distinguished professor celebrating 50 years on wayne law faculty

ALAN SCHENKDistinguished professor celebrating

50 years on Wayne Law faculty

Summer 2016, Volume 31, No. 2

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITYPresident M. Roy Wilson

Board of Governors Gary S. Pollard, chair Paul E. Massaron, vice chair Diane L. Dunaskiss Hon. Marilyn Kelly, ’71 David A. Nicholson Sandra Hughes O’Brien Dana Thompson Kim Trent

WAYNE LAW CAMPAIGN COMMITTEEEugene Driker, ’61, honorary chairDavid M. Hempstead, ’75, co-chairHon. Marilyn Kelly, ’71, co-chairKathryn J. Humphrey, ’80Lawrence C. Mann, ’80E. Powell Miller, ’86Michael L. Pitt, ’74S. Gary Spicer Sr.Peter Sugar, ’70Gary H. Torgow, ’82I.W. Winsten, ’79

WAYNE LAW BOARD OF VISITORSExecutive Committee

Kathryn J. Humphrey, ’80, chair Member, Dykema Gossett PLLC, Detroit

Candyce Ewing Abbatt, ’83 Partner, Fried, Saperstein, Abbatt PC, Southfield

Hon. Nancy G. Edmunds, ’76 Senior Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Hon. Marilyn Kelly, ’71 Distinguished Jurist in Residence, Wayne State University Law School

Thomas G. Kienbaum, ’68 Member, Kienbaum, Opperwall, Hardy and Pelton PLC, Birmingham

E. Powell Miller, ’86 CEO, The Miller Law Firm PC, Rochester

Michael L. Pitt, ’74 Managing Partner, Pitt, McGehee, Palmer and Rivers PC, Royal Oak

I.W. Winsten, ’79 Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, Detroit

Members

C. David Bargamian, ’90 Member, Barris, Sott, Denn and Driker PLLC, Detroit

Henry Baskin, ’57 President, Baskin Law Firm PC, Birmingham

Maurice S. Binkow Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, Detroit

Richard J. Burstein, ’69 Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, Bloomfield Hills

Robert M. Carson, ’68 Founding Member and Managing Partner, Carson Fischer PLC, Bloomfield Hills

Eric T. Carver, ’97 Member, Dykema Gossett PLLC, Detroit

Ina C. Cohen, ’74 Law Office of Ina Cohen, Huntington Woods

Dianna L. Collins, ’98 Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office

John J. Collins Jr., ’76

Albert J. Dib, ’80 Attorney/Director, Jefferson Law Center, St. Clair Shores

Hon. Krishna S. Dighe, ’87 Assistant Chief, U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section, Washington, D.C.

Earle I. Erman, ’74 Founding Attorney, Erman, Teicher, Miller, Zucker and Freedman PC, Southfield

Hon. Edward Ewell Jr., ’85 Judge, Third Circuit Court, Detroit

Tyrone C. Fahner, ’68 Partner, Mayer Brown LPP, Chicago

Michael D. Fishman, ’84 Founding Member, Fishman Stewart PLLC, Bloomfield Hills

David J. Galbenski, ’93 Founder and Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Lumen Legal, Royal Oak

Hon. Elizabeth L. Gleicher, ’79 Judge, Michigan Court of Appeals, Second District

Marcy A. Hahn, ’98 Counsel, Appeals, Ford Motor Co. World Headquarters, Dearborn

David M. Hayes, ’67 Of Counsel, Clark Hill PLC, Detroit

David M. Hempstead, ’75 Member, Bodman PLC, Detroit

Paul W. Hines, ’73 Of Counsel, Gasiorek, Morgan, Greco and McCauley PC, Farmington Hills

David D. Joswick, ’69 Of Counsel, Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC, Troy

Peter M. Kellett, ’82 Chairman and CEO, Dykema Gossett PLLC, Detroit

Michael R. Kramer, ’68 Member, Dickinson Wright PLLC, Troy

Lawrence D. McLaughlin, ’77 Partner, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, Detroit

Lawrence J. Murphy, ’68 Partner, Varnum LLP, Grand Rapids

Albert T. Quick, ’67 Of Counsel, Smith, Haughey, Rice and Roegge PC, Traverse City

Paul A. Rosen, ’64 Rosen and Lovell PC, Southfield

William A. Sankbeil, ’71 Of Counsel, Kerr, Russell and Weber PLC, Detroit

Miriam L. Siefer, ’75 Chief Federal Defender, Legal Aid and Defender Association, Federal Defender Office, Detroit

Peter Sugar, ’70 Partner, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer and Weiss PC, Southfield

Jonathan T. Weinberg Professor, Wayne State University Law School

Nathaniel R. Wolf, ’97 Attorney, Mika, Meyers, Beckett and Jones PLC, Grand Rapids

Edward M. Zelenak, ’77 City Attorney, Lincoln Park and Southgate

COVER STORYDistinguished Professor Alan Schenk is the first faculty member in the history of Wayne Law to reach 50 years of teaching. Read our tribute to Schenk beginning on Page 10.

WAYNE LAW DIRECTORYWayne State University Law School471 W. Palmer St.Detroit, MI 48202

Dean’s [email protected]

Admissions – [email protected]

Admissions – [email protected]

Career [email protected]

Development and Alumni [email protected]

Financial [email protected]

Law [email protected]

Marketing and [email protected]

Records and [email protected]

Student [email protected]

Additional Law School information can be found online at law.wayne.edu.

WE WELCOME ALUMNI NEWSSend news of your professional accomplishments to [email protected].

ABOUT THIS PUBLICATIONThis magazine is a publication of Wayne Law’s Marketing and Communications office.Editor: Shawn M. StarkeyStaff writers: Kristen Kirkpatrick, Paula NeumanPage designer: Joseph BowlesPhotographers: Millard Berry, John F. Martin, Sean Mulligan, Shawn M. Starkey, United Photo WorksThe Wayne Lawyer© 2016 Wayne State University Law School

Table of contentsALUMNIEvents news and photos...........................................................3Treasure of Detroit ..................................................................16Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame ...................18Alumna profile: Marilena David-Martin, ’09 .........................25Alumnus profile: Lee Hornberger, LL.M. ’82 .........................26Alumna profile: Angela Space, ’07 .........................................27Alumnus profile: Neil Rockind, ’93 ........................................28Alumnus profile: Stanley Pitts, ’81 .........................................29Alumnus profile: Adam Taylor, ’14 ........................................30Alumni notes ..........................................................................37In memoriam .........................................................................41

FACULTYCOVER STORY: Alan Schenk ..................................................10Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame ...................19Faculty accomplishments .......................................................31

GIVINGWayne Law Golf Outing ........................................................14E. Powell Miller, ’86 ................................................................18Scholarship Dinner ................................................................20

LAW SCHOOLLetter from Dean Jocelyn Benson ............................................2Events news and photos...........................................................3Commencement.......................................................................8Levin Center at Wayne Law ...................................................22Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights .................................23Community outreach.............................................................24

STUDENTSEvents news and photos...........................................................3Student accomplishments ......................................................34

1THE WAYNE LAWYER – SUMMER 2016

Letter from Dean Jocelyn BensonIn just a few weeks, we will welcome our newest class of students to Wayne Law. They will join a law school that is rich in history and thriving with accomplishments.

Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk, the subject of our cover story, is part of that history. You can’t discuss the past 50 years of the Law School without talking about the tremendous impact Alan has made here.

And Wayne Law continues to create new opportunities for students.

In fact, as we were closing production for this issue of the magazine, we were unveiling the LawStart program. Through LawStart, WSU students will be able to earn a bachelor’s degree and a law degree in six years instead of seven. The Law School has

joined forces with WSU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Honors College to create the accelerated degree program. Students would enter the Law School during their fourth year of undergraduate education. Credits earned during the first year of law school will double-count to fulfill students’ remaining undergraduate elective credit requirements. You can read more about this program at law.wayne.edu/lawstart.

We also are celebrating our return to the Top 100 in U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best Law Schools. Wayne Law is the second-highest ranked law school in Michigan, surpassing Michigan State. The climb in the rankings is a reflection of several areas, including a high bar passage rate and the high quality of our first-year class in 2015-16.

In addition, we have continued to expand our alumni and community outreach efforts. We brought back 104 alumni to Wayne Law for programs to provide guidance and advice to law students and the community, an increase of 247 percent over the 30 alumni participating in 2014-15. In addition, we have expanded to 134 community partnerships, an increase of 23 percent over the 109 partnerships in 2014-15. See Page 24 for a graphic showing our outreach efforts.

Dan Gilbert, ’87, was among the alumni who returned to campus to speak. More than 500 people came to the event. You can read more about that and our other guest speakers on Pages 3 to 7.

I also encourage you to read about the success of this year’s Wayne Law competition teams and the accomplishments of individual students (Pages 34 to 36), as well as the half-dozen alumni about whom we’ve written feature stories (Pages 25 to 30.)

Help us spread the word about Wayne Law’s influential history and exciting future. And, as always, pass this magazine along to a prospective student when you’re done reading it.

Sincerely,

Jocelyn Benson

Dean

LEARN ABOUT WAYNE LAW NEWS. CONNECT WITH ALUMNI AND FRIENDS.

FACEBOOK.COM/WAYNESTATELAWSCHOOL

TWITTER.COM/_WAYNELAW @_WAYNELAW

Wayne Law’s website LAW.WAYNE.EDU

Monthly Raising the Bar e-newsletter Subscribe by emailing [email protected].

Monthly Update from the Dean email Subscribe by emailing [email protected].

2 WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

Guest speakers come to Wayne Law through 2 seriesWayne Law’s Alumni Speaker Series

presented “Policy Making” on Jan. 28. Panelists were Chris Bzdok, ’96, partner at Olson Bzdok and Howard and former mayor of Traverse City; Jehan Crump-Gibson, ’09, founder of C&G Solutions PLC and former deputy chief of staff for the Detroit City Council; Sheila Cummings, ’02, deputy clerk/register of deeds for Oakland County and former Democratic legal counsel for the Michigan House of Representatives; and Michael Taylor, ’08, partner at Davis Burket Savage Listman Taylor and mayor of Sterling Heights. Randal Brown, Wayne County chief assistant corporation counsel of the Real Estate, Tax and Public Services Division, was moderator.

Four attorneys working on class-action lawsuits discussed the Flint water crisis Feb. 4 as part of the Alumni Speakers Series. Speakers were Bill Goodman of Goodman & Hurwitz PC and an adjunct professor at Wayne Law, as well as Michael Pitt, ’74; Peggy Pitt; and Iman Abdulrazzak of Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers PC. Assistant (Clinical)

Professor Nick Schroeck, ’07, director of the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic, was moderator.

The Alumni Speaker Series also hosted Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Kathryn A. Viviano, ’99, who spoke March 3 about the Business Court, to which she was appointed in 2015. Professor Peter J. Henning moderated the discussion.

Five Wayne Law alumni spoke about family law March 31 as part of the Alumni Speakers Series. Panelists were Lori Buiteweg, ’90, shareholder at Nichols Sacks Slank Sendelbach & Buiteweg PC and president of the State Bar of Michigan; Daniel Findling, ‘97, partner at Findling Law; Fred Findling, ‘56, partner at Findling Law;

Carlo Martina, ’79, attorney at Carlo J. Martina PC; and Marie Pulte, ’86, attorney at Marie A. Pulte PC. Associate Professor Adele Morrison moderated the discussion.

