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Join the State Bar of Michigan to celebrate the growing diversity in the legal profession at our Celebrating Diversity Reception, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 18 at H.O.M.E. in the B.O.B. in Grand Rapids.
Ann Arbor's all-lawyer band Soultivity will perform.
The Celebrating Diversity Reception is one of many fun networking events taking place as part of this year's SBM Annual Meeting.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
David K. Page, a partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, passed away on July 1 at the age of 80.
Page's legal practice focused on corporate transactions, including corporate governance, financing, acquisitions, sales and mergers, public offerings and private placements. He was an active and committed community leader and was the chairman of the board of Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc., a company with nearly $3 billion in assets based in Southfield, Michigan.
His personal list of volunteer work with charitable organizations is extensive. Along with leadership roles at many area nonprofit organizations, he was the chair of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation board of trustees, the vice chair of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, and a trustee or director on the boards of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, the Detroit Zoological Society, City Year Detroit and both The Jewish Fund and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit (previously serving as president of each).
He earned an LL.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College. In addition, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Page is survived by his wife, Andrea, children, Mark, Jason and Sarah, and grandchildren.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
The 2014 State Bar of Michigan Economics of Law Practice survey report has been posted online.
The survey is conducted every three years and the results are used daily throughout the state in courtrooms, law firms and by lawyers in all occupational areas. As referenced by the Michigan Supreme Court in Smith v. Khouri, it is the primary resource used by trial courts to determine attorney fees. It provides the benchmark for more than 50 specific fields of practice by geographic location.
Survey results also contain data about salaries, benefits, hours worked and job satisfaction for attorneys in non-private practice occupations, such as those working as in-house counsel, in government service, non-profit organizations, academia, legal services and more.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
Seven attorneys won election to the SBM Board of Commissioners and will serve three-year terms expiring at the close of the 2017 Annual Meeting: James W. Heath, E. Christopher Johnson Jr., Gregory L. Ulrich, Donald G. Rockwell, Shauna L. Dunnings, Jennifer M. Grieco and Richard J. Siriani.
Thirty-eight attorneys won races to serve on the SBM Representative Assembly: Jill L. Nylander, Scott A. Dienes, , Audrey R. Monaghan, Joseph P. McGill, Douglas A. Kaye, Thomas M. J. Lavigne, Katherine Kakish, Daniel D. McLean, Aaron V. Burrell, James H. Fisher, Dennis M. Flessland, J. Scot Garrison, Carl L. Collins III, David M. Eisenberg, Samantha J. Orvis, Anne E. Linder, Patrick D. Crandell, Alan B. Koenig, Mark A. Holsomback, Brian D. Rahilly, Wilson D. Brott, Lea Ann Sterling, R. Timothy Kohler, Martin J. Hillard, Victoria A. Vuletich, Ronald L. Foster, Robert M. Backus, Elizabeth C. Jolliffe, Nels A. Christopherson, Daniel J. Florip, Ellsworth J. Stay Jr., Kimberly A. Breitmeyer, Darling A. Garcia, Gregory T. Stremers, Theresa J. Cypher, Jennifer A. Frost, Matthew W. Antkoviak and Adam D. Pavlik.
Nancy J. Diehl won a three-year term on the Judicial Tenure Commission that will expire on Dec. 31, 2017.
Nine attorneys won terms on the SBM Young Lawyers Section Council that will expire in 2016: Ryan Zemke, Mwanaisha A. Sims, Jerome Crawford, Tanya N. Cripps, Choi Tanaha Portis, Jade J. Edwards, Shenique A. Moss, Aysha J. Kasham and Roberta L. Sacharski.
Visit the full SBM Election Results for more information.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled four to three in People v Carp, People v Davis and People v Eliason that those offenders sentenced as juveniles to life without the possibility for parole prior to the Supreme Court of the United States decision in Miller v Alabama will not be eligible for new sentencing hearings.
Justice Stephen Markman wrote for the majority that since the changes made by the Miller precedent were merely procedural, no sentencing hearings were required for those juveniles sentenced to life prior to Miller.
Justice Mary Beth Kelly wrote for the dissent, signed on to by Justices Bridget McCormack and Michael Cavanagh, that because Miller changed the variety of sentences available for the those juveniles sentenced to life prior to Miller, that the Miller precedent should apply retroactively.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
When Mr. L's minivan broke down and required expensive repairs, he was in danger of losing more than his method of transportation. He was also on the verge of becoming homeless.
Because he couldn't pay to have the van fixed, the repair shop declared it abandoned and the police impounded it and prepared to have it towed for scrap.
That's when Chris Bernard, an attorney at Bodman in Ann Arbor, stepped in to provide pro bono legal counsel to Mr. L. Find out how he helped Mr. L and worked with the city attorney to ensure nobody else ever faced the same problems Mr. L did.
Do you know a lawyer who helps? Submit her story on the State Bar of Michigan A Lawyer Helps webpage.
Posted by Samantha Meinke
