, Stark argued, is how the mediator earns standing to ask a hard question late in the afternoon, and it is also how mediation, done well, becomes one of the most reliable engines of civility our profession has.

A Closing Note

Toward the end of a mediation, after every question has been aired and every fact developed, Stark shifts gently from facilitation toward evaluation. He quotes U.S. District Judge David Lawson as saying, “a good settlement is always better than a good case, because you can always lose a good case.” Stark astutely concludes, “the dice are the client’s to roll. The mediator’s job is to make sure the client understands what the dice look like and feels respected and heard before deciding whether to let go.”

Stark’s lessons are reminders that connection precedes resolution, that civility is the mediator’s primary tool, and that the parties’ sense of being heard is not a soft outcome of the process. It is the process.
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Chad Engelhardt is an Ann Arbor based attorney and mediator focusing his practice on the compassionate and ethical resolution of catastrophic injury and medical malpractice cases. He serves as an adjunct professor at Wayne State University Law School and College of William of Mary Law School. He is the Chair of the ADR Section of the Washtenaw County Bar Association and, the current chairperson of the Institute of Continuing Legal Education executive committee.

By Michelle A. Behnke

For the last ten months, I’ve been saying that the American Bar Association’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is unwavering. The recent vote by the independent accreditation council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar to repeal certain law school diversity and inclusion standards has raised important questions across our profession and among many ABA members. Some have asked: How can these two things be true?

Let me start by stating a fact that most people don’t know or understand: The council exercises separate and independent authority when carrying out its accreditation function. Under federal requirements designed to ensure autonomy, all accrediting agencies — including the accreditation council — must operate independently from the professional association. The council’s action was taken in that independent accreditation capacity. The accreditation council is separate from the ABA. Its actions do not alter the ABA’s broader mission, values or ongoing commitments.

The ABA remains committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and equal access remains a high priority. Those principles are reflected in ABA Goal III — to eliminate bias and enhance diversity in the association, the legal profession and the justice system. Last year, the ABA Board of Governors reaffirmed that commitment and emphasized that full and equal participation in the profession and justice system remains central to the ABA’s work. While we know that the accreditation council’s actions will have an effect on the legal profession and who has access to a legal education, the ABA will continue its work to be inclusive and expand opportunities and access. 

Across the country, institutions are facing growing pressure around diversity and inclusion efforts. The accreditation council is among those facing pressure, as is the ABA. It is incredibly difficult for many organizations. However, this is not a moment for ambiguity for this association.

The ABA has long recognized that excellence in the legal profession and meaningful opportunity are connected, not mutually exclusive ideas. Too many talented students and young lawyers still face barriers to opportunity and advancement. To strengthen public trust in the legal system, we must expand, not narrow, pathways into the profession.

The American Bar Association, therefore, must speak clearly about the value of fairness, opportunity and equal access within the legal profession. 

Through the ABA Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the work of many ABA entities, we will continue to support pipeline programs, mentorship, leadership development, judicial diversity and access to justice. Engaging in and supporting these efforts strengthens the profession and upholds equal justice under law. 

The accreditation council’s decisions to adopt, revise, amend or repeal standards are submitted for consideration to the ABA House of Delegates, the policy-making body of our association. The House process affords members the opportunity to engage in civil discourse and debate about issues important to the profession, including this one, but the vote of the House does not control the ultimate decision on the issue.

The legal profession is strongest when it draws on the experiences, talents and perspectives of people from every background and every community. 

Diversity does not weaken our profession. It deepens it. It broadens understanding, strengthens public trust and helps ensure the law serves all people fairly and fully.

The ABA will continue to speak clearly, act often and stand firmly for a profession that reflects the principles of fairness, opportunity and equal justice that define both our mission and our democracy.

Our strength as a profession has never come from sameness. It comes from the people, perspectives and experiences that together make the law stronger, trusted and more capable of serving the public.
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Michelle A. Behnke, a member of the Boardman Clark law firm in Madison, Wisconsin, is president of the American Bar Association.  She has also been elected into The American Law Institute, the American Bar Foundation Fellows and the Wisconsin Bar Foundation Fellows. 

(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2026/06/what-independent-accreditation-process-means/)

Reising is proud to announce that shareholders Julie A. Greenberg and John P. Guenther, and associates Gregory M. Bussell and Benjamin E. Becker have joined the firm.