Wayne Law’s Program for International Legal Studies hosted Timothy Andersson, ’92, who shared his insight and expertise Jan. 19 about international law based on his experience representing U.S. companies in business transactions throughout the world. Andersson is with Dickinson Wright PLLC.

Silvia Kleer, ’95, spoke to Wayne Law students about her career as an international lawyer with Ford Motor Co., focusing on export control issues and international aspects of the automobile industry. Her talk Feb. 16 was sponsored by the Program for International Legal Studies.

The program also presented Kristina Daugirdas, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School. She spoke March 10 about “How and Why International Law Binds International Organizations.”

We welcome alumni speakersWayne Law alumni interested in speaking at the Law School are encouraged to contact Duc Abrahamson, alumni relations officer, at 313-577-6199 or [email protected].

Sheila Cummings, ’02, left, deputy clerk/register of deeds for Oakland County and former Democratic legal counsel for the Michigan House of Representatives, speaks Jan. 28 with student Jasmin Haynes. MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS: law.wayne.edu/series2016


Wayne Law celebrates Black History MonthWayne Law’s Black Law Students

Association celebrated Black History Month by presenting several events.

On Feb. 6, the association hosted an Underground Railroad “Flight to Freedom” Tour through First Congregational Church of Detroit. Participants in this re-enactment experience were transformed into passengers on the simulated Underground Railroad.

The annual Soul Food Café luncheon was Feb. 11 at the Law School and was catered by Faustina’s Creole and Soul Food.

The association joined with Career Services to present Esquire Etiquette, a program to sharpen the professional etiquette of law students, on Feb. 18. Speakers were Michelle P. Crockett, ’00, principal and director of professional development with Miller Canfield; Sherry D.O. Taylor, ’01, member of Dickinson Wright PLLC; and Apollo K. Upshaw, ’14, staff attorney with Bodman PLC.

On Feb. 25, African-American judges across multiple jurisdictions spoke to their experiences in the judiciary, offered advice to students and explained their paths to the bench. Speakers were Judge

Edward Ewell Jr., ’85, of the Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan; Judge Leonia Lloyd, ’79, of the 36th District Court of Michigan; Judge David A. Perkins, of the 36th District Court of Michigan; and Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Stafford, ’93, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Assistant Professor Blanche Cook was moderator, and Bodman PLC was a sponsor of the event.

Wayne Law students also participated in a day of service Feb. 26 at the Detroit Rescue Mission Soup Kitchen in honor of Black History Month.

Apollo K. Upshaw, ’14, speaks Feb. 18 as part of Esquire Etiquette. With him are Sherry D.O. Taylor, ’01, left, and Michelle P. Crockett, ’00. MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/blackhistory2016.

Emily Wolfe, right, director of recruiting and training for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, speaks with first-year student Noraline Issak at the Public Interest Internship Fair. Wayne Law students met and networked with attorneys representing a vast array of public interest employers Feb. 3. Career Services presented the fair, which showcased nonprofit organizations; federal, state and local government agencies; as well as Wayne Law clinics. The participating employers specialized in a wide range of practice areas, including employment law, health law, criminal law and immigration law. MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/fair2016


Events welcome admitted studentsWayne Law Admissions presented

several events to welcome students admitted for fall 2016.

Students met with Wayne Law representatives at Admitted Student Dinners on Feb. 18 at the Pizza House in Ann Arbor, March 16 at HopCat in Grand Rapids, March 23 at HopCat in East Lansing and July 21 at HopCat in Detroit.

On March 4, Admissions hosted The Wayne Law Experience. As part of the half-day event, incoming students sat in on a class as Associate Professor Susan Cancelosi lectured on trusts and estates.

In April, two days of events included a Law Firm Crawl on April 1 and an open house April 2.

During the crawl, students visited the Mike Morse Law Firm in Southfield, Bodman in Detroit and Miller Canfield in Detroit. A closing reception, which several Wayne Law alumni and faculty members also attended, was sponsored by Miller Canfield at its offices.

At the open house, admitted students met faculty members, fellow students

and alumni and heard presentations about Career Services, Financial Aid, Student Affairs, Midtown Detroit, clinics and externships, and the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights.

Dean Jocelyn Benson, faculty and alumni greeted admitted students May 13 at a Dean’s Luncheon at the Detroit Athletic Club.

Admissions also hosted an Experience Detroit Open House on June 10. The event included an overview of the Law School’s programs and departments, mock law class with Professor Peter Henning, bus tour of Midtown and downtown Detroit, lunch in Midtown and a visit to Ford Field and the Bodman law firm.

First-year law students, from left, Gene Cho, Jaime Nelson and Rachel McDuffie present to admitted students for fall 2016 as part of an open house April 2. MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/admitted2016

Businessman Dan Gilbert, ’87, spoke with Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson before a crowd of more than 500 people March 30 at WSU. He answered questions from the audience about his youth, his business ventures, his vision for Detroit and his advice for law students and everyone who wants to be a part of Detroit’s revitalization. Gilbert is chairman and founder of Quicken Loans Inc.; founder and chairman of Rock Ventures LLC; and majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEO: law.wayne.edu/dangilbert2016.

Help us recruit new law studentsWayne Law alumni interested in helping to recruit new law students are encouraged to contact Kathy Fox, assistant dean of admissions, at 313-577-3937 or [email protected].

Wayne Law’s Advocates for Warriors project presented Lawyers for Warriors Awards to G. Christopher Bernard, ’00, right, of Bodman and Solomon Radner, ’10, left, of Excolo Law. The awards were for going above and beyond in service to the project, which provides support to military service members, veterans and the family members of both. Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law and former chair of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, gave opening remarks at the March 10 event, which recognized all of the student volunteers, pro-bono attorneys and the student Wayne Law Veterans Association for their work with Advocates for Warriors. Dean Jocelyn Benson, center, spoke about the growth of the project. MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/lawyersforwarriors2016


Dean Jocelyn Benson interviews former Dean Charles Joiner, 100Judge Charles Joiner, who served as dean

of Wayne Law from 1968 to 1972 and then as judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, celebrated his 100th birthday Feb. 14. Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson and Sean Mulligan, senior major gifts officer, visited with Joiner on Feb. 16 at his home in Naples, Florida. Following are excerpts from their conversation.

Benson: How was your birthday?

Joiner: We had a good time; we had people from all over the country travel here. My children arranged it, and on Saturday we had a party involving all my current friends from around the area. On Sunday, we had a party for just the family, the whole family from around the country. Everyone was here except one. We had a good time. Some of my former law clerks were here at that time.

Mulligan: Which court were you in?

Joiner: Eastern District Court in Ann Arbor. I’ve retired from judging a long time ago. I decided that there were other people whose minds were better now, and they could be found. And I didn’t resign, but I retired from active judging.

Benson: Do you miss it?

Joiner: Of course, you miss it; it was a

good thing. That part of my profession and activity was a happy one. You divide your life up as you go along. When I was a youngster, I was a young college student, then I became a trial lawyer, teacher at Michigan, dean at Wayne, appointed to federal bench.

Joiner: I will tell you the story of how I became a judge. I had been dean for four to five years, and I got a call from a man who I taught at Michigan. He was a successful man; he was now a senator from Michigan. Oh I taught him, and we had become friends. He said, “Charlie, have you heard?”

Benson: What was his name?

Joiner: Griffin, Robert Griffin.

Benson: Of course, Senator Griffin.

Joiner: He said, “Charlie, have you heard that Talbot Smith is retiring from the bench?” No, I hadn’t, and he said, “Well, I as the senior senator am the one who nominates the person, and I wonder if you would like to have your name put in nomination?” And I said, well I’ll talk to my wife. Being a wife of a judge is completely different than being that of a law teacher or a dean. It is very social, being part of a university, but being the wife of a judge, there is no social element involved in it at all. Ann was a

good person and said, “No, go ahead, do your thing.” And so I said yes, and he nominated me. And I became a federal judge. I wasn’t looking forward to it; it wasn’t something I desired particularly, except having that kind of a feeling, it made me want to do it. I was grateful to Bob. I saw him a few times after that.

Benson: What were some of your most memorable cases?

Joiner: I’d have to sit down and think about it. I had a case, a criminal case, which took the longest time to try. The man was convicted and was sentenced, and then six months later, he tried to break out of confinement with a helicopter. Another time, there was a large, major marijuana conspiracy going on across the United States, and it was broken mainly by some lawyers in my district. My district became a focal point of this trial, and this conspiracy, and it took a long time. I liked patent cases, had a bunch of them. The criminal cases didn’t amount to very much. They were, in general, not very big cases, but they were important to the government’s prosecutors.

For a longer version of this story, visit law.wayne.edu/joiner.

Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson visits Feb. 16 with former Dean Charles Joiner, 100, at his home in Naples, Florida.


Wayne Law symposium addresses race, racism and lawThe Journal of Law in Society at Wayne

Law presented its 2016 symposium, “A Tribute to Professor Emeritus Edward J. Littlejohn and His Work with Race, Racism, and the Law,” on March 11.

The symposium paid tribute to Littlejohn’s scholarship, work in the city of Detroit and time on the Law School faculty. Littlejohn, one of the leading experts on African-American legal history, played an instrumental role in the implementation of the Detroit Police Commission and served on the Law School faculty during tumultuous times in the 1970s. Littlejohn gave the keynote address.

Those offering remarks included Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson; Professor Peter J. Hammer, director of Wayne Law’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights; Judge Damon J. Keith, LL.M. ’56, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; third-year student Rachel Myung, journal editor-in-chief; and third-year student Sean Riddell, symposium director.

Panel discussion topics and panelists were:

n “The Past, Present, and Future of Michigan’s Black Lawyers and Judges” with Hon. Dennis Archer, chairman emeritus of Dickinson Wright PLLC; Hon. Dalton

Roberson, retired Wayne County Circuit Court judge; Hon. Denise Page Hood, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; and moderator Blanche Cook, Wayne Law assistant professor.

n “The Struggle for Racial Diversity in Legal Education” with Carl Edwards, ‘74, partner with Edwards & Jennings PC; Ericka Jackson, ‘97, WSU director of undergraduate admissions and former Wayne Law assistant dean of admissions and student affairs; Michael Steinberg,

‘89, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan; and moderator Robert Sedler, Wayne Law distinguished professor.

n “Citizens’ Efforts to Hold Police Accountable for Misconduct” with Julie Hurwitz, partner with Goodman & Hurwitz PC; Barbara McQuade, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan; Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur, owner of Urban Network; and moderator Eric Williams, Wayne Law assistant (clinical) professor.

Professor Emeritus Edward J. Littlejohn, left, greets Judge Damon J. Keith, LL.M. ’56, at The Journal of Law in Society Symposium. MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEO: law.wayne.edu/journalsymposium2016

NotesWayne Law and the State Bar of

Michigan presented “Professionalism in Action,” a program for first-year law students, Jan. 27. Speakers included faculty member Kristin Theut, ’90, director of legal research and writing; Dean Jocelyn Benson; Lori Buiteweg, ’90, president of the State Bar of Michigan; and Judge Gerald Rosen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and an adjunct professor; and Felicia Thomas, then-director of student affairs and diversity initiatives.

Dean Jocelyn Benson provided a State of the Law School Alumni Update

on Feb. 4. Alumni were hosted by Garry Carley, ’64, at the Heathers Club in Bloomfield Hills. Benson conducted a similar event for alumni Feb. 18 in Ann Arbor.

