Alumni Accomplishments
Caroline Gersch, '12, joined Trott & Trott PC. Gersch spent the past year working as chair of Wayne State Law School's Free Legal Aid Clinic Inc. where she oversaw all aspects of legal services provided to underprivileged and indigent residents of Wayne County.
October 2, 2012
Valerie Jackson, '12, wrote an article, with Scott Wolfson, which was published in the November 2012 issue of the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal. The article ( http://wolfsonbolton.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=6O7yAAeU0Ts%3d&tabid=593) is titled "Key Employee Incentive Programs Make 'Cents' for Creditors." Jackson is an associate at Wolfson Bolton PLLC.
November 5, 2012
Laura Rogers-Raleigh, '12, joined Warner Norcross & Judd LLP as an associate attorney.
November 14, 2012
Margaret Stalker-Jozwiak, '12, joined Warner Norcross & Judd LLP as an associate attorney.
November 14, 2012
Caroline Giordano, '12, has joined Miller Canfield as an associate in the Litigation + Trial Group in the Ann Arbor office.
January 4, 2013
Mitchell McIntyre, '12, joined Plunkett Cooney, one of the Midwest's oldest and largest law firms, as a member of the firm's Transportation Law Practice Group. A member of the firm's Detroit office, McIntyre focuses his practice on insurance-related work involving coverage disputes, entitlement issues and catastrophic injuries, as well as on no-fault law and motor vehicle litigation. In addition to his first- and third-party transportation practice, McIntyre has experience representing clients in cases involving medical malpractice, premises liability and employment litigation, including discrimination claims, civil rights and civil RICO actions.
February 19, 2013
Ellen Schneider, '12, was the author, with Kimberly Ross Clayson, of an opinion piece about Detroit's financial restructuring that was published in Model D, a web magazine, titled "A way forward."
March 26, 2013
Aisa Villarosa Berg, '11, received a Humanitarian Service Award from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and the Arts. An alumna of the college, she was honored for her commitment to social justice and helping the poor in Michigan and her work with the juvenille justice system in Detroit.
September 30, 2011
Louis Meizlish, '11, was sworn in as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Oakland County.
October 31, 2011
Ruth Lyons, '11, has joined Garan Lucow Miller, PC in the firm's Detroit office. Her practice focuses on no-fault insurance litigation, automobile negligence, premises liability, insurance coverage and general civil litigation.
November 17, 2011
Aaron Silvenis, '11, authored a working paper, Live Aid?, that was recently published by the American Antitrust Institute and submitted to the Federal Trade Commission to be used as a resource for future analysis of vertical mergers within the entertainment industry.
November 30, 2011
Richard L. Merpi II, '11, has joined the firm of Sinas Dramis Brake Boughton and McIntyre PC as an associate.
March 6, 2012Ruth Tyszka, '11, was appointed an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration, Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, in July 2011.
March 12, 2012Melanie Van Antwerp, '10, has joined Honigman's Corporate and Securities Department in the firm's Kalamazoo office.
September 10, 2010Michael J. Thomas, '10, LL.M., has joined the Carrillo Law Firm PC, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, as a senior attorney. In addition, he filed a case in federal court (Thomas v. Welch et al., E.D. Mich.) against the State Bar of Michigan (SBM) and Board of Law Examiners (BLE), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief regarding a bar admission rule approved by the state supreme court in 2003. The provision at issue required any bar applicant who had resigned from the SBM to pass the bar exam, despite having sufficient practice experience to qualify under the BLE rule authorizing admission without examination, i.e. admission on motion. The case resulted in the voluntary commitment of the SBM and BLE to refrain from applying the particular resignation-related provision to any applicant who meets the requirements for motion admission. Thomas has graded essay answers for the New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners, published articles on bar admission topics in The Journal of the Legal Profession and Student Lawyer magazine, and passed four bar exams, including Michigan's twice.
September 30, 2010Alicia W. Birach, '10, has joined Foster Swift Collins and Smith PC. Her primary practice area will be workers' compensation.
November 8, 2010Lauren B. Dunn, '10, has joined Foster Swift Collins and Smith PC. Dunn is a member of the firm's Employment, Labor and Benefits Group. She focuses in the areas of employee benefits and labor and employment law.
November 7, 2010Matthew S. Ehrlich, '10, has joined the Demorest Law Firm PLLC as an associate. Ehrlich originally joined the firm in 2009 as a law clerk and was recently made an associate after being admitted to practice.
