West Michigan Women in the Law cohort is accomplished and varied

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by Cynthia Price
Legal News

One thing the Grand Rapids-area attorneys named as Women in the Law have in common is a genuine enthusiasm for what they do. The 2016 honorees vary widely in background and practice. But that love of their jobs and their professions shows up in an impressive list of accomplishments.

According to Michigan Lawyers Weekly, which bestows the honor annually, those on the list “have a commitment to ex-cellence in ... law, are inspiring and accomplished leaders..., serve as mentors to other women, and contribute significant time and effort to volunteerism and/or pro bono.”

Among the five local women, some have greatest prowess in one of those areas and some in another.

Alisha Cieslak is a corporate attorney currently working at Gordon Food Service. Grand Rapids Legal News will profile her in more depth in a future issue.

After a brief stint as a law firm associate, Cieslak undertook the formation of a North American regional office for the Benteler Automotive, where she served as President of the U.S. Division of Steel/Tube and built out the legal infrastructure. At the time, DBusiness Magazine named her a Top Corporate Counsel.

Cieslak has been with Gordon Food Service as its General Counsel since 2014. On her watch, GFS, has acquired companies, completely renovated the contracting process for sales, created an effective and award-winning legal website, and come through a $30 million remediation initiative with no further litigation or claims.

She participates in many professional activities, including Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute’s program to increase female General Counsel in Fortune 500 firms from 22 to 35 percent by 2020; she contributes to Special Olympics Michigan among others.

Cieslak comments, “I’d just like to say that I’m extremely humbled by being honored, and express gratitude to Miller Johnson for nominating me. They’ve been supportive to me in my various roles.”

Sheila Eddy, an Associate at Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge says thoughtfully, “Of course I’m honored and humbled, but since I’ve only been in practice for four years, I hope that over the remainder of my career I can continue to merit this honor. I feel sort of like I’ve received it as an advance on a promising future, and I intend to fulfill that promise and earn it as I continue to practice.”

The Grosse Point native received both her B.A., with honors, and her J.D., cum laude, from Michigan State University. She determined that Intellectual Property law would be her focus, and attended MSU Law School because it was one of the top 20 U.S. schools in that field.

Starting out at a boutique IP firm in Traverse City, Eddy moved to this area when her husband took a position with Meijer’s corporate office and, after telecommuting for a year, joined Smith Haughey. She says the firm is very supportive of her work, which she believes has resulted in her recent successes.

“I also do a lot of pro bono work — for all kinds of different organizations, but particularly to help women in business. GROW, Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women, is one example, but I’m involved with  many others too. I’m also currently the vice chair of the Grand Rapids Bar Association IP Section,” Eddy says.

Eddy was named a Newsmaker by the Grand Rapids Business Journal last year.

“This firm has a long history of being very supportive of strong female members and partners,” says Emily Partridge about Garan Lucow Miller, where she is a shareholder.

The insurance defense attorney was fortunate enough to have Garan Lucow’s David Campos as a mentor; he and John Boros, she says, were most instrumental in shaping case law on the No Fault act.

“I was pleased and surprised at this honor,” she says. “I just feel like I’m doing what everyone else is doing, and there are many others who are so very deserving. But thanks to Dave Campos, I do know that I’m regarded as an emerging leader in No Fault. Since he’s retired, I’ve tried to fill the very big shoes he left behind.”

Partridge was born in South Korea and lived there four years until her parents could bring her to the U.S., and went to University of Michigan for before attending University of Toledo College of Law. She says she is so busy with family and her litigation career that she has little time to engage in volunteer work, but she does financially support several charities such as Crash’s Landing — “I love cats,” she says.

Mika Meyers attorney Jennifer A. Puplava, who has been profiled in these pages previously, specializes in trademark, copyright, technology and IP law.

About the Women in the Law designation, she says, “I was actually very surprised because I did not know that I’d been nominated. I of course felt honored, it really is a huge honor. One of my partners who works with me on some of our non-billable activitiess fessed up after I was notified.”

Puplava’s main volunteer focus has been animal welfare, particularly with the Humane Society of West Michigan. She is also on the Cascade Downtown Development Authority and says her Mika Meyers colleagues have been very helpful.

She has served on the Grand Rapids Bar board of trustees and social interaction committee, and is most proud of her long-time work with the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, including on the charity softball game.

Puplava also started up the IP practice group at Mika Meyers years ago and is active in the administration of the firm.

A mother of two girls aged ten and seven, Puplava says she spends a lot of time “juggling and keeping everything up in the air. My kids like to say that my job is basically just sitting at my desk staring at a computer and yelling.” she says, laughing. “But they’re bright kids, and I’m proud they’re happy.”

Sarah L. Walburn is an executive partner with Secrest Wardle, working out of the Grand Rapids office.

She too, works in insurance defense, and was formerly at Garan Lucow Miller, but after her move to Secrest Wardle three years ago, feels her career really took off. She litigates in trial courts around the state.

“I don’t know why I was chosen for this honor,” Walburn says. “I suspect I was nominated because I moved up so quickly in this firm. I’ve had good outcomes and built good relationships with clients’

The Rockford resident interned in Pittsburgh after attend Valparaiso, but moved back to Michigan when her husband took a position in the Newaygo County Prosecutor’s office. Walburn’. work schedule and young family prevent her from participating currently in many community activities, but she does a lot of volunteering for her daughter’s school. She participates in professional organizations such as MDTC and does continuing education presentations for ICLE.

“My daughter is very excited about this,” Walburn says. “She always thinks any kind of honor having to do with women is super exciting.”
 

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