Greenberg has more than 30 years of experience in Intellectual Property protection, with a focus on worldwide trademark prosecution and protection. She works closely with trusted associates worldwide to resolve disputes and protect her clients’ Intellectual Property rights. 

Greenberg earned her law degree at the University of Michigan Law School and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan.

Guenther’s practice encompasses domestic and international patent acquisition, trademark and copyright registration, IP litigation, trade secret protection, high-profile product and trademark clearances, large-scale due diligence efforts, joint ventures and commercial agreements, and licensing. 

Guenther earned his law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a B.S.M.E. from the University of Michigan.

Bussell’s practice includes patent and trademark prosecution and portfolio strategy. His technical experience includes autonomous vehicles, medical devices, electrical components/systems, fluid control systems, computer hardware/software, artificial intelligence (AI), and natural language processing. 

Bussell earned law degree at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a B.S.E.E. at the University of Detroit Mercy.

Becker’s practice focuses on trademarks, intellectual property consulting, and transactional and e-commerce services. Prior to practicing law, he worked in banking and environmental compliance. 

Becker earned his law degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law, and a B.S. in Environmental Science and a B.A. in Environmental Policy from Drake University. He has published numerous articles on trademark law.

•            •            •

Honigman attorney Len Niehoff was recently recognized by the State Bar of Michigan with the John W. Reed Michigan Lawyer Legacy Award. This award recognizes a Michigan law school educator whose influence on lawyers has elevated the quality of legal practice in the state.

Niehoff is a litigation attorney with more than 35 years of experience focusing on media law, higher education law, and appellate litigation. He handles libel, privacy, and access matters for high-profile local and national media clients and represents both public and private universities in a wide range of litigation matters. In addition, he has served as legal counsel to a number of private institutions.

He serves as a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School, teaching civil procedure, evidence, media law, the First Amendment, appellate advocacy, the history of banned books, law, and theology, and legal ethics.

•            •            •

Senior attorney Ellisse S. Thompson recently rejoined the Torts & Litigation Practice Group of Plunkett Cooney.

A member of the firm’s Detroit office, Thompson handles complex product liability, premises liability and general liability matters as well as first- and third-party automotive claims. Her sophisticated litigation practice also includes assisting in the defense of complex, high-exposure litigation matters involving multiple parties and coordinated defense strategies. 

Thompson has experience defending product manufacturers, component part manufacturers, distributors, retailers and online marketplaces in complex product liability matters involving consumer, automotive and recreational products on a national basis. This includes working closely with engineers and technical experts in connection with product inspections, defect analysis and destructive testing.

Thompson is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts in Michigan and federal courts in Texas, Indiana, Colorado, and Nebraska. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Michigan Bar Association.

Thompson, who served as a judicial intern for U.S. District Court Judge Nancy G. Edmunds, Eastern District of Michigan, received her law degree from University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2013. Thompson received her undergraduate degree from Wayne State University in 2010.

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Brooks Kushman attorney Christopher Smith recently updated his LexisNexis Practical Guidance resource, “Determining Royalty Damages in Patent Litigation,” providing insight into reasonable royalty analysis and evolving considerations surrounding patent damages disputes.

The updated guidance explores key issues impacting royalty damages determinations, including application of the Georgia-Pacific factors, comparability analysis, royalty base considerations, and the strategic role of economic and technical experts in patent litigation. The resource is intended to provide practitioners with practical considerations for evaluating and presenting damages positions in complex intellectual property disputes.

Smith is the co-chair of the Litigation practice at Brooks Kushman where he focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation. He represents Fortune 500 companies and startups in complex IP matters across industries including automotive (including infotainment), medical devices, internet technologies such as content delivery networks, and telecommunications including fiber optics. 

Smith is a registered patent attorney before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and is recognized for his work in high-stakes intellectual property litigation, including the preparation of infringement and invalidity opinions and strategic counseling in technically complex disputes.

By Michael Waldman

Poisonous partisanship is ruining our country. What if political parties are a big part of the answer?

I know, I know. You have mixed feelings about parties. So did James Madison. In Federalist 10, published under a pseudonym in 1787, he said that the whole point of the Constitution was to avoid “faction,” which is what the founding generation called parties. But just five years after he denounced factions, he changed his mind and organized a political party. This time under his own name, he started writing “candid” essays about how factions are great. Parties, he said, are “natural to most political societies.”

Parties aren’t bad; they’re necessary and inevitable. Call it hypocrisy, or call it Madisonian pragmatism.