November 22, 2010
Lauren M. Phillips, '10, has joined Dykema as an associate in the litigation department. Her practice focuses on general litigation, with an emphasis on business and commercial litigation. In law school, Phillips was a Dean's Scholar and Lombard Fellow, was awarded the Rakow Scholarship for outstanding scholarly achievement in corporations and was named Best Preliminary Round Oralist in the New York City Bar Association National Moot Court Competition, Region 6.
November 22, 2010
Luke A. Suchyta , '10, has joined the firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP as an attorney in its Labor and Employment Department.
March 17, 2011
John E. Scheibelhut, '10, has joined Steinhardt Pesick and Cohen in Birmingham, Mich. His primary areas of practice will include eminent domain, property taxation, real estate, land use and general commercial litigation.
March 28, 2011Rebecca S. Davies, '10, joined Butzel Long as a shareholder to the firm in the Detroit office. Davies focuses her practice in the areas of employment law and commercial litigation.
April 6, 2011Michael J. Thomas, '10, LL.M., wrote an article titled "Bar Admission Reform Through Selective Litigation: My Michigan Example" that was published in the State Bar of New Mexico's Bar Bulletin. (Article on page 7.)
July 15, 2011Jeffrey L. Pietsch, '10, joined the Southfield-based firm of Matz and Pietsch PC as an associate.
July 27, 2011Sarah Kwiatkowski, '10, has been hired as the directing attorney for the Social Security Advocacy Program at the Seattle Community Law Center in Seattle, Wash. She also has been asked to sit on the Municipal League of King County's Candidate Evaluation Committee.
August 2, 2011
Sonia A. Salah, '10, was nominated and subsequently elected to serve as a council member for the State Bar of Michigan's International Law Section for three years at last week's State Bar Annual Meeting. Salah has been an active participant in the ILS since she established the Wayne Law International Law Students Association in 2008. She served as an ex-officio student member of the Council in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010.
September 20, 2011
Brad Thomson, '10, was featured in a Detroit Legal News article titled "Preserving the American dream: Attorney's passion is helping counsel Spanish-speaking families." He opened his own immigration law practice a year ago.
August 27, 2012Joseph Novell, '09, of Acclaim Legal Services, is now a member of the State of Bar of Michigan and the Federal Bar Association. Novell, a bankruptcy lawyer, joined Acclaim Legal Services in August of 2009.
January 8, 2010
Misbah Shahid, '09, joined Miller Canfield as an associate in the Labor and Employment Litigation Group in the Detroit, Mich. office. He is involved in handling contract negotiation and arbitration for both public and private sector clients, nationally and locally, with special focus assisting Muslim, Arab and South Asian employers.
December 21, 2009
Robert E. Murkowski, '09, joined Miller Canfield as an associate in the Detroit, Mich. office. He practices business and complex commercial litigation, assisting clients in a variety of matters ranging from contract disputes, professional malpractice, business torts, criminal defense and land use.
December 18, 2009
Saraphoena B. Koffron, '09, LLM, has joined Miller Johnson as an associate in the Kalamazoo office. She brings several years of experience and will be an integral part of the firm's respected family law practice and litigation group.
January 4, 2010Erica D. Partee, '09, has joined Honigman's Trusts and Estates Department in Detroit.
January 4, 2010
Phillip Toutant, '09, has been named as an associate attorney at McKeen & Associates, PC. Toutant focuses his practice on plaintiff litigation in the areas of medical malpractice and birth trauma.
January 15, 2010Alisha L. Cieslak , '09, passed the bar in October 2009 and was admitted to the State Bar and to the Eastern District of Michigan in November 2009. She started working at Grand & Grand PLLC in Farmington Hills in September 2009, focusing her practice on creditor's rights, civil litigation, landlord/tenant, bankruptcy and collections.
January 19, 2010Farayha Arrine, '09, has joined Dickinson Wright PLLC in the firm's Detroit office.
January 21, 2010Amy Kwiatkowski, '09, has joined Dickinson Wright PLLC in the firm's Detroit office.
January 21, 2010Benjamin Sobczak, '09, has joined Dickinson Wright PLLC in the firm's Detroit office.
January 21, 2010Denis Shamo, '09, has joined Dickinson Wright PLLC in the firm's Bloomfield Hills office.
January 21, 2010Brian Vincent, '09, has joined Dickinson Wright PLLC in the firm's Lansing office.
January 21, 2010Christopher B Schneider, '09, is currently working as an attorney for Teamsters Local 700 in Chicago. Local 700 is one of the largest public sector Teamster locals in the country.
February 11, 2010David J. Council, '09, has joined Dykema in its Bloomfield Hills office. Council focuses on general litigation, with an emphasis on complex commercial disputes, product liability, premises actions, and consumer financial services.