The Michigan Court of Appeals conducted oral arguments Feb. 9 at Wayne Law. Prior to the arguments, Judges Elizabeth L. Gleicher, ’79; Kathleen Jansen; and Douglas B. Shapiro attended a reception with some Wayne Law students and faculty.

Judge Bernard Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District

of Michigan heard motion arguments March 7 at Wayne Law. A luncheon in his honor followed during which he spoke with students, faculty and staff. This annual event provides an opportunity for students to spend a day in federal court without leaving the Law School.

Wayne Law’s clinical education program hosted an open house March 8 to showcase its new work space on the second floor of the Law School. The new space, which will house the growing program, is in addition to the first-floor clinical education space.


Wayne Law honored recipients of degrees for December 2015 and candidates for degrees in May 2016 and August 2016 during the Law School’s 2016 Commencement ceremony May 16.

Students eligible to participate in the ceremony included 133 for juris doctor degrees and 11 for master of laws degrees. The ceremony was in the Detroit Opera House.

U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. delivered the Commencement address. WSU awarded Verrilli an honorary doctor of laws degree in recognition of his

distinguished legal career and outstanding contributions in constitutional law.

Also speaking were Hon. Marilyn Kelly, ’71, member of the WSU Board of Governors; WSU President M. Roy Wilson; Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson; and Elizabeth A. Cacevic, president of the Wayne Law Student Bar Association Board of Governors.

Receiving awards at the ceremony were professors of the year Susan E. Cancelosi, John E. Mogk and Amy Neville.

MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/commencement2016

Wayne Law Commencement


Alan Schenk, international expert in value added tax, has no plans to retireFor 50 years, Distinguished Professor Alan

Schenk has been teaching students at Wayne State University Law School.

He never intended to stay that long.

“When I received my LL.M. in taxation from New York University in 1966, I had opportunities to teach and to practice,” Schenk said. “I sought advice from my professors at NYU. Gerald Wallace, the head of the graduate tax program at NYU, encouraged me to teach. He said that if I went into practice, I would never give up that lifestyle to teach. If I taught for a few years, I would still have the opportunity to move to full-time practice. I assumed when I came to Wayne that I would stay for three years, and then, if I liked teaching, I would look for another teaching position or I would go into practice.”

He found he loved teaching and has had many opportunities to do it elsewhere. He says the students at Wayne Law are the reason he stayed for a half century.

“My scholarship and my work on value added tax – I have specialized in VAT for the past 45 years – have given me many opportunities to teach and work away from Wayne,” Schenk said. “I have taught (special tax courses) at 10 universities – in the U.S. at Harvard, Duke, Michigan, University of Iowa, University of San Diego, California-Western; in Canada at the University of Windsor and York University’s Osgoode Hall; in South Africa at the University of Pretoria; and in Australia at the University of Sydney.

“It was our special students that brought me back to Wayne after every visit. Years ago, a partner at one of Detroit’s leading law firms asked me why I thought Wayne Law students were so successful in practice. I think our students are ‘hungrier.’ For some, it may be their background as the first-generation American born in their family or the first-generation college-educated or the first-generation lawyer. Whatever the reason, I think that each class – and they differ – has students with a unique blend of backgrounds that makes them a delight to teach.”

Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk has been teaching students at Wayne Law for five decades, the longest of anyone in the history of the Law School.

Alan’s contribution to Wayne Law – its people, its community, its history – is extraordinary and unmatched. Few people have had such a tremendous impact on as many students, faculty, alumni and scholars, and we are all better for it.”

Dean Jocelyn Benson

50 YEARS at Wayne Law

“

continued on 10 WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk meets with Shahad Atiya, ’16, and Justin Hanna, ’15, in February in his office at Wayne Law.

About Alan Schenk n Education and certification:

B.S. in accountancy, University of Illinois, 1961; LL.B., University of Illinois, 1965; LL.M. in taxation, New York University, 1966; certified public accountant

n Wayne Law: Faculty since 1966; associate dean from 1973-74 and 1975-76; distinguished professor since 2011

n Courses taught: Accounting for Lawyers, Business Planning, Consumption-Based Tax (value added tax), Corporate Reorganizations, Federal Income Taxation, Taxation of Corporations

n Visiting professorships: University of Iowa School of Law, 1970; University of San Diego School of Law, spring 1999 and 1981-82; University of Michigan Law School, fall 2004 and fall 2009; California Western School of Law, spring 2008; University of Sydney Law School, spring 2012

n Also taught at: Academy of International Taxation, Taipei, Taiwan; Africa Tax Institute; Harvard University Law School; University of Windsor Faculty of Law; York University Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto

n Other experience: Professor-in-residence, Office of Chief Counsel, IRS, 1984-85

n Awards: Distinguished Faculty Award, Michigan Association of Governing Boards of State Universities, 1996; President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Wayne State University, 1995

n Affiliations: Admitted to Michigan and Illinois bars, U.S. Tax Court and U.S. Supreme Court; member of American Bar Association, Michigan Bar Association and Editorial Board of International VAT Monitor; member and past chair of ABA Tax Section Committee on Value Added Tax

n Family: Wife, Betty; three sons, Todd, Matthew and Jeffrey; four granddaughters and three grandsons, ages 1 to 17

MORE ONLINERead more quotes about and by Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk and watch a video interview with him previewing the interesting facts he has turned up in his research on the history of Wayne Law at law.wayne.edu/alanschenk.

Longest-serving professor writing history of Wayne LawOne day during his 49th year of teaching

at Wayne Law, Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk was asked by his wife, Betty, if he was the longest-serving member of the Law School faculty.

“I thought about the question and did a little research and discovered that I was,” Schenk said.

He wasn’t overly impressed by that fact.

“That and a $5 bill would get me a cup of some kind of coffee at Starbucks,” he said. “I started thinking about how I could use that history.”

He talked over the idea of writing a history of Wayne Law with friends who also were alumni, including Eugene Driker, ’61, founding member of Barris Sott Denn & Driker PLLC and advisory board chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law; U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, ’76; William Edmunds, ’76, of Carson Fischer PLC; and former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly, ’71, now the Law School’s distinguished jurist in residence, a member of the Wayne Law Board of Visitors as well as an elected member of WSU’s Board of Governors.

“They were all very encouraging,” Schenk said. “I then discussed this project with Dean Jocelyn Benson. Jocelyn also was very supportive.”

The distinguished professor began his venture in November 2014 by reading histories of other law schools. He found them to be pretty boring.

“I then thought about what was special about Wayne Law,” he said. “It was the students. So, with the commitment of funds in my distinguished professor account and some help from Dean Benson, I started my research into our history and started identifying alumni that represented a broad spectrum of our student body.”

He was gratified with what he learned – so pleased, in fact, that he decided to do video interviews with about 50 alumni from various careers to use as background for his book and to serve as a permanent archive for future Wayne Law applicants, students or whomever else was interested.

The research continues. Schenk hopes to complete the manuscript by early 2017 and to provide links to the edited videos of alumni in the book.


As a scholar, leader, teacher and dedicated contributor to the many activities of the Law School, Professor Schenk has earned the admiration and respect of the entire Law School community. Above all, he has been a good and supportive friend of his colleagues, students and graduates. Few law schools have a faculty member who has contributed as much as he has to Wayne Law.”

Professor John Mogk

“

from Page 10

Schenk also appreciates the chances he has through his work at Wayne Law for ongoing scholarship.

“I like intellectual challenges,” he said. “I like people, interacting with and learning from them. Teaching has given me the opportunity to combine these interests. I constantly learn from my students and colleagues.”

He has been interested in the changing field of tax law from the beginning.

“As an undergraduate accounting major, I took a variety of accounting, business and tax courses,” Schenk said. “After college, I worked for Arthur Anderson & Co., one of the largest accounting firms, and was scheduled to be transferred into the tax department when I decided to leave to attend law school. The graduate program at NYU solidified my fate as a tax lawyer.

“I tell my students every year that tax is the

most important course in law school, affecting every area of legal practice or business. Tax policy in the United States is exciting. It provides the opportunity to consider what programs the government should finance and how they should finance them.”

As a young professor in 1969, he met with officials at the U.S. Treasury Department, looking for ideas for future scholarship in the field of tax law.

“The tax legislative counsel at the time, Jerry Kurtz, told me that the hottest political issue in the next five years was going to be value added tax,” Schenk said. “I decided that I was going to get a jump on other American tax lawyers and professors by learning about VAT. I spent that summer meeting with government personnel in various European Union countries to explore their VATs. Thanks to our dean at the time, Charles Joiner, I joined the American Bar Association Section of Taxation Special Committee on Value Added Tax.”

Key scholarly activities Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk lists these as among the scholarly activities of which he is most proud:

n Book – Value Added Tax: A Comparative Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2015 second edition, with Victor Thuronyi and Wei Cui) and prior versions with Oliver Oldman of Harvard Law

n Reporter – Model Value Added Tax Statute and Commentary, American Bar Association (February 1989)

n Law review article – “Taxation of Financial Services (Including Insurance) Under a United States Value Added Tax,” 63 Tax Law Review 409 (2010)

n Journal article – “Shareholders’ Voting and Appraisal Rights in Corporate Acquisition Transactions (with Stephen Schulman), 38 Business Lawyer 1529 (1983)

n Conference organizer – International invitational conference on Administrative Aspects of a Value-Added Tax (with Oliver Oldman), co-sponsored by Wayne Law and Harvard University International Tax Program, in cooperation with American Bar Association Section of Taxation (1990)

Send your congratulations Alumni who wish to congratulate Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk on his milestone of 50 years of teaching at Wayne Law can contact him at [email protected].

Alan Schenk testifies June 7, 1995, before a congressional committee about a possible value added tax for the United States.


For decades since then, Schenk has been considered an international expert on VAT, and he has written extensively about his area of expertise.

“I was unique among American tax lawyers,” he said. “When congressional committees considered major tax reform that included VAT, I was invited to testify about a possible VAT for the United States.”

A 1995 bill introduced by then-Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-South Carolina, to implement a U.S. VAT to reduce the federal deficit and fund national health care was based on Schenk’s work as reporter for the Model VAT on behalf of the American Bar Tax Section’s VAT committee.

The legal department of the International Monetary Fund also calls on Schenk as an advisor, and he serves as an expert in international tax arbitration, as well.

“For the past two decades, I have drafted, revised or commented on VATs for a host of countries, including drafting the VATs in use in about 10 percent of all countries with a VAT,” he said. “This work has taken me,

during school breaks or over the summers, to many African and Caribbean countries. I find this work very rewarding.”

What he has learned through these ventures is passed along to Wayne Law students, and fuels more scholarship by the distinguished professor, who isn’t considering retirement any time soon.

Professor Schenk changed the way I evaluate professors. He taught me the real value of a teacher … He has the ability to push students to think through problems without challenging their confidence. What he honed is an art.”

Shahad Atiya, ’16

Ask anyone who is a member of the Wayne Law family – students, faculty, staff, alumni – whom they deeply respect and admire, and the answer will be Alan Schenk. We thank him for 50 years of being the heart and soul of the Law School and look forward to many years yet to come.”