He was right to be ambivalent. At their best, strong parties can make the country work. At their worst, parties can devolve into instruments of raw power and corrupt domination. The trick is to harness their muscle for the good of the country while avoiding their excesses.

That was the theme of a book, “In Defense of Partisanship,” by Princeton historian Julian Zelizer. We spoke on the Brennan Center’s podcast recently about how to make sense of the attack on Black representation being pressed by Republicans across the South. I encourage you to take a listen (www.youtube.com/watch?v=e518vbxiK_E).

“Parties have done good things,” Zelizer noted. “There have been moments in American history where strong parties actually were part of what moved America in different directions. Democrats will certainly point to the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt, when you had a robust Democratic Party. . . . Conservatives will talk about Reagan in the 1980s and the reemergence of the Republican Party in the aftermath of Watergate that pushed politics in a rightward direction.”

But Zelizer isn’t blind to the darker sides of party power: “You can’t have partisanship with no guardrails.”

No guardrails. We are seeing that in the brutal grab for advantage set off by the Republican gerrymander in Texas last year. Democrats responded and came close to matching the Republicans.

Then the Supreme Court entered the political fray unnecessarily, pulling down the guardrails at the worst possible moment. The justices essentially overturned the Voting Rights Act, handing Republicans a new weapon to escalate the gerrymandering battle. What followed, predictably, was a shockingly rapid bid to eliminate seats held by Black elected officials all across the Old South.

Never has the Supreme Court intervened so dramatically, so close to an election, with such predictable partisan consequences. The only other possible example was the Dred Scott decision in 1857, which tried to outlaw the position of the Republican Party against the expansion of slavery. 

That backfired spectacularly: The brand-new GOP won the presidency, fought the Civil War, and ended slavery. It remains to be seen whether the Roberts Court’s gift to Republicans will boomerang in the same way.

To be clear, this is not an essay against bipartisanship. We who work for democracy should try hard to gain bipartisan support wherever possible. 

On issues ranging from criminal justice to surveillance to presidential power, there are surprising pockets of cooperation between Democrats and Republicans, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) working with progressive and conservative reformers.

And some issues should be entirely nonpartisan. Americans of all parties should stand up for state and local election officials, who are trying to do their job under withering pressure.

But as Madison might have put it, we again need to take a candid look at the parties. There are certain problems facing the country, like systemic corruption, that require a coordinated response, organized by parties.

Indeed, the corruption issue offers the best chance to upend today’s rigid polarization. Republicans should be grasping at any chance they can to vote against the White House ballroom or the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund. Democrats, who are seen as little better than their opponents in regard to corruption, will want to show they are for real — and that they can get something done. Sooner or later, regardless of who acts first, it will take the concentrated political oomph that comes from a party backing politicians in the halls of power to break the concentrated forces of the status quo.

Something similar needs to happen to respond to the gerrymandering frenzy. Both parties are now grappling across the country. But Congress could act immediately to ban partisan gerrymandering and bar mid-decade map drawing. That proposal was part of the Freedom to Vote Act, which passed the House and nearly passed the Senate in 2022, notably on a party-line vote. Now would be a good time for both parties to unite in this kind of political arms control.

Let’s not be naive about this: There have been times, such as the Progressive Era of the early 20th century, when Republicans and Democrats competed for the mantle of reform. More typically, though, one party or another takes the lead, and often enough, lawmakers from across the aisle join in to add a note of bipartisanship. And there have been times when vital reforms actually passed on only a party-line vote. That’s how the 15th Amendment to ban racial discrimination in voting became part of the Constitution.

Bipartisanship doesn’t guarantee peace and calm. The last time the Voting Rights Act was considered by Congress, it passed the Senate 98–0 and was proudly signed into law by President George W. Bush. Within a few years, the same Republicans who voted for the law turned against it and made election denial more generally a party cause.

But one way or another, this period of abuse and corruption must yield to a time of reform.

It’s not too soon to start thinking about the post-Trump era. Yes, he’s got more than two years in office to go. But there is an unmistakable sense that Trumpism, which a decade ago was the rude, disruptive new force, has become an uneasy and increasingly unpopular status quo. What comes next? That’s for all of us to decide. And the grubby, compromised political parties that make the system work or fail.
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Michael Waldman is president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. A nonpartisan law and policy institute that focuses on improving systems of democracy and justice, the Brennan Center is a leading national voice on voting rights, money in politics, criminal justice reform, and constitutional law. Waldman, a constitutional lawyer and writer, has led the center since 2005.