February 19, 2010Matthew Lozen, '09, Matthew C. Lozen has joined The Law Offices of Timothy J. Lozen, P.C. in Port Huron as an associate.
March 12, 2010David J. Council, '09, has joined Dykema Gossett's Bloomfield Hills, Mich., office. Council will focus his practice on general litigation, with an emphasis on complex commercial disputes, products liability, premises actions and consumer financial services.
April 21, 2010
Wyatt J. Istvan-Mitchell, '09, joined Howard and Howard Attorneys, PLLC, and its Intellectual Property Group. He will practice out of the Royal Oak, Mich., office.
May 27, 2010
Aimee J. Jachym, '09, an associate with Miller Canfield, has been elected to the board of directors of the International Business Group (IBG) of West Michigan.
June 29, 2010Matthew J. Moussiaux, '09, has joined Honigman’s Corporate and Securities Department in Detroit.
September 10, 2010Alisha Cieslak, '09, recently joined the in-house legal department at Benteler Automotive, an international automobile supplier with 23,000 employees worldwide. Cieslak will serve as legal counsel to its North American operations, including its divisions throughout Canada and Mexico.
November 22, 2010Jim Roush, '09, an attorney with Bodman PLC in Ann Arbor, was recently named to the board of directors for the Michigan Friends Center.
January 31, 2011Kiana Franulic, '09, has been elected to the State Bar’s Criminal Law Section Council for a three-year term. The council provides opinions, amicus briefs and discussion on new legislation present in the State’s legislature. She is also co-chair of the Washtenaw County’s Bar Association'ss Criminal Law Section.
January 31, 2011Aimee Jachym, '09, was named Chief Administrator of Korean Kids and Orphanage Outreach Mission (KKOOM), a non-profit based in southwest Michigan that works to improve the lives of orphans in South Korea. In her new role, Jachym will facilitate the organization's ongoing volunteer projects and programs at Korean orphanages and support its expanding administrative operations. She previously worked at Miller Canfield as a corporate attorney.
February 1, 2011
Alisha Cieslak, '09, was promoted to director of legal affairs/general counsel-North America for an international Tier 1 automotive supplier. Alisha will oversee all legal affairs for the company's North American operations, including its various business divisions and plants throughout the US, Canada and Mexico.
February 16, 2012Julie A. Paquette, '08, has become an associate attorney at the law firm of Donald A. DeLong, PC. She has been a law clerk with the Southfield firm since 2007. Paquette will practice in the firm’s business solutions and estate planning / wealth transfer areas.
February 17, 2009Dawn N. Perry, '08, has joined Dykema as an associate. Perry focuses on litigation matters, particularly with respect to the automotive industry.
February 9, 2009Tricia L. Roelofs, '08, has joined Dykema as an associate. Roelofs' practice revolves around litigation matters, particularly business and commercial litigation.
February 9, 2009John J. Collins III, '08, has joined Dykema as an associate. Collins focuses on general corporate and securities matters.
February 9, 2009Anthony Kochis, '08, has joined Bush, Seyferth & Paige PLLC in Troy as an associate attorney in the Bankruptcy and Creditor’s Rights Group. Prior to joining the team, Kochis worked as a legal assistant at a bankruptcy foreclosure firm.
February 9, 2009Eric Novetsky, '08, has joined the Southfield-based Jaffe Raitt Heuer Weiss PC as an associate in the firm’s Insolvency and Reorganization Group. Prior to joining the team, Novetsky served as a summer associate with the Detroit–based Wilson Young PLC, and as a judicial intern for the United States District Court Judge Bernard A. Friedman, Eastern District of Michigan.
February 9, 2009Heather M. Maldegen-Long, '08, has joined the Southfield-based Jaffe Raitt Heuer Weiss PC as an associate in the firm’s Corporate Law and Real Estate Practice Groups.
February 9, 2009Kenton M. Bednarz, '08, has joined the Corporate and Securities Department at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP’s Detroit Office. Bednarz received his Juris Doctor from Wayne State University Law School and his master’s and bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
December 10, 2008Karissa M. W. Holmes, '08, has joined the Corporate and Securities Department at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP’s Detroit Office. Holmes received her Juris Doctor from Wayne State University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
December 10, 2008Kimberly A. Yourchock, '08, has joined the Bankruptcy, Reorganization and Commercial Department at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP's Detroit Office. Yourchock received her Juris Doctor from Wayne State University and her bachelors from Kalamazoo College.