Associate Professor Janet Findlater

He made tax, a subject that can be dark and forbidding, accessible even for those of us with limited aptitude or interest in the subject. Alan is still someone I turn to for advice and counsel, and he has been a great sounding board for working through positive ideas and more difficult problems. ”

Judge Nancy Edmunds, ’76

Professor Schenk managed to make tax interesting and really helped launch my 30-plus-year corporate law career. More importantly, however, Professor Schenk was ahead of his time in terms of supporting women in their legal careers and was truly invested in the advancement and welfare of all of his students.”

Aleksandra Miziolek, ’80

“

“

“

“

Distinguished Professor Alan Schenk has focused his scholarly work on value added tax for the past 45 years.

Alan Schenk in his own wordsOn Wayne Law students …“I have attended a number of class reunion events. Invariably, I am asked by members of those earlier classes how the students have changed over the past 50 years. Our students in the past couple of decades have more impressive resumes that include many extracurricular activities, like Washington internships, that were absent from the students of the 1960s and 1970s, but I can say unequivocally that the students from those earlier years were at least as talented as students entering Wayne Law today. Those early students, many of whom graduated from Wayne’s Monteith College, were extraordinary. They excelled at our law school, and I am confident – I taught at Harvard, Duke and Michigan – that they would have excelled academically if they attended one of those prestigious schools.”

On teaching …“In my view, there are two attributes of a successful classroom teacher: knowledge and enthusiasm about the subject matter of the course and respect for the students. As a result, there is some element of a performance associated with classroom teaching. Faculty that have been successful in acting tend to be good classroom teachers.”

On working with the IRS …“I enjoyed tax practice and am grateful that I had the opportunity to work for a year (1984-85) as a professor-in-residence in Washington, D.C., with the chief counsel’s office of the Internal Revenue Service. It provided insights into the decision-making process within the IRS that I use to this day in teaching and writing. The chief counsel gave me the opportunity to choose the projects that I worked on. I found the professional staff in that office to be hard-working people who cared deeply about their colleagues and their work. They generously shared their knowledge with me.”


The 2016 Wayne Law Golf Outing on June 6 raised more than $25,000, nearly 30 percent more than last year’s outing, for Wayne Law scholarships.

The money goes toward an endowment to provide scholarships to assist second- and third-year students.

The scramble-format event was at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms. The day included lunch, a cocktail reception and dinner.

The title sponsor was Lear Corp. Platinum-level sponsors were Anthony Dietz, ’97, and Tiffany Dietz; Lumen Legal; and Tim Guerriero, ’80, and Debra Marcon. Gold-level sponsor was Howard & Howard.

At the reception, Wayne Law Associate Dean Lance Gable presented a $1,000 scholarship to rising second-year student Dillon Lappe.

The following golf awards also were presented:

n First-place team – Matt Caplan; Anthony Dietz, ’97; Bruce Kaye; and Bill Lyle with a score of 60.

n Runners-up – Anthony Caputo; Alex Hines; Paul Hines, ’73; and Pam Kroll with a score of 62.

n Longest drive (men): Bill Lyle.n Longest drive (women): Meredith Weaver, WSU

associate women’s golf coach.n Closest to the pin (men): Ray Telang.n Closest to the pin (women): Stephanie Dowdy, ’12.

Golf outing committee members were Chair David Galbenski, ’93, of Lumen Legal; Henry Brennan III, ’83, of Howard & Howard; Daniel Bretz, ’82, of Clark Hill PLC; Anthony Dietz, ’97, of Law Offices of Shannon Shaya PC; Tim Guerriero, ’80, retired; Professor Peter Henning; Paul Hines, ’73, of Gasiorek, Morgan, Greco & McCauley PC; Terry Larkin, ’79, of Lear Corp.; Larry Mann, ’80, associate director of professional skills; David McClaughry, ’93, of Ingrassia Fisher & Lorenz PC; Rasul Raheem, ’84, of Bank of America; Brittany Schultz, ’01, of Dykema Gossett PLLC; and Robert Sickels, ’78, of Sommers Schwartz PC.

MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/golf

Golf outing raises $25,000 for scholarship endowment


Golf outing raises $25,000 for scholarship endowment

Wayne Law’s 2016 Treasure of Detroit on April 21 at the Gem Theatre honored the brightest lights in the legal profession and celebrated the success of the Law School.

This year’s honorees were: Patricia M. Nemeth, J.D. ’84, LL.M. ’90, founder of Nemeth Law PC in Detroit; John R. Roth, J.D. ’85, inspector general of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, J.D. ’82, LL.M. ’96, executive vice president and global chief human resources officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. in Deerfield, Illinois; and Justice Brian K. Zahra, WSU B.A. ’84, Michigan Supreme Court. Barbara Klarman, J.D. ’64, who is retired

from private practice, received the Honorary Order of the Coif Award. Associate Professor Susan Cancelosi received the Donald H. Gordon Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The inaugural members of the Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame also were announced. (See Page 19 for inductees.)

Speaking at the event were Wayne Law Board of Visitors Chair Kathryn J. Humphrey, ’80; Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson; Justice Marilyn Kelly, ’71, member of the WSU Board of Governors; and WSU President M. Roy Wilson.

MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/treasure2016


Donation from alumnus creates Alumni Wall of Fame

A donation by 1986 Wayne Law alumnus E. Powell Miller has made possible the creation of the Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame.

The wall will be a large, interactive, multimedia installment in the Law School lobby. It will include biographies, photos and videos of those inducted to the Wall of Fame.

The honor of being named to the Wall of Fame — the highest award presented by Wayne Law — is awarded with great care to either alumni who have distinguished themselves by contributions that they have made in their own particular field of work, or in the betterment of humanity, or to former faculty and staff who have had a significant impact on the Law School.

“I hope to boost the morale of the students, so they can see firsthand that there is no limit to what they may accomplish, and to strengthen the bond between the school and alumni,” said Miller, CEO of The Miller Law Firm PC in Rochester, who has been named one of the top 10 lawyers by Michigan Super Lawyers magazine for the past seven years in a row.

For the wall’s inaugural year, 13 honorees are being inducted. (They are highlighted on Page 19.) The inaugural class was announced at the Treasure of Detroit on April 21 and will be honored in September at a special unveiling of the Wall of Fame. In future years, no more than five individuals will be inducted annually; they will be honored at the annual Treasure of Detroit.

Miller, who loves sports and collects political and sports memorabilia, focuses his practice on all aspects of litigation. He has obtained more than $2 billion in settlements and brought many public interest lawsuits, which included a jury verdict holding a psychiatrist responsible for a rape for failing to hospitalize his dangerous patient, causing a dietary supplement manufacturer to cease claiming its product was tested for safety and protecting tens of thousands of families potentially exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning. He was a partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn before founding his own firm in 1994.

A member of Wayne Law’s Board of Visitors Executive Committee, Miller has close ties with the Law School and with Wayne State University, which he considers “a family tradition.”

“My dad Bruce Miller (class of 1954, general counsel for the Metro AFL-CIO in Detroit and founder of Miller Cohen PLC in Detroit), sister Ann Miller (class of 1989, partner in The Miller Law Firm PC) and myself all graduated from the Law School,” he said. “My mom Edna Miller (master of social work, Wayne State School of Social Work, class of 1958) taught at the School of Social Work for many years, and my sister Liz Miller, (bachelor of fine arts, Wayne State College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, class of 1986, office manager at Miller Cohen PLC) obtained her undergraduate degree.

“The school has given thousands of working class families the opportunity for higher education that otherwise would have been difficult or impossible.”

E. Powell Miller, ’86, hopes the Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame created by his donation will inspire law students. He is shown speaking at Wayne Law’s 2015 Treasure of Detroit, where he was one of the honorees.

Nominate someone for Alumni Wall of FameNominations for the Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of Fame will be received at any time. Nominations received by Oct. 31 each year will be considered for the awards given out the following spring. Inductees will be announced at the annual Treasure of Detroit. For guidelines and to nominate someone with our simple online form, visit law.wayne.edu/walloffame.


Miller Family Wayne Law Alumni Wall of FameInaugural Class – 2016Georgia Clark Director, Wayne Law Library (1973 to 2008)

Kenneth V. Cockrel Sr., ’67 (posthumous) Social justice activist Founding member, Philo, Maki, Ravitz, Pitts, Moore, Cockrel & Robb Detroit City Council (1977 to 1981) Partner, Sommers, Schwartz, Silver and Schwartz

Eugene Driker, ’61 Founding member, Barris, Sott, Denn and Driker Wayne State University Board of Governors (2002 to 2014) Chair, Levin Center at Wayne Law Advisory Board

Judge Nancy G. Edmunds, ’76 Senior Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Paula Ettelbrick, ’84 (posthumous) First Staff Attorney, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Legislative Counsel, Empire State Pride Agenda

Associate Professor Janet Findlater Faculty, Wayne State University Law School (1976 to 2016) 18-time recipient, Wayne Law student-selected Professor of the Year

Dan Gilbert, ’87 Chairman and Founder, Quicken Loans and Rock Ventures Majority owner, NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers Founder, JACK Entertainment

Judge Charles Joiner Dean, Wayne State University Law School (1968 to 1972) Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (1972 to 1984)

Judge Damon J. Keith, LL.M. ’56 Senior Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

Professor Emeritus Edward J. Littlejohn Faculty, Wayne State University Law School (1972 to 1996) Founder, Damon J. Keith Collection of African-American Legal History

Jon R. Muth, ’71 Mediator, Muth ADR Member, Miller Johnson Snell & Cummiskey (1971 to 2014) Founder, Kent County Legal Assistance Center

Stephen M. Ross, ’65 Chairman and Founder, Related Companies Owner, Miami Dolphins and Sun Life Stadium Founder, RISE

Professor Stephen Schulman (posthumous) Faculty, Wayne State University Law School (1966 to 1999)

Georgia Clark

Nancy G. Edmunds

Dan Gilbert

Edward J. Littlejohn

Stephen Schulman

Kenneth V. Cockrel Sr.

Paula Ettelbrick

Charles Joiner

Jon R. Muth

Eugene Driker

Janet Findlater

Damon J. Keith

Stephen M. Ross


‘ ‘

Law School

Inspire

Elsewhere you might just be a name on an admissions list, but at Wayne Law you’re a person with interests and goals.”

— Kimberly Moehle Wayne Law Class of 2018

Wayne Law hosted a Scholarship Dinner on April 7 in the university’s Alumni House for scholarship donors and recipients.

The event provided an opportunity for private scholarship donors and representatives to meet with and learn more about the Wayne Law students benefitting from their generosity. It also gave the recipients a chance to express their gratitude for support.

Speaking at the event were Dean Jocelyn Benson, second-year student and scholarship recipient Shanika Owens and scholarship donor Judge Leonia Lloyd, ’79.

Watch a short video featuring some of the scholarship donors and recipients at law.wayne.edu/scholarshipvideo1.

Scholarship recipients meet their benefactors

Michael Pitt, ’74, a scholarship donor, speaks with law student and scholarship recipient Alison Mueller at the Scholarship Dinner. MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/scholarshipdinner2016


For more information about making an impactful gift,call the Law School Development team

at 313-577-4141.

We are thrilled to give back to Wayne Law, which gave us the educational foundation to engage in productive and fulfilling legal careers in public service. You can make a difference by enabling Wayne Law students to realize their dreams of attending law school and applying their skills to make the world a better place. Do it today – even a small gift yields big results.”

Kris and Kristin Dighe, ’87

GIFTS WITH IMPACT:Helping students realize their dreams

“


LEV I N C EN T ER AT WAY N E LAW

$200,000 grant to support Levin Center at Wayne LawThe William and Flora Hewlett

Foundation of Menlo Park, California, has awarded Wayne State University a two-year, $200,000 grant to support the Levin Center at Wayne Law.

