SBM Blog

Michigan Lawyer-Mothers Rock – Pass It On

Happy Mothers Day, everyone.  Time to celebrate or remember the mothers who helped us become lawyers.  Carrying on a tradition SBM Blog started last Fathers Day, we salute mothers of Michigan lawyers and recognize the mother-lawyers who produced more Michigan lawyers.  Given the growing ranks of women lawyers in Michigan, we realize that this is just a small sample.  If we missed you, let us know!

• Marjorie Basile and Andrew Basile
• Patty Boyle and David and Jason Pernick
• Maura Corrigan and Daniel Grano
• Judy Cunningham and Jacob Cunningham
• Barbara Hackett and Carol Hackett Garagiola
• Diane Hathaway, Ryan Hathaway, and Dana Hathaway
• Linda Hallmark and Jessica Hallmark
• Jean King and Nancy King
• Kathleen Lewis and Aaron Lewis
• Susan Paletz, Amanda Paletz, and Matthew Paletz
• Florence Schoenherr, Kim Cahill, and Dana Warnez
• Zoe Schuitmaker and Tonya Schuitmaker
• Susan Weinberg and David Weinberg
• Janet Welch and Andrew Harwel
• Pauline Woll, Jessica Woll, and Allison Woll Parr
• Etta Zivian, Robert Zivian, and Sara Zivian Zwickl

For you lawyer-moms who are still raising your children, it turns out there's a veritable cottage industry of lawyer-moms writing blogs about being lawyer-moms. Just for example, PT Law Mom, Motherly Law, Law Mom Blog, Attorney Diaries, Blue Suit Mom, Mommy Blawg, But I Do Have A Law Degree, and Attorney At Mom.  Keep up the good work.

All In The Family: Join Our Mother/Offspring Lawyer Tribute

Last year's Father's Day post on Father/Son- or Daughter-lawyer combos was such a big hit that we promised a Mother's Day follow-up this year. So if you are the Michigan mother-lawyer of a lawyer, or the Michigan lawyer-child of a mother-lawyer, tell us so we can include you in the Mother's Day compendium. You can let us know by a comment to this post, or by an email to blog@mail.michbar.org.  While you're at it, you might consider making a donation to the Access to Justice Fund in your mother's name.

Pictured here is a trifecta -- the family lawyer team of mother Etta Zivian, son Robert Zivian, and daughter Sara Zivian Zwickl. Together, they helped change a young mother's life through their pro bono work. Etta represented the young mother in her divorce from her abusive husband and had her name removed from the CPS records that cited her for failure to protect her children. Robert  helped to terminate the father’s parental rights. Sara assisted with drafting a will and assigned the person whom Christine wanted to be guardian of her children if anything were to happen to her.

Miller Canfield Lawyer To Be Serenaded By Bernadette Peters

Miller Canfield's Mark J. Bennett, along with his co-authors of "New ASTM Standard May Serve as a Safe Harbor for Emerging Building Energy Labeling, Transactional Disclosure, and Benchmarking Regulations," will receive a Burton Award for Legal Achievement on June 11 at the Library of Congress.  The award is presented to partners and counsel in law firms who have written outstanding articles which are clear, concise, and comprehensive. John Paul Stevens will be there too, to pick up a Book of the Year Award.  And for entertainment? The incomparable Bernadette Peters.  Award winners in other categories have yet to be announced.  Last year, Cooley Law School's Joe Kimble won a Burton legal writing award, for the second time.

HT: International Law Prof Blog

James Madison College at Michigan State, Take A Bow

MSU's James Madison College is a residential college that prepares its students for law school, graduate study, decision-making roles in public and private enterprise, and careers in government, media, politics, social services, public administration, education, business and industry, and the foreign service. Its webpage declares, "There isn't an important issue in the world today that our students and alumni are not studying and working to solve." For the record, one of those issues is equal access to justice, and three dynamic James Madison-trained problem-solvers were in the spotlight last Thursday at the United States Supreme Court.  They accepted the ABA's prestigious Grassroots Advocacy Award for the work of their organizations, the State Bar of Michigan and the Texas Supreme Court. For the State Bar of Michigan, SBM President Julie Fershtman, who began her college career at James Madison, and SBM Director of Governmental Relations Elizabeth Lyon, '02, shared the honors.  Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, '85, represented the Texas Supreme Court. And that's not the end of the story. Back home in Lansing, another James Madison grad, Greg Conyers, the State Bar's director of diversity and inclusion, plays an important role in State Bar public policy development.

Lawyers Swarm U.S. Capitol Lobbying For Special Interest; Michigan in the Forefront

The "special" interest is access to justice, the goal was funding for the Legal Services Corporation, and the occasion was ABA Day in Washington. The State Bar of Michigan received the ABA's Grassroots Advocacy award, along with the Supreme Court of Texas, George Cauthen, Nelson Mullins et al; L. Jonathan Ross, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC; Betty Balli Torres, and the Texas Access to Justice Foundation.  More on that after some reflection, and sleep.