December 10, 2008Steven J. Migliori, '08, an associate with Pepper Hamilton LLP, was admitted to practice law in Michigan. He is a member of the firm's Corporate and Securities Practice and a member of the firm's Sustainability, CleanTech and Climate Change Team.
April 21, 2009Caitlin Hofmann, '08, has been hired as associate counsel with Assets International LLC, an assets location company that reunites individuals and companies with non-real estate cash assets.
November 17, 2009Oday Salim, '08, was recently hired to teach the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Upon graduation from Wayne Law, Salim earned an LLM in environmental law from Lewis & Clark Law School.
January 25, 2010Jessica Ann Hallmark, '08, has joined the law firm of C. Leslie Banas and Associates in Birmingham, Mich. Hallmark is a graduate of the University of Michigan and received her J.D. from Wayne Law in 2008. She previously clerked for the Hon. Wendy Potts at the Oakland County Circuit Court. She also served on the Congressional Staff of Congressman Joe Knollenberg from 2001 to 2009.
August 20, 2010Nilay S. Davé, '08, of Howard and Howard PLLC, has been elected to a three-year term as a council member on the Michigan State Bar's Information Technology Law section.
October 7, 2010
Timothy Bradley, '08, has joined Coats and Bennett PLLC, an intellectual property law firm in Cary, N.C., in its electrical engineering practice group. Bradley comes from a well-respected intellectual property law firm in Michigan, where he focused on patent preparation and prosecution, patentability and freedom to operate searches, and gained significant experience coordinating foreign patent prosecution. He holds a degree from the University of Notre Dame in computer engineering and has industry experience working as a software engineer. Bradley leverages this background in his work as a patent attorney, where he handles matters involving a wide range of technologies, including avionics, wireless lighting systems and computer software.
February 15, 2011Timothy Monsma, '08, an attorney with Varnum, has been selected to serve as a member of the Heart of West Michigan United Way Project Blueprint board, a leadership development program with the goal of increasing the number of ethnically diverse professionals providing volunteer leadership to the boards and committees of West Michigan nonprofit agencies. Monsma focuses his practice in trial law and assists clients in a wide variety of litigation matters, including commercial tort and contract disputes, real estate disputes and civil appeals.
March 25, 2011
Shannon L. H. Phillips , '08, recently joined Plunkett Cooney as a member of its Insurance Law Practice Group.
May 23, 2011Andrea Hayden, '08, has joined Pepper Hamilton's Detroit office and Environmental Practice Group. Prior to joining Pepper, Hayden practiced with Fausone Bohn LLP in Northville, Mich., and as an environmental engineer with Conestoga-Rovers and Associates in Plymouth, Mich. Hayden served as editor-in-chief for the Journal of Law in Society while at Wayne Law.
August 8, 2011
Kimberly A. Yourchock, '08, has joined Jackson Lewis LLP in the firm's Southfield office as an associate.
August 16, 2011
Nadine Mustafa, '08, a patent attorney and associate with Young Basile Hanlon and MacFarlane PC, was named a "Rising Star" in intellectual property law by Super Lawyer magazine.
January 3, 2012
Timothy Bradley, '08, was named co-editor of IP Links, a publication of the intellectual property section of the North Carolina Bar Association. He is an associate attorney with Coats + Bennett PLLC, an intellectual property law firm.
August 10, 2012
David Hill, '08, was recognized as a Rising Star by Michigan Super Lawyers. He practices in corporate/business law, estate planning, and nonprofits, foundations and charitable organizations at Kreis Enderle Hudgins and Borsos.
October 10, 2012
Laura Bassett, '08, was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Women in Finance. Bassett is an associate in the Detroit office of Miller Canfield. Founded in 2004, the Michigan Women in Finance is a nonprofit educational and professional networking organization for women in the finance industry. The board consists of 16 members representing a diverse group of women finance professionals. At Miller Canfield, Bassett advises public entities on a range of financing and related legal matters, including economic development initiatives, municipal infrastructure finance and school finance. She has particular experience assisting financially distressed municipalities and school districts to make informed decisions to achieve their objectives.
October 17, 2012
Timothy Bradley, '08, has been named secretary of the Triangle Intellectual Property Law Association (TIPLA). TIPLA aims to unite professionals practicing in the field of intellectual property law, and to preserve the fundamental principles of intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks and copyrights. Bradley previously served as the association's webmaster before being named secretary.
At Coats + Bennett PLLC, Bradley, a patent attorney, uses his industry experience and computer engineering background to handle patent matters involving telecommunications, software and other technology. In addition to his position as TIPLA secretary, he serves as co-editor of the IP Links publication of the Intellectual Property Section of the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA).
November 26, 2012