The grant was awarded under the foundation’s Madison Initiative, which seeks to help create the conditions in which Congress and its members can deliberate, negotiate and compromise in ways that work for most Americans. The foundation is joining with leaders in and outside of government, nonprofit advocates, academic researchers and other funders to address the problems of political

polarization and hyper-partisanship.

Launched in March 2015, the Levin Center at Wayne Law strives to educate future attorneys, business leaders, legislators and public servants on their role overseeing public and private institutions and using oversight as an instrument of change. The center is named in honor of former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan’s longest-serving U.S. senator, who retired at the beginning of 2015 after 36 years in the Senate. Levin serves as chair of the Levin Center and on the Law School’s faculty as distinguished legislator in residence.

The Levin Center will use the grant funds for general operating support to educate legislators, their staffs, public servants, law students and attorneys on effective techniques to conduct bipartisan, indepth, fact-based oversight of public and private sector activities. Through training workshops and videos, internships, academic programming and research, the center will equip future leaders on federal, state, local and international levels with the oversight skills needed to produce meaningful bipartisan public policy outcomes.

Panel discussion focuses on legal ethicsThe Levin Center at Wayne Law

presented “Mindful Lawyering: The Ethics of Knowing When to Say No” on April 4.

Panelists were former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, distinguished legislator in residence at Wayne Law and senior counsel to Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in Detroit; Judge Nancy Edmunds, ’76, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and executive committee member of the Wayne Law Board of Visitors; and Reginald Turner, member of Clark Hill PLC, past president of the State Bar of Michigan and member of the Levin Center Advisory Board.

The Levin Center’s Linda Gustitus, ’75, gave introductory remarks. Professor Peter J. Henning, a former

federal prosecutor who teaches courses including Professional Responsibility and the Legal Profession, as well as White Collar Crime, moderated the discussion.

In January, “60 Minutes” reported on an undercover investigation in which 16 New York lawyers were asked about helping a client hide questionably obtained money. Only one said “no.” The Levin Center presentation looked at how lawyers keep their moral compass on true north when confronted with the pressures of their boss, their clients, their firm and making money. The panel looked at the “60 Minutes” case and discussed the complex issues when lawyers are involved in matters that challenge their personal values and ethics. The group also talked about the role of attorneys in tax avoidance and money laundering investigations.

Two students selected for Senate internshipsThe Levin

Center at Wayne Law chose two law students to serve as legal interns in congressional committee offices in Washington, D.C., this summer.

Kyle Bruckner worked on the Minority Staff of the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Alexandra Kavieff worked on the Minority Staff of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Both positions involved work for 10 weeks with Senate staff from both parties and a bipartisan approach to congressional oversight.

Bruckner, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, served as a student attorney with Wayne Law’s Transnational Environmental Law Clinic.

Kavieff has worked as a legal assistant with Kim A. Grover PLLC and a case manager with the Solution Oriented Domestic Violence Prevention Court.

Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, makes a point about the role of attorneys in tax avoidance schemes at a Levin Center panel discussion on ethics. MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/mindful2016

Alexandra Kavieff

Kyle Bruckner


DA M O N J. K EI T H C EN T ER F O R C I V I L RI G H T S

Detroit Equity Action Lab continues unifying workOver the past

year, members of the Detroit Equity Action Lab at Wayne Law’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights have been working in four key areas to address structural racism in Detroit.

“Structural racism” describes how harm is perpetuated against people of color, often unintentionally, though a system of institutional policies, practices and cultural representations that lead to racially inequitable outcomes.

The 30 members of the lab’s second-year cohort are collaborating with members from the first year on projects in the areas of racial equity, including clean water as a basic human right, equitable

development and social justice.

In addition to their projects, the cohort meets monthly for workshops, trainings and discussions led by local and national experts.

One such project is working with the Detroit Historical Museum preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of Detroit’s civil unrest in 1967 to make sure issues of racial equity are fairly addressed.

“Together, we can work to ensure that the stories that haven’t been told about the civil uprising in 1967 are told from multiple perspectives,” said Eliza Perez-Ollin, ’14, the lab’s project director.

The cohort also is working with the Water Warriors in their fight for access to clean, safe water for all people in Michigan. They include cohort member Monica Lewis-Patrick, whose organization created the We the People of Detroit Community Research Collective. The collective is conducting a collaborative research project and is producing a series of books to map the water crisis in southeast Michigan. The first book, Mapping the Water Crisis, will launch at a reception at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14, in the Keith Center.

Another focus of the cohort is working with the Detroit People’s Platform on equitable development and answering the question: How can new forms of development take place that ensure meaningful benefits for all members

of society? The group has done work on Community Benefit Agreements and a proposed Community Benefits Ordinance that would ensure that development initiatives that seek public dollars yield public benefits.

“Too often, community voices are excluded in the development process,” said Professor Peter Hammer, director of the Keith Center and leader of the equity lab. “People should have a say in decisions that affect their neighborhoods and should play a role in shaping the future of the city.”

In the winter and early spring, the cohort, along with Wayne State’s Department of African-American Studies, joined with the University of Michigan to present “Detroiters Speak,” a free, eight-week collaborative community course. It featured formal remarks and public discussion with a wide range of Detroit activists, scholars and community members on social justice topics.

The lab was launched in 2014 when WSU was awarded a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Since that time, leaders from dozens of organizations have come together to build greater understanding of structural racism in Detroit, strengthen the racial equity network and participate with community partners in efforts to promote policy change and increase awareness about racial equity.

Members of Wayne Law’s Keith Students for Civil Rights were part of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion’s 63rd Youth Justice & Leadership Exhibition on April 16. The annual event, which was at Wayne Law’s Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, connects youth and adult allies throughout Detroit, empowers youth to advocate for social justice issues within their schools and communities and creates a collaborative space for youth to be both teachers and learners. Members of the Keith Students facilitated a workshop and discussion on the “American Dream” game, which explores intersecting social identities and stereotypes. Students also presented an exhibit table with information about Keith Center programs, legal career paths and scholarship opportunities at Wayne Law. From left are Rachel McDuffie, Jaime Nelson, Jessica Mills, Jamesa Johnson and Henry Schneider.

Eliza Perez-Ollin

Peter Hammer

Monica Lewis-Patrick


WAYNE LAW IN THE COMMUNITYAcademic Year 2015-16

community partnerships134

community events attended and supported by our faculty and staff

50

hours worked by students in our law clinics

8,320

hours of pro-bono legal services provided by students in the Student Voluntary Pro Bono Program

500+

clients served by our law clinics

255

events open to the public

56

people who attended events

4,197

students placed in externships to earn academic credit while gaining practical professional experience

98

alumni who came back to Wayne Law to provide guidance and advice to current students


A LU M NA P RO F I LE — Marilena David-Martin, ’09

“Everyone did not go to that great school you went to and did not have the same loving parents that you had,” says Marilena David-Martin, ’09. “Some people were abused as children, went to bed hungry every night, did not know where they would sleep at night, did not have a safe backyard to play in, have never had anyone care about them, did not have family they could call for help, did not have clean clothes to put on and could not afford to go to college. We live in a society where no one is perfect, but only a few are judged. Until we all begin to have empathy for one another and the circumstances that have led someone to the place they are, we are never going to have a fair and just system.”

Rather than becoming resentful, Marilena David-Martin has used the challenges in her life to amplify her empathy and compassion.

She adds to those qualities a strong work ethic, determination and a law degree earned in 2009 from Wayne Law and uses them to help prisoners and their families as an assistant defender at the State Appellate Defender Office. She is also administrator of its Criminal Defense Resource Center, which provides resources and trainings for criminal defense attorneys and prisoners.

In 2014, she was honored with the Justice for All Award by the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan and the Regeana Myrick Outstanding Young Lawyer Award by the State Bar of Michigan’s Young Lawyers Section.

David-Martin grew up one of three daughters of a father she describes as a good person who struggled with alcohol and drugs and a mother she describes as hard-working and generous. Her parents divorced when David-Martin was young, and the family struggled financially.

But it is another facet of her life she considers harder to handle.

“The biggest challenge I’ve ever faced is probably dealing with the health of my husband, Alessandro,” David-Martin said. “He has an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis. We were married three years into the diagnosis, and we both knew our lives would never be easy or predictable.”

When David-Martin was in junior high school, she dreamed of being an administrative assistant. The next year, she changed that goal to being a paralegal.

“Somewhere along the line, I realized I wanted to do more, and I fixed my sight on law school,” she said.

She earned a bachelor’s degree at WSU in criminal justice and psychology and refined her goal to becoming a public defender.

“I really loved my undergraduate experience, and I knew I wanted to stay at Wayne State,” David-Martin said. “It was the only law school I applied to, as I knew I wanted to remain in the city I loved and where I wanted to serve the community.”

After law school, she went to work in the Crime Lab Unit of the State Appellate Defender Office and became an assistant defender in 2012.

The bottom line for David-Martin in all that she does is to benefit the people who are clients.

“I feel satisfaction every time I help a lawyer become a better advocate for his or her client,” she said. “The best part of the job is knowing that I’m making a difference, one lawyer at a time.”

Alumna brings empathy to job as public defender

MORE ONLINEFor a longer version of this story, and for a brief Question & Answer report with Marilena David-Martin, visit law.wayne.edu/david-martin.


MORE ONLINEFor a longer version of this story, and for a brief Question & Answer report with Lee Hornberger, visit law.wayne.edu/hornberger.

Lee Hornberger uses his decades of experience to serve as a neutral arbitrator, hearing officer and mediator helping people resolve disputes with dignity.

Hornberger, LL.M. ’82, is also a hearing officer for the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and is on the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians hearing officer list.

“A large portion of my practice is mediating domestic relations cases,” he said. “Helping people come to agreement in such emotional situations is very fulfilling.”

He also mediates employment and labor cases in a variety of industries.

Hornberger earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan and his law degree from the U of M Law School in 1968.

In 1969, he joined the U.S. Army and completed military police officer training in Georgia, then went on to serve as an assistant correctional officer at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation in Pennsylvania and as a defense counsel there. In

addition, he was admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Military Appeals.

He served in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971. While there, Hornberger, who held the rank of captain, was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and Army Commendation Medals.

“I am proud of my service in Vietnam and my activities in Vietnam,” he said. “This military background helped make me a better attorney.”

After the Army, he worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor and then as a general practice attorney with a private firm. He also worked as a labor and employment law attorney with The Kroger Co. in Cincinnati.

In 1982, he earned his LL.M. in labor law from Wayne Law.

“The Wayne Law program was very flexible and allowed me to take courses in several fields of law,” Hornberger said. “The LL.M. program was a wonderful experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.”

In 1982, he opened his own labor and employment law practice in Cincinnati, and, for many years thereafter, he also served as an adjunct professor at Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law and at the University of Cincinnati.

Hornberger moved to Traverse City in 2002 and began to transform from being an advocate to becoming a neutral arbitrator and mediator.

“In 2007, I became a complete neutral and stopped doing any advocacy practice,” he said. “I increasingly wanted to help people resolve their disagreements in a courteous, dignified and professional manner. Sometimes what is needed is a simple, inexpensive solution.”

