Wayne Law News

Wayne Law moved into the top 100, jumping 18 spots to No. 87, in U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best Law Schools for 2014.

Registration is open and sponsorship opportunities are available for the 2014 Wayne Law Golf Outing, set for Monday, June 2, at the Country Club of Detroit.

A conference featuring noted national experts will explore ways to advance equity and inclusion in cities facing bankruptcy and financial crisis Monday, April 7, and Tuesday, April 8, at Wayne Law.

Three investors will join a business law professor to discuss how economic development, entrepreneurship and the law are working together to help Detroit grow and thrive Wednesday, April 9, at Wayne Law.

Joan Claybrook, who issued the first standards requiring airbags in automobiles, will talk about General Motors Co.’s current safety problems with ignition switches Wednesday, April 2, at Wayne Law. Her presentation – "GM and NHTSA: Who is Covering for Whom?" – also will address the failure of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to demand a recall against the historic backdrop of the role of politics in auto safety.

Dan Gilbert, ’87, chairman of Rock Ventures, chairman and founder of Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. and majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, spoke Monday, March 3, to students in Assistant (Clinical) Professor Eric Williams’ Business and Community Law Clinic class.

Cass Technical High School students visited Wayne Law on Friday, March 7, for Discover Law Day to hear keynote speaker Terrence Thompson, ’08. More photos

A group of Wayne Law students led by Dean Jocelyn Benson and Savala Nolan of Wayne Law's Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights took a Spring Break trip to the American South to meet with some of the country’s leading civil rights attorneys, including Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative and Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Wayne Law Student ACLU Group sponsored a panel discussion Wednesday, March 5, on reproductive rights featuring three American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan attorneys: Lara Chelian, ’11, consultant with Northland Family Planning; Merissa Kovach, field organizer with ACLU of Michigan Detroit Chapter; and Brooke Tucker, ACLU staff attorney.

Robert Thomas, a December graduate of Wayne Law, says his business law studies prepared him to lead in the community – something he got a head start on while still a law student.

Adam Blaylock, a 2013 Wayne Law alumnus working at Tomkiw Mackewich PLC helping business owners, credits his hands-on clinical experience during law school with helping him get the job.

New businesses, such as Detroit-based RegainGo and LithSafe, are getting a boost from Wayne Law’s two business clinics.

Students admitted to Wayne Law for fall 2014 who received scholarships participated in a Law Firm Crawl on Friday, March 21, visiting the law firms of Sommers Schwartz PC in Southfield and Miller Canfield and Butzel Long, both in Detroit.

Wayne Law’s transactional law teams brought home first- and second-place honors in drafting and negotiating Friday, Feb. 28, in regional rounds of the National Transactional LawMeet competition.

One of Wayne Law’s National Moot Court Teams made it to the final round in the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition Regionals held Feb. 27 through March 2 in Washington, D.C.

A Wayne Law five-member team finished a regional tournament of the world’s largest international moot court competition as a quarter-finalist.

Wayne Law’s Journal of Law in Society, in partnership with the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, presented its 2014 symposium, “Forgotten from the Start: The Law’s Failing of the Urban Mentally Ill," on Friday, March 21.

The Wayne Law Review has elected a new editorial board for 2014-15.

Eight second-year law students have been elected to the 2014-15 Executive Board of a Wayne Law publication, The Journal of Law in Society.

Seventeen students, faculty and staff attended a Women in the Law brunch presented by the Women’s Law Caucus on Saturday, March 29. The event, hosted at Assistant Dean of Students Ilana Ben-Ze’ev’s home, provided a forum for women in Wayne Law to ask questions and discuss the experience as a woman in a male-dominated career field.

Wayne Law students involved with the expanding Program for Entrepreneurship and Business Law have their fingers on the pulse of the city of Detroit and its growth.

Students admitted to Wayne Law for fall 2014 participated in an Admitted Students Open House on Saturday, March 22, that included meeting faculty members, staff, fellow students and alumni; attending a mock class; hearing from panels of alumni and current students; and watching presentations on Career Services, Dean of Students Office and financial aid.

Upcoming Events

April 1 - Indigent Defense and Civil Right to Council: Update on National Efforts and the Michigan Landscape

April 2 - Dean A. Robb Public Interest Lecture Series: GM and NHTSA: Who is Covering for Whom?

April 7 and 8 - Detroit Bankruptcy and Beyond: Organizing for Change in Distressed Cities

April 9 - Detroit's Renaissance: The Intersection Between Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and the Law

June 2 - Wayne Law Golf Outing

More Events

Alumni Accomplishments

Gerald Acker, '81, was named one of Michigan Lawyers Weekly's 2014 Leaders in the Law. Acker, a personal injury attorney and co-founder and senior partner of Goodman Acker PC, founded his Southfield-based firm more than 20 years ago. He is president of the Michigan Association for Justice, a nonprofit organization of about 1,600 members dedicated to furthering civil justice and access to the courts for the people of Michigan.

Kimberly Berger, '99, was elected principal at Miller Canfield, where she specializes in domestic and international trademark prosecution and intellectual property litigation.

Timothy Busch, '78, founded The Busch Firm in Irvine, Calif., 35 years ago. The Busch Firm has joined forces with Michael Caspino, previously with Brady Vorwerck, Ryder and Caspino, to form Busch & Caspino – a new full-service law firm concentrating on business, estate and tax planning; corporate real estate and business litigation; as well as religious organizations and canon law. Busch also is founder of Pacific Hospitality Group, a hotel development and management firm, and Trinitas Cellars, Napa Institute. He co-founded JSerra Catholic High School and St. Anne School. He also is is a certified professional accountant and real estate broker.

