LEGAL PEOPLE

On December 7, Renee T. Townsend, a partner at Secrest Wardle’s Troy location, was honored at Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2017 “Up & Coming Lawyers” awards celebration. The event took place at the Detroit Marriott in Troy.

Townsend is a member of Secrest Wardle’s Motor Vehicle Litigation, Premises Liability, Insurance Coverage, and General Negligence practice groups. She is the youngest woman ever to be named partner at Secrest Wardle. Townsend has taken on several roles within the firm that have required her to hone her managerial skills, including supervising a team of support staff, paralegals and associates to manage her caseload. She has also been successful in recruiting a diverse group of qualified law clerks through her role as a hiring partner.

Townsend has taken on the role of mentoring young female attorneys at the firm. She is tenacious and fiercely dedicated when it comes to representing her clients and similarly dedicated to keeping clients and colleagues apprised of updates and changes in the law. Townsend’s unique background has made her a strong advocate regarding issues of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and society.

Within her first seven years of practice, Townsend has proven herself to be a well-accomplished and ambitious young attorney. Her legal acumen, paired with her steadfast dedication to the practice of law make her an asset to Secrest Wardle and to the Michigan legal community.

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Dr. Nicholas R. Ballor is the newest addition to the Technology & Intellectual Property Practice Group of Warner, Norcross, & Judd LLP.

Ballor, who earned a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from the California Institute of Technology and earned his bachelor of science in chemical engineering at Michigan Technological University, joins the firm’s TIP group, which provides a wide range of legal services including patent prosecution and portfolio management, IP strategy development, technology and licensing, trademark protection, copyright and related areas. Ballor is a patent specialist and registered patent agent who will practice in the firm’s Southfield office.

Ballor previously worked with cutting-edge technologies for a number of industrial, academic and government institutions and has published a series of articles in high-impact scientific journals.

Ballor received a bachelor of science degree from Michigan Technological University.  He earned his doctorate and master’s degrees from the California Institute of Technology. He also completed postdoctoral studies at the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, California and at Fordham University’s Louis Calder Center in Armonk, New York.