Former labor law attorney serves as arbitrator, mediator, hearing officer

Lee Hornberger, LL.M. ’82, joined the Traverse City Human Rights Commission in 2009 and served as its chair in 2015. “My career in the employment field gave me an understanding and respect for all individuals and their situations,” he said. “Sometimes, the most vulnerable in society are the most in need of protection.”

A LU M N U S P RO F I LE — Lee Hornberger, LL.M. ’82


Attorney Angela Space and her husband, Christopher Erwin, wanted a break from the electronics – cellphones, tablets, laptops – that seemed to get in the way of sharing quality time with family and friends.

The 2007 Wayne Law alumna and her husband had visited a board game lounge – a place where people drop in and play board games together – on a trip to Toronto and decided they could take the concept even further by making it electronics-free. No cellphone use allowed.

They opened 3&Up Board Game Lounge (www.3andup.com) in downtown Plymouth in 2014, and it’s been garnering rave reviews ever since.

“It took us a couple of years to plan, prepare and execute,” said Space, who works full time as an associate attorney in estate planning and family practice with Dillon & Dillon PLC in Plymouth. “We morphed the concept of a place to play board games with the idea that people needed a break from the smartphones and tablets. Our mission became: Unplug. Reconnect.

They’ve collected nearly 1,200 board games at 3&Up, so whether players have their hearts set on old classics like Monopoly or Risk or want to try something new straight from a game designer, they’ll find what they want.

Players pay $5 for 90 minutes, and families can buy special memberships.

How did Wayne Law prepare Space to start a board game lounge?

”Law school prepared me for entrepreneurship in many ways,” she said. “I use my writing skills and public speaking skills constantly. I also use knowledge of contracts, land use, tort and employment law very regularly. Entrepreneurship requires creativity, enthusiasm and an ability to overcome adversity – all skills necessary to make it through law school.”

Above all, Wayne Law taught her critical thinking and problem-solving skills, said Space, who also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and corporate communication/public relations from the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Space and her husband manage 3&Up together, tend their 7.5 acres of property and get their children, Brayden and Paytyn, to tennis lessons, dance lessons and school.

All the more reason to sit down once in a while and play a family board game together.

“I want face-to-face contact with my kids and my husband, my family and my friends,” Space said.

At 3&Up Board Game Lounge, owned by Angela Space, ’07, tables and booths are arranged for players, and private rooms accommodate birthday parties, school field trips and other special events for children ages 3 and older, as the business name implies. Players can grab a “free parking pass” and post it on their tables – that lets strangers know they are welcome to join in the game.

A LU M NA P RO F I LE — Angela Space, ’07

Attorney’s business helps people ‘unplug, reconnect’

MORE ONLINEFor a longer version of this story, and for a brief Question & Answer report with Angela Space, visit law.wayne.edu/angelaspace.


Criminal defense attorney Neil Rockind has found his calling standing up for the underdog.

A 1993 alumnus of Wayne Law, Rockind has turned his inborn capacity for verbal combat into an award-winning career going to trial to defend “the little guy.” He founded Rockind Law in Southfield in 2000.

Over the years, he’s handled a number of high-profile cases, including defending personal injury attorney Geoffrey Feiger against a Michigan attorney general’s investigation. But for any client, big or small, Rockind studies and researches tirelessly and brings to the courtroom the fierce, forceful flair that has earned him his nickname – “The Rockweiler.”

“Over the last several years, I have studied the methods of police officers in extracting

confessions and admissions from the accused,” Rockind said. “If anyone would label me an expert at anything, I’d like it to be challenging interrogations and confessions as coerced or false.”

Rockind started his legal career as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office and handled hundreds of criminal cases, moving on to become a special prosecutor.

“While I enjoyed my tenure in the prosecutor’s office, it was never in my DNA,” Rockind said. “I began to sympathize with the accused. The more defense attorneys I grew close to, the more I respected their willingness to stick up for ‘the little guy.’ As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I can relate to David much more so than Goliath.”

So, in 1997, he followed his instincts and became a criminal defense trial lawyer.

“I love the fact that being a trial lawyer is, in part, an art,”

he said. “Not everyone can do it, and you can’t just will yourself to become one. I wanted to be a trial lawyer – period. But then, once exposed to the criminal law, I knew that I had found my calling. My first ‘not guilty’ verdict still resonates with me to this day.”

Rockind has always known that his own career would be in a courtroom.

“From a young age, people patted me on the head and said, ‘This one is going to be a lawyer,’ ’’ Rockind said.

He earned a degree in general studies at the University of Michigan and went right on to Wayne Law. Today, he speaks often to groups and to media as an expert about legal issues and cases and trial tactics.

A LU M U S P RO F I LE — Neil Rockind, ’93

Trial lawyer brings ferocity to court to defend clients

MORE ONLINEFor a longer version of this story, and for a brief Question & Answer report with Neil Rockind, visit law.wayne.edu/rockind.

In 2014, Neil Rockind, ’93, participated in a scientific forensics course by the American Chemical Society, which educated attorneys on the use of blood testing instruments and the science behind forensics chromatography that allows the FBI and other authorities to analyze chemicals, such as drugs or alcohol, present in blood. At the time, only about 200 attorneys in the nation had completed this coursework. The laboratory work qualified him to explain the science of gas chromatography in DUI ethanol-based cases.


Stanley Pitts, ’81, was honored in 2014 as one of The Michigan Chronicle’s Men of Excellence. “To be recognized as a leader to others touched me greatly,” he said. “I firmly believe that as a leader, you have a huge responsibility to be an example to others who try to emulate your behavior and accomplishments.”

A LU M N U S P RO F I LE — Stanley Pitts, ’81

MORE ONLINEFor a longer version of this story, and for a brief Question & Answer report with Stanley Pitts visit law.wayne.edu/stanleypitts.

Labor lawyer helps employers find fair solutions

His ability to impact issues of fairness is what entices Stanley Pitts to practice labor law, whether he’s representing employers or employees.

The 1981 Wayne Law graduate worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 20 years, until 2005, when he joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn. He’s a partner in the firm where he concentrates his practice on defending and counseling employers.

As an undergraduate attending Wayne State, where he earned a degree in accounting, Pitts also worked full time at Ford Motor Co. doing factory production.

“My attraction to labor law was due to this experience, which focused my interest on employee fairness issues, wage and hour issues, wrongful discipline and termination issues, and union representation issues,” he said.

At first, he considered furthering his education by getting an M.B.A. in finance or accounting. Then, one day he picked up a contract casebook his sister, Sharron Pitts, ’80, had left on a table at home. She was in her first year of law school.

“After spending hours reading about very interesting legal problems and how various legal theories were used to resolve those problems, I knew law school was the place for me,” he said.

After graduation from Wayne Law, he worked for Patmon and Young PC and then for Lewis & Munday before joining the EEOC in 1984 as a trial attorney. He was promoted to supervisory trial attorney three years later. In 1997, Pitts was honored with the EEOC Chairman’s Organizational Performance Award.

Pitts is a member and past chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s Professional Ethics Committee and a member of its Attorney Discipline Board Hearing Panel. He also is a case evaluator for the Wayne County Mediation Tribunal Labor Panel.

Community service is important to Pitts, who is a member of the City Year Detroit Board of Directors to help at-risk students and served on the Black United Fund of Michigan Inc. Board of Directors.

“For me, giving back and helping others feels good,” Pitts said. “You know right away through smiles and words of gratitude that others appreciate your help, but you don’t know how big of an impact you may have on an individual until years later. While you may have forgotten what you did in the past, someone you helped will tell you how much of an impact your assistance made on their lives.”


Adam Taylor’s first introduction to law as a career came at home, around the family dinner table.

When he was 9 years old, his mother, Elizabeth Taylor, who then was an English professor, was going to law school at night.

“She’d come home and talk through what she did around the dinner table,” said her son, a 2014 alumnus of Wayne Law.

Taylor is an environmental attorney today working for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and his mom, too, is an attorney now, specializing in education employment law.

He moved to Austin, Texas, after passing the Michigan Bar Exam.

“When I moved down to Texas, I wasn’t licensed there as an attorney,” he said. “I obtained a job with the agency (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) working for the Office of the Chief Clerk. I was the agenda coordinator for the commissioners. It was a non-attorney job, but I took it in the hope that I’d become an attorney here and to gain experience in environmental law. I took a chance.”

After Taylor took the Texas bar exam and became licensed, he was promoted to the commission’s Litigation Division in the Office of Legal Services.

His experiences at Wayne Law also paved the way for his job as a litigator.

Taylor was involved in the Mock Trial program during all three years of law school. He won first place in fall 2012 and winter 2013 competitions and was the co-chair for the program in 2014.

Another valuable law school experience for Taylor was his two semesters working as a student attorney with Wayne Law’s Transnational Environmental Law Clinic under the direction of Assistant (Clinical) Professor Nick Schroeck.

“My job with the clinic was to research the Interstate 94 expansion project’s final environmental impact statement,” Taylor said.

He met with community groups to hear their concerns about the freeway project and wrote a legal letter to state agencies on behalf of those groups.

“I learned more about environmental law that way,” Taylor said. “That experience of seeing the day-to-day work of an environmental lawyer was invaluable.”

Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies and history for secondary education at Eastern Michigan University and went on to teach English as a second language in South Korea for a year before the seeds sown at the family dinner table took root and led him to law school.

Environmental attorney learned his trade as student

MORE ONLINEFor a longer version of this story, and for a brief Question & Answer report with Adam Taylor, visit law.wayne.edu/adamtaylor.

One of the most memorable law school experiences for Adam Taylor, ’14, stems from the 2013 Mock Trial competition. “It is a thrilling experience when you’re out there in front of the judges arguing against other teams and having to make on-the-spot evidentiary arguments; it’s very enjoyable and educational,” he said. “It’s still with me now. I think now when I have a case: What did I do then? What worked and what didn’t?”

A LU M U S P RO F I LE — Adam Taylor, ’14


William Ortman joins faculty, teaching Administrative LawWilliam

Ortman joins the faculty of Wayne Law as an assistant professor beginning with the fall 2016 semester. For fall 2016, he will be teaching Administrative Law.

He comes to Wayne Law from Harvard Law School, where he served as the Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law since 2013.

His teaching and research interests include criminal law, criminal procedure and administrative law.

Previously, Ortman was a partner at Weinhardt & Logan in Des Moines, Iowa, and prior to that was a partner with Berlin McCormick in Des Moines. His practice at both firms focused on criminal defense and complex civil litigation.

He clerked for Hon. David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Ortman holds a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School.

Carl Levin wins award, presents at World BankFormer U.S.

Sen. Carl Levin, Wayne Law’s distinguished legislator in residence and chair of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, received the 2016 Wade H. McCree Jr. Award for the Advancement

of Social Justice from the Federal Bar Association Eastern District of Michigan Chapter. He received the award at a luncheon where he also was keynote speaker.

Also, Levin presented the keynote speech at TaxCOOP, co-sponsored by and presented at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. TaxCOOP is an international nonpartisan conference on tax competition and the weaknesses of the current international tax system.

In addition, a U.S. naval destroyer will be named for Levin, Michigan’s longest-serving senator who served in the Senate for 36 years, including as a member and nine-year chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Kathy Fox named assistant dean of admissionsKathy Fox

was appointed Wayne Law’s assistant dean of admissions.

She most recently served as director of employer development in Wayne Law’s Career Services office. Previously, she was deputy director of the Office of Career and Professional Development at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing and worked as an associate at Haliw Siciliano & Mychalowych in Farmington Hills.