Donald Campbell, '89, was invited to speak at the International Association of Defense Counsel's Professional Liability Roundtable on May 8 at University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Campbell will be among the speakers for a session focusing on "Hot Topics in Attorney-Client Privilege." Campbell, a partner at Collins Einhorn, focuses his practice on attorney grievance defense, representation in judicial tenure matters and legal malpractice defense.

Alisha Cieslak, '09, was named general counsel of Gordon Food Service, based in Grand Rapids. Gordon Food Service is family owned and employs about 17,000 people in the United States and Canada.

Adrienne Dresevic, '02, was appointed to the American Bar Association's Governing Council of the Health Law Section. She'll continue to serve with the ABA as co-chair for the Publications Committee, chair of the Stark & Anti-Kickback Toolkit Editorial Board, liaison to the Health Law Editorial Board, vice chair for the Revenue Committee and vice chair for the Physicians Legal Issues Conference. She is a founding shareholder of The Health Law Partners.

Stephanie Karisny, '12,  joined the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center as a staff attorney. Prior to joining the center, she was in private practice at a law firm in Troy.

Robert Lenihan, '72, was named general counsel of Harness Dickey, where he is a partner in the firm's litigation practice group. In addition to his litigation practice, he is responsible for advising the Executive Committee on selected legal issues.

Paul Mardirosian, '13, joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in its Detroit office. He is an attorney in the firm's Real Estate Department.

Joseph Richotte, '07, was elected a shareholder with the Butzel Long law firm. Based in Butzel Long's Bloomfield Hills office, Richotte practices in the areas of white collar criminal defense, securities and business litigation, news media defense and attorney discipline defense. He also is very active in the firm's appellate practice, focusing on appeals in his practice areas.

David Schelberg, '12, has joined Starr Butler Alexopoulos & Stoner PLLC in Southfield as an associate attorney. He focuses his practice on defense of employment claims, professional liability, commercial litigation and general litigation.

Stacey Washington, '87, was elected to the Board of Directors of Growing Hope, a nonprofit organization that organizes the Ypsilanti and Wayne farmers markets and educates people about gardening and healthy food. She serves on the Membership and Marketing Committee for the Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Area Chamber of Commerce. She also teaches DUI Defense and Advanced DUI courses for Solo Practice University. Washington is a sole practitioner in Ann Arbor, concentrating on drunken driving defense.

Alycia Wesley, '03, was a featured speaker during the Beaumont Parenting Program's March 12 seminar, "Financial Planning for Your Child's Future," in Troy. Wesley is an esate-planning attorney with Colombo & Colombo in Bloomfield Hills and a regular speaker on topics of estate planning for families with newborn children.

Addie Williams, '95, was named as one of the Michigan Chronicle's 2014 Women of Excellence. She is a longtime advocate for children and families. With more than 35 years of child welfare experience, she was instrumental in helping change the state's view of children who are adoptable. She is the president/CEO of Spaulding for Children, an attorney and an adjunct professor with the School of Social Work at Wayne State University.


More Alumni Accomplishments

Faculty Accomplishments

John Dolan has had three articles republished in The 2014 Annual Review of International Banking Law & Practice. They are "Negotiable Obligations for Discount: Acceptances, DPUs and BPOs," originally published in 29 Banking & Fin. L. Rev. (Osgoode Hall) 103 (2013); "Whatever Happened to the Poor Old Doctrine of Negotiability?," originally published in 130 Banking L.J. 136 (2013); and "Letter of Credit Litigation under UCC Article 5: A Case of Statutory Preemption," originally published in 57 Wayne L. Rev.1269 (2011). Dolan continues to serve as a member of the Board of Editors of the Banking Law Journal and as foreign contributing editor of the Banking & Finance Law Review, a Canadian journal. He is editing a book on the legislative history of Article 5 of the Uniform Commercial Code.

Peter Henning spoke on "Business Ethics – How Many Shades of Gray Do You See?" during the 2014 Turnaround Management Association Michigan Spring Conference on March 20 at the Detroit Athletic Club.

Eric Zacks presented his article, The Moral Hazard of Contract Drafting, at the ninth annual International Conference on Contracts at St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami Gardens, Fla., on Feb. 21 and 22. The article will be published in the Florida State University Law Review.


More Faculty Accomplishments

Professors in the News

Laura Bartell was interviewed for a report in USA Today, originally in the Detroit Free Press, Emergency manager confident of Detroit rebound.

Jocelyn Benson was quoted in a CNN interactive print and video report, The Uncounted, about suicide rates among family members of military veterans.

Lance Gable was quoted in an article, A stranger in distress, published by Examiner.com.

Noah Hall was quoted in energy business publication Fuel Fix (Texas) in an article, Barge firm faces long legal haul.

Peter Henning was quoted in an Associated Press story in the Washington Post (and other news sources), Toyota payment could be glimpse into GM's future.

John Mogk was quoted in a Detroit Free Press article, Herman Kiefer Health Complex in Detroit offered for new use.

Brad Roth was interviewed with two other panelists on The Craig Fahle Show on WDET radio for a report, Crimean Vote Has 'No International Credibility Whatsoever.'

Nick Schroeck was quoted in a report in Inside Climate News, Why Did ICF Int'l Withdraw From Tar Sands Pipeline Contract with the State Department?

Robert Sedler was sought for his expert opinion and quoted in many print, radio and TV news outlets, including in a USA Today article originally printed in the Detroit Free Press, Legal questions abound over same-sex marriages in Michigan. The topic was the March 21 ruling by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman overturning the state's voter-approved same-sex marriage ban and what transpired afterward.

Vincent Wellman was quoted in a column on DetroitLions.com, O'HARA: It's not surprising that Ndamukong Suh could take lead on own affairs.


More Professors in the News