Alumni Accomplishments
- Posted 2009-10-29
Corey Beaubien, '06, has passed the patent office bar exam and has become a registered patent attorney at Reising Ethington, P.C.Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Reising Ethington is one of the oldest intellectual property law firms in Michigan. Since 1865, the firm has specialized solely in the practice of intellectual property law. The firm represents some of the largest corporations on the planet, and it has represented many individuals -- like Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, and David Buick. The firm has represented some clients for over 100 years. - Posted 2009-10-29
Mike Druzinski, '09, has passed the Michigan bar exam and has become an attorney at Reising Ethington, P.C. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Reising Ethington is one of the oldest intellectual property law firms in Michigan. Since 1865, the firm has specialized solely in the practice of intellectual property law. The firm represents some of the largest corporations on the planet, and it has represented many individuals -- like Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, and David Buick. The firm has represented some clients for over 100 years. - Posted 2009-10-26
The Hon. Thomas Boyd, '90, has been honored by the Mid-Michigan Region of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan as an outstanding member of the legal community who has made an exceptional contribution to women in the law. Before becoming chief judge of the 55th District Court in Mason, Boyd was in private practice as a civil litigator. In 1995, Boyd was appointed assistant attorney general by then-Attorney General Frank Kelley. His responsibilities included criminal, civil, administrative, and legislative law. Boyd was appointed to the bench in July 2005 and re-elected in 2006 and 2008. He serves on the boards of the Mason Community Fund (an advisory board of the Capital Area United Way) and the Oak Park YMCA, and volunteers for the Holt-Dimondale School Business Alliance and the Lansing Area Teen Court. - Posted 2009-10-23
Diane Akers, '85, a partner in the Detroit office of the law firm Bodman LLP, was appointed co-chair of the Business Impact Committee of the Judicial Cross-roads Task Force. The Task Force, created by the State Bar of Michigan, addresses maintaining judicial services despite decreased funding and the economic down-turn. - Posted 2009-10-23
Stephen T. Portell, '96, has joined the Tucson-based office of Haralson, Miller, Pitt, Feldman & McAnally PLC. Portell's practice includes automotive and heavy equipment product liability, drug and medical device, insurance coverage, class-action and business litigation. He is admitted to practice law in Arizona state courts and the U.S. District Court for Arizona, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to joining the firm, Portell was an equity partner with Quarles & Brady LLP and an associate with Snell & Wilmer LLP. Portell graduated summa cum laude from the University of Detroit. He is former president of the Pima County Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division and currently serves on the Arizona Supreme Court's Judicial Performance Review Commission and as a special magistrate for the Tucson City Court. - Posted 2009-10-23
James J. Boutrous II, '95, joined the Detroit Office of McDonald Hopkins' Labor and Employment Counseling and Litigation Practice, which specializes in representing management in all aspects of labor and employment law at both the state and federal level. Boutrous has extensive non-compete and trade secret experience, which includes counseling, auditing, and drafting agreements. Boutrous's national practice involves both prosecuting and defending employers in non-competition and trade secret litigation, with significant injunction hearing experience. He is a member of the Non-Compete/Trade Secrets Subcommittee of the American Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Section. Boutrous is also a skilled employment litigator, with trial experience in employment discrimination matters, defending employers in labor arbitrations, as well as labor and employment counseling.He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992 from the University of Notre Dame. - Posted 2009-10-22
Nancy J. Diehl, '78, is the recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award from the Alumni Association of Western Michigan University, where she received her bachelor's degree. She began her career as a staff attorney for the Michigan Misdemeanor Defender's Office and then went to serve a year as assistant corporation counsel for the city of Detroit. Diehl went on to join the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office as a trial prosecutor in Recorder Court. She has also been the deputy chief of the Child and Family Abuse Bureau and Chief of the Projects and Training Division. After serving in that capacity until 2004, she was appointed head of the Felony Trial Division. During her career in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Diehl also headed the first Child Abuse Unit and co-authored several books to help children deal with abuse and the legal system. She retired in April after serving as a prosecutor for 28 years. - Posted 2009-10-01
Edward Zelenak, '77, received the "Excellence in Municipal Law and Governance Award" from the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys on September 28, 2009. - Posted 2009-09-28
Kathy Browne, '87, multiple patent holder and founder of Grow!USA, also founded and funds a related non-profit, Green!USA, www.green-usa.org, which became a 2008 international leader in alternatives to peat for soil amendments in garden and landscape design. Green!USA has been cited as authoritative by Treehugger, Suite101 Environment News, and other Internet sites. Since 2007 Ms. Browne has received two local Council for Community Development Residential Landscape Design Excellence Awards, with the second being awarded October 8, 2009. Her DAR national conservation medal-winning garden design and installation work for the 2004 Michigan State Fairgrounds -- which was videotaped for the Grosse Pointe cable television prgram "Pointes of Horticulture" -- has been accepted in DVD format into the collection of historic artifacts by the Detroit Historical Society Museums, which intend to show the half-hour production to schoolchildren. - Posted 2009-09-15
Robert A. Berlow, '71, of counsel to Taubman, Nadis & Neuman, P.C., a Farmington Hills, Michigan law firm, has been selected for inclusion in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. He has also been selected for inclusion in the 2009 Michigan Super Lawyers. He is a past Chairperson of the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. He concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial law and commercial real estate law and has extensive experience negotiating commercial leases on behalf of both developers and tenants, including local, regional and national retailers, automotive suppliers, warehouse operators and health care providers.