Fox earned her law degree from what is now Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a master of business administration degree from the University of St. Thomas – Opus College of Business in St. Paul.

In addition, Fox also was installed as a director on the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association’s board.

Stephen Calkins speaks at conferences in D.C., N.M.Professor

Stephen Calkins was one of four panelists during The Chair’s Showcase at the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. The topic was “Examining the Per Se Rule.”

Calkins also presented “Teaching Consumer Law in Ireland” at the University of Houston Law Center’s Teaching Consumer Law Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Jeffrey Aronoff directing entrepreneurship programJeffrey S.

Aronoff, ’04, was appointed director of Wayne Law’s Program for Entrepreneurship and Business Law.

A lawyer who specializes in public finance, municipal securities and economic development law, Aronoff also recently was elected a principal at Miller Canfield in Detroit.

In addition, Aronoff assists small businesses looking to raise capital from local, community-minded investors. This grew out of his work at Sidewalk Ventures, a project he founded.

During a “sabbatical” from Miller Canfield, Aronoff served as executive director of D:hive, a three-year, nonprofit project that helped individuals get connected to resources for living, working and building businesses in Detroit.

FAC U LT Y, S TA F F ACCO M P LI S H M EN T S

Jeffrey Aronoff

William Ortman

Carl Levin

continued on Page 32

Stephen Calkins

Kathy Fox


Jocelyn Benson named among state’s influentialDean Jocelyn

Benson was named by Crain’s Detroit Business to the list of the 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan for 2016.

Benson also participated in a Super Bowl town hall discussion, “Beyond the Game, Tackling Race,” which was broadcast on Sirius XM Business Radio. The town hall was sponsored by the Ross Initiative for Sports and Equality, created by Stephen Ross, ’65, developer, philanthropist and owner of the Miami Dolphins. The broadcast also featured current and former NFL players Harry Carson, Rashad Jennings, Willie Lanier, Justin Tuck and Doug Williams.

Kirsten Matoy Carlson wins Academy of Scholars awardAssistant

Professor Kirsten Matoy Carlson has been selected to receive the WSU Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award for the 2016-17 academic year. The award is given annually to a select number of junior faculty members who have a significant record of publications or creative achievement and who have achieved national or international recognition very early in their careers.

In addition, an article Carlson wrote, “Congress and Indians,” was cited in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court by historical and legal scholars in Nebraska v. Parker.

Felicia Thomas new assistant dean of student affairsFelicia M.

Thomas was appointed Wayne Law’s assistant dean of student affairs.

She most recently served as director of student affairs and diversity initiatives. In her new role, she will continue to serve as director of diversity initiatives.

Previously, she served as director of recruitment and enrollment in the Admissions office, as interim dean of students, and as a counselor in the Career Services office and director of academic success in what is now the Student Affairs office. Prior to that, she worked as a law clerk for the Wayne County Circuit Court Civil Division.

Thomas earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

Nick Schroeck serving on international bridge teamAssistant

(Clinical) Professor Nick Schroeck, director of the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic, joined the Gordie Howe International Bridge Environmental Working Group, a think tank formed by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

In addition, Schroeck spoke on a panel at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Colloquium of the Academy of Environmental Law in Oslo, Norway. His topic was, “Multijurisdictional response to Lake Erie Algae: International, Federal, State and Provincial legal strategies for combating nutrient pollution in the Great Lakes.”

Robert Sedler presents to international delegationsDistinguished

Professor Robert Sedler spoke to a group of Armenian leaders visiting Detroit through Congress’ Open World Program. Sedler spoke to the group at the Law School about the American constitutional system compared to the Armenian Constitution, the framework of the U.S. federal government and how the U.S. Constitution protects individual rights.

He also spoke to a delegation of legal professionals from Kuwait, Malaysia, Moldova, Nigeria, Romania and Tanzania who were visiting Detroit through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

Peter Henning receives Fulbright Specialist grantProfessor Peter

J. Henning received a Fulbright Specialist grant to teach for three weeks in Taiwan.

Henning presented “Study on Criminal Law and Procedure” at the Academy for the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice in Taipei from June 14 to July 1. His topics included a discussion of the Hobbs Act, the recent encryption dispute between the FBI and Apple, the protection of privacy and the admissibility of video recordings.

The Fulbright Specialist Program promotes cooperation and relationship building between United States scholars and professionals and their counterparts at host institutions abroad.

In 2013, Henning was a Fulbright Scholar teaching at the University of Zagreb in Croatia.

Peter J. Henning

Nick SchroeckKirsten Matoy Carlson

Felicia M. ThomasJocelyn Benson

Faculty, staff accomplishments continued

Robert Sedler


NotesProfessor Linda McKissack Beale,

director of graduate studies, became a member of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. Membership is limited to one-third of 1 percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

Elise Bean, co-director of the Levin Center at Wayne Law, was named by International Tax Review to the Global Tax 50, a list identifying 50 people who influenced tax policy in 2015.

Megan M. Canty, director of academic success and bar exam preparation, co-authored “Interruptions in Search of a Purpose: Oral Argument in the Supreme Court, October Terms 1958-60 and 2010-12,” published in the Utah Law Review.

Associate Dean Lance Gable co-edited a special issue of the journal Global Health Governance on the Framework Convention on Global Health.

Professor Emeritus Otto Hetzel co-edited a book, Alternative Dispute

Resolution in State and Local Governments, Analysis & Case Studies, published by the American Bar Association, on behalf of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section.

Kerry Kornblatt, legal writing instructor, presented “Ask a ‘Real’ Lawyer: How to Create a Productive Dialogue Between Students and Practitioners to Communicate Lessons on Professionalism, Research and Writing Skills, and Career Path” at the Southeastern Legal Writing Conference in Miami.

Associate Professor Christopher C. Lund co-authored a casebook, Religion and the Constitution, published by Wolters Kluwer as part of its Aspen Casebook series.

Professor Katherine E. White was promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel in the U.S. Army serving in the Michigan Army National Guard as the command judge advocate for the 46th Military Police Command in Lansing.

Paul Dubinsky gives lectures, attends meetings abroadAssociate

Professor Paul Dubinsky delivered a lecture, “Private Law Treaties and Federalism: Can the United States Lead?” as part of the scholar-in-residence program at the London office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

He also presented at a faculty workshop at Hebrew University Law School in Jerusalem, where he was a visiting scholar.

While abroad, Dubinsky, who is vice president of the U.S. branch of the International Law Association, was a delegate to a meeting of the association at the House of Lords in London.

Additionally, he met with President Koen Lenaerts of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Eric Zacks’ article cited by California Supreme CourtAssistant

Professor Eric Zacks’ article, “Not a Party: Challenging Mortgage Assignments,” was cited in a California Supreme Court decision in Yvanova v. New Century Mortgage Corporation.

Another of his articles, “The Restatement (Second) of Contracts §211: Unfulfilled Expectations and the Future of Modern Standardized Consumer Contracts,” was published in the William & Mary Business Law Review. Zacks presented this article to the law faculty at Marquette University Law School and at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Noah Hall serving on team for Flint water investigationAssociate

Professor Noah D. Hall was appointed special assistant attorney general in Michigan, joining the special counsel team for the Flint water investigation. The special counsel team will investigate to determine if any state laws were violated and then potentially could prosecute under civil and criminal law options.

In addition, Hall spoke about the Great Lakes region’s approach to oil production at an event hosted by The Freshwater Lab, a program of the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Paul Dubinsky

On April 18, Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson became one of only a handful of women in history to complete the Boston Marathon in her eighth month of pregnancy. Benson, 38, completed the nation’s most-prestigious marathon in 6 hours, 12 minutes, 32 seconds. STORY: law.wayne.edu/bensonmarathon

Eric Zacks Noah D. Hall


S T U D EN T ACCO M P LI S H M EN T S

David Adgate

Lance Bruck

Students serving public interest through summer fellowshipsSeven Wayne Law students are gaining experience and serving a variety of agencies

this summer, thanks to the support of the 2016 Public Interest Law Fellowships.

The 2016 fellowship winners and their organizations are:

n David Adgate, rising third-year student – Federal Defender Office

n Hassan Bazzi, rising second-year student – Great Lakes Environmental Law Center

n Lance Bruck, rising third-year student – United Community Housing Coalition

n Hannah Fielstra, rising third-year student – Michigan State Appellate Defender Office

n Holland Locklear, rising third-year student – American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan

n Marie Reimers, rising second-year student – The Family Law Project

n Madeline Sinkovich, rising second-year student – Legal Services of Eastern Michigan

Wayne Law created the fellowships in 2009 to give students opportunities to gain practical experience in public interest law before graduation, ease student financial stresses and offer much-needed assistance to organizations providing legal services to underserved constituencies. Fellowship recipients are selected each year by a committee of Wayne Law faculty members, staff and alumni.

Students gain international experience through fellowships, internshipsFive Wayne Law students have been chosen to study and work abroad this

summer through fellowships and internships sponsored by the Law School’s Program for International Legal Studies.

The 2016 fellowship and internship winners and their organizations are:

n Elaina Bailey, rising third-year student – Freeman Fellowship to study for three weeks at The Hague Academy of International Law in The Netherlands.

n James Carpenter, rising third year student – Internship to work in the General Counsel’s Office at Tata Motors in Mumbai, India.

n Sarah Cravens, rising third-year student – Internship to work in WilmerHale’s International Arbitration Practice Group in London.

n Rosana Garbacik, rising second-year student – Internship to work in Mexico City at the law firm of Hogan Lovells BSTL.

n Shareece McCauley, rising second-year student – International Public Interest Law Fellowship to work for Defense for Children International in Ghana.

Elaina Bailey

Hassan Bazzi

James Carpenter

Sarah Cravens

Hannah Fielstra

Rosana Garbacik

Holland Locklear

Shareece McCauley

Marie Reimers

Madeline Sinkovich


Jessica Hoyer awarded workers’ rights fellowshipWayne Law rising third-year student

Jessica Hoyer was awarded a 2016 Peggy Browning Summer Fellowship to work for the United Auto Workers International Union at its Detroit headquarters for 10 weeks.

Hoyer will serve as a law clerk for the union’s in-house legal staff, conducting research, drafting briefs and accompanying staff lawyers to hearings and oral arguments.

Last year, Hoyer worked on the Sexual Assault Kit Task Force at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and helped prosecutors organize and develop cases stemming from more than 11,000 untested sexual assault kits discovered in a storage warehouse.

For 2015-16, Hoyer was a student lawyer with Wayne Law’s Disability Law Clinic and an assistant editor of the Wayne Law Review.

Wayne Law transactional team again wins 1st place for drafting at regionalsA Wayne Law transactional law

team, for the fourth year in a row, won first place in drafting at a regional competition of the National Transactional LawMeet competition.

The team of third-year students Lena Pantely and Haley Jonna took first place in drafting, representing the buyer, and fourth place overall (drafting and negotiations) during the Feb. 26 contest hosted by Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Wayne Law’s team of second-year students Gabriel Appel and Matthew Coffee-Tavi competed at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law

and took home third place in drafting and fourth place overall.

The teams were aided by second-year student Amy Huang, who assisted with the drafting and by conducting practice negotiation rounds.

Wayne Law has been involved in the competition for four years, and during that time, has taken five first-place honors (2013 – first in drafting, 2014 – first in drafting and first in negotiations, 2015 – first in drafting, and 2016 – first in drafting).