Support Your Fellow Michiganders: Vote for Soultivity Today

Soultivity, a Washtenaw County-based all-lawyer R&B band, has advanced to the final round of the American Bar Association's Battle of the Lawyer Bands Contest. They're in the top five, and now they need your help to advance to the top spot, for a chance to raise $5,000 for Washtenaw County Bar Association's Law and Justice Fund, and a chance to play at the President's Reception at the ABA's Annual Meeting Aug. 4 at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Soultivity is composed of Robin Stephens on lead vocals, Stefani Carter on backup vocals, Joy Gaines on backup vocals, Jon Emmons on bass, Charles Groh on guitar, Robert Killewald on guitar, Mike Gatti on guitar, John Reiser on keyboards, and Robert Carbeck on drums.

They are currently running in third place in the battle of the lawyer bands. Help them make their mission, "Making music for charity," a reality by casting your vote for them today.

Vote online by 5 p.m. Friday, June 1 at ABA Battle of the Lawyer Bands.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Michigan Lawyers Weekly's Leaders In The Law: A Singular Event

Michigan Lawyers Weekly accomplished the near-miraculous last week by bringing together in the same room (albeit virtually in a few cases) an assortment of high-profile, high-achieving lawyers, including rivals and perennial adversaries, from across the professional and political spectrum. The Michigan Lawyers Weekly 2012 Leaders in the Law event showcased some of Michigan's most impressive lawyers and culminated in the presentation of the 2012 award to Chief Justice Robert Young. The award particularly recognized his leadership in the efforts to streamline Michigan's judiciary.

Congratulations to MLW's 2012 Leaders in the Law

Michigan Lawyers Weekly has announced its 25 Leaders in the Law for 2012:

John W. Allen, Varnum LLP • Andrew R. Basile Jr., Young Basile Hanlon & MacFarlane PC • Mark J. Bernstein, The Sam Bernstein Law Firm • Thomas P. Branigan, Bowman and Brooke LLP • John V. Byl, Warner Norcross & Judd LLP • John G. Cameron Jr., Dickinson Wright PLLC • David E. Christensen, Michigan Auto Law • Jerry Dorsey IV, Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office • Darius W. Dynkowski, Ackerman, Ackerman & Dynkowski P.C. • Brian D. Einhorn, Collins, Einhorn, Farrell & Ulanoff, P.C. • Geoffrey N. Fieger, Fieger Law PC • Hon. Nanci J. Grant, Oakland County Circuit Court • Craig E. Hilborn, Hilborn & Hilborn, P.C. • Maurice G. Jenkins, Jackson Lewis LLP • Craig H. Lubben, Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, P.L.C. • Barbara J. Morrison, Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office • Steven L. Oberholtzer, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione • Jesse M. Reiter, Reiter & Walsh, P.C. • Rebecca Simkins, Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker, P.L.L.C. • Phillip D. Torrence, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP • Jonathan Tukel, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan • Jerome R. Watson, Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. • Anne Widlak, Nemeth Burwell, P.C. • Hon. Robert P. Young Jr., Michigan Supreme Court • Rodger D. Young, Young & Susser, P.C.

See The Michigan Lawyer for details.

Michigan's Linda Rexer Named to National Task Force on Pro Bono

Linda Rexer, executive director of the Michigan State Bar Foundation, has been named to the Legal Services Corporation Board's Pro Bono Task Force.  The Task Force is working to identify best practices for enhancing pro bono services in rural and urban areas and through technology, to examine the obstacles that hamper or discourage pro bono services, and to formulate “big ideas” for pro bono services in the context of legal aid programs. 

In addition to Rexer, the five new Task Force members named today include Judge Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; Deborah Leff, Deputy Counselor for Access to Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice; Larry S. McDevitt, Chair of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service; and Angela C. Vigil, Partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP and the firm’s Director of Pro Bono and Community Service for North America.  The Pro Bono Task Force is led by Martha Minow, Vice Chair of the LSC Board and Dean of the Harvard Law School, and Harry Korrell III, a member of the LSC Board and a partner in the Seattle office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.

Green Bag Nominations Honor Michigan

The Green Bag, a quirky, amusing, and slightly anachronistic national "almanac & reader of [1] useful and entertaining tidbits for lawyers for the year to come and [2] exemplary legal writing for the year just passed," has released its nominees for the latter.  SBM Blog, a Green Bag fan despite not having been asked to join the ridiculously bloated list of luminaries and Sages on its Board of Advisors, salutes those honored and especially wishes the best of luck to these Michigan-connected nominees:

• Raymond M. Kethledge, Big Dipper Entertainment, LLC v. City of Warren, 641 F.3d 715 (6th Cir. 2011)
• Ann Claire Williams, U.S. v. Holcomb, 657 F.3d 445 (7th Cir. 2011)
• Carl W. Herstein, Property, 56 Wayne Law Review 1397 (2010)
• Tracey Maclin and Julia Mirabella, Framing the Fourth, 109 Michigan Law Review 1049 (2011)
• Richard Pildes, Is the Supreme Court a “Majoritarian” Institution?, 2010 Supreme Court Review
• Michael McConnell, Where Credit Is Due, Advancing A Free Society, July 13, 2011
• Michael W. McConnell, A Free Speech Year at the Court: A Survey of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Decisions, First Things, October 2011
• Charles Munger, Wantmore, Tweakmore, Totalscum, and the Tragedy of Boneheadia: A Parody about the Great Recession, Slate, July 6, 2011
• John A. Farrell, Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned (Doubleday 2011)