Justin Hanna, ’15, served as chairman for this year’s teams, and Assistant Professor Eric Zacks is the advisor.

Members of Wayne Law’s transactional law teams, from left, are Assistant Professor Eric Zacks, Lena Pantely, Haley Jonna, Matthew Coffee-Tavi, Gabriel Appel and competition Chair Justin Hanna.

More than 100 Wayne Law students were recognized April 7 at an Honors Convocation for achievements, awards and scholarships they earned. Dean Jocelyn Benson congratulated the students as Associate Dean Lance Gable presented students with their honors. MORE PHOTOS: law.wayne.edu/honors2016

Jessica Hoyer



NotesRising third-year students Megan

Baxter and Michelle Lenning were awarded 2016 scholarships by the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Foundation. Baxter is the WLAM Foundation scholar. Lenning is the Dawn Van Hoek Scholar.

Husnah Khan, a rising second-year student, was awarded a 2016 AmeriCorps JD Fellowship through her work as a summer intern at the University of Michigan’s Innocence Clinic.

Nicole Lockhart, a rising third-year student, was awarded the A. Kay Stanfield

Spinks Law Student Scholarship by the D. Augustus Straker Bar Foundation.

Amelia Zelenak, an incoming first-year student for fall 2016, was awarded the $10,000 Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Scholarship by the Federal Circuit Bar Association.

Wayne Law again wins Jessup international law Midwest regionalFor the second consecutive year

and the third time in the past four years, Wayne Law’s team won the U.S. Midwest Regional of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Wayne Law’s team topped the field of 20 law schools at the competition Feb. 4 through 7 at Loyola University School of Law in Chicago. The team also won the award for Best Memorial.

At the White & Case International Rounds of the Jessup competition March 27 through April 2 in Washington, D.C., Wayne Law’s team members placed 31st

in the world, and their briefs placed 16th in the world.

Wayne Law team members were third-year students Shahad Atiya, Shahar Ben-Josef and Elizabeth Cacevic and second-year students Elaina Bailey and Sarah Cravens. Professor Gregory Fox, director of Wayne Law’s Program for International Legal Studies, is the team’s faculty advisor.

In its 57th year, the Jessup competition is the world’s largest moot court competition with participants from 550 law schools representing more than 80 countries.

Wayne Law Jessup International Law Moot Court Team members are, from left, Shahad Atiya, Elaina Bailey, Sarah Cravens, Elizabeth Cacevic and Shahar Ben-Josef.

Sean Riddell honored with award, scholarshipMay graduate Sean Riddell was honored

Feb. 14 as an Outstanding Law Student of the Year by the National Lawyers Guild Detroit and Michigan Chapter.

Riddell also was awarded the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Veterans Scholarship in recognition of his work promoting social justice. The award is presented each year to WSU undergraduate and graduate students who best exemplify the values of the university’s students who fought fascism in Spain in the 1930s.

During law school, Riddell was active in Wayne Law’s chapter of the guild, Keith Students for Civil Rights and American Civil Liberties Union. He also was part of the Wayne Law Team, a group of students who researched issues for the DeBoer v. Snyder marriage equality litigation team. He served as director of The Journal of Law in Society’s 2016 symposium in March.

Riddell worked part time for the civil rights law firm of Goodman & Hurwitz PC in Detroit. He will be working for the legal aid organization Counsel & Advocacy Law Line in Southfield after taking the bar examination.

Sean Riddell

Student accomplishments continued



1950sRichard Kitch, ’54, of Kitch

Drutchas Wagner Valitutti & Sherbrook was named one of 30 Leaders in the Law for 2016 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

George Lubienski, ’56, is celebrating 60 years of practicing law. His office is in Dearborn.

Douglas Metz, ’57, was reappointed to the California Boating and Waterways Commission, where he has served since 2006. He is senior counsel to The King Law Group.

Mort Collins, ’58, is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Collins Einhorn Farrell PC, the law firm he founded in Southfield in 1971. He also was selected to receive the Oakland County Bar Association’s Distinguished Career Achievement Award.

1960sGarry Carley, ’64, was featured in

Boca Beacon, the weekly newspaper for Boca Grande, Florida. He divides his time between Boca Grande and Bloomfield Hills, where he owns The Heathers Club. The story highlighted Carley’s passion for his hometown of Detroit, where he serves as chairman of Detroit Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. and vice president of the Coleman A. Young Foundation.

Brian Einhorn, ’67, is celebrating the 45th anniversary of Collins Einhorn Farrell PC, the Southfield law firm he joined in 1971.

Richard J. Burstein, ’69, a real estate partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, was named to the 2015 Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame by Midwest Real Estate News.

1970sDan Dozier, ’71, wrote a chapter in

the book Alternative Dispute Resolution in State and Local Governments, Analysis & Case Studies. Dozier’s chapter is “Evaluating Scope of Services and Provider Qualifications in State ADR Programs.” He is of counsel with Press and Dozier LLC in Bethesda, Maryland.

Hon. Marilyn Kelly, ’71, presented “Has America Fulfilled Its Promise of Equal Justice for All?” as part of the Escalating Inequality Task Force’s 2016 Winter Speaker Series and at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Petoskey.

John R. Runyan, ’72, wrote a book review of A Good Killing, written by Allison Leotta, who grew up in Michigan. His review appeared in the May issue of the Michigan Bar Journal. Runyan is managing director of Sachs Waldman in Detroit.

James “Jim” Fisher, ’76, has joined Dickinson Wright’s Grand Rapids office as of counsel.

Hon. Isidore Torres, ’76, was appointed director of the Wayne County Fraud and Corruption Investigation Unit. Torres is of counsel with Williams Acosta in Detroit.

Bruce Vandegrift, ’76, was named personal trust business development officer for Chemical Bank Wealth Management’s west Michigan region.

Hon. Linda Hallmark, ’77, was nominated for the 2015 Daniel J. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award. She is chief judge of the Oakland County Probate Court.

Robert Martinez, ’77, was appointed to the Parkland Health & Hospital System Board of Managers in Dallas. He is a partner with Cotten Schmidt & Abbott LLP in Fort Worth, Texas.

Hon. Wendy Potts, ’77, received a WONder Woman Award from the Women Officials Network Foundation. She is an Oakland County Circuit Court judge.

Tim Busch, ’78, donated $15 million to Catholic University of America – the largest donation in the school’s history. He is the founder of the Busch Firm, which specializes in high net-worth estate planning and real estate and business transactions. Busch also founded and is CEO of Pacific Hospitality Group, a hotel development and management company that owns and manages eight hotels in California.

Steven Gonzales, ’78, co-edited a book, Alternative Dispute Resolution in State and Local Governments, Analysis & Case Studies. It was published by the American Bar Association Press, on behalf of the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section. Gonzales is associate professor of law at Arizona Summit Law School.

Jerome Crawford, ’79, was appointed chief assistant to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Anthony Guerriero, ’79, was appointed chief of legislation, grants and community relations for the Wayne County prosecutor. Guerriero is general

Mort Collins

Linda Hallmark

A LU M N I N O T E S

We welcome alumni newsThe Alumni Notes in this issue of The Wayne Lawyer include items submitted from Jan 1 through May. 31. Read about recent Wayne Law alumni accomplishments any time at law.wayne.edu/alumninews. Send news of your professional accomplishments to [email protected].


Alumni notes continuedcounsel for Westwood Community Schools in Dearborn Heights and maintains a private practice.

1980sStuart Sherr, ’81, former mayor pro

tem, is mayor of Bloomfield Hills.

Sandra Glazier, ’82, was the featured speaker at the Kansas City Estate Planning Symposium in April. She is a shareholder at Lipson Neilson Cole Seltzer Garin PC.

Lee Hornberger, LL.M. ’82, presented “Michigan Domestic Relations Arbitration and Mediation Case Law Update” at the State Bar of Michigan’s Family Law Section 2016 Mid-Winter Conference in Puerto Rico. He also presented “Michigan Arbitration & Mediation Case Law Update” at an event in Detroit sponsored by the State Bar of Michigan’s Solo and Small Firm Section and Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. He is an arbitrator and mediator in Traverse City.

Michael S. Khoury, ’82, has joined FisherBroyles LLP as a partner in the Detroit office. He is with the firm’s Corporate, Technology and Privacy and Data Protection practice groups. He also was honored by Best Lawyers in America for 2016, and he has been named a Michigan Super

Lawyer and a DBusiness magazine Top Lawyer.

Douglas Toering, ’82, has joined Mantese Honigman PC as a partner. He works in the firm’s Troy office. He also was named one of 30 Leaders in the Law for 2016 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Richard Davidson, ’83, LL.M. ’96, joined Walsh College on April 1 as an assistant professor directing the tax program. He had been working as a senior tax counselor with Chrysler.

Douglas Dozeman, ’83, was named managing partner of Warner Norcross and Judd LLP in Grand Rapids.

Don Studt, ’83, retired as Birmingham police chief in May after a 42-year career in law enforcement. He joined Beier Howlett, the law firm that serves as general counsel for the city of Birmingham.

Cathy White, ’83, was named a 2016 fellow for the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University.

Ronald Chapman, ’84, was named one of 30 Leaders in the Law for 2016 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He is founder of Chapman Law Group.

James M. Crowley, ’84, was elected a principal at Miller Canfield in Detroit.

Patricia Nemeth, ’84, LL.M. ’90, was selected by her peers as a Leading Lawyer in labor and employment law for 2015-16. She is founder of Nemeth Law in Detroit.

Kathy Browne, ’87, patented inventor, conservation and beautification award winner, and National Society Daughters of the American Revolution national conservation medal recipient, has merged her beautification/conservation education work for the Plymouth Downtown Development Authority with Dean Jabara,

patented inventor and pioneering conservationist.

Hon. Paul Beardslee, ’88, of Beardslee Law was appointed Calhoun County district judge.

Linda Ross, ’88, was named one of 30 Leaders in the Law for 2016 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. She is a partner with Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP.

Diane H. Fears, ’89, conducted a career planning webinar for the National Black MBA Association, Detroit Chapter. Fears is Wayne Law’s director of career services and Student Voluntary Pro Bono Program.

1990sHon. Tom Boyd, ’90, was elected

president of the Michigan District Judges Association. Boyd is an Ingham County District Court judge.

Mathew Kobliska, ’91, was named a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He is with Debrincat, Padgett, Kobliska & Zick in Farmington Hills.

Peggy Aulino, ’92, was promoted to managing editor of breaking news for labor and employment law publications at Bloomberg BNA in Washington, D.C.

Andrey Tomkiw, ’92, of Tomkiw Mackewich PLC in Royal Oak was elected to serve on the Executive Council of the State Bar of Michigan Labor and Employment Law Section. Tomkiw also was featured in DBusiness

Sandra Glazier

Lee Hornberger

Michael S. Khoury

Peggy Aulino

Andrey Tomkiw

James M. Crowley



magazine’s “Faces of Detroit” in recognition of his work defending employers.

Andrew “Jake” Grove, ’93, joined Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC in Royal Oak. Grove concentrates his practice in patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets matters.

Robert Raitt, ’93, was named one of 30 Leaders in the Law for 2016 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He is a Michigan Auto Law partner.

Neil Rockind, ’93, was named a Leading Lawyer in Michigan for 2015-16 in the area of criminal defense, DUI.

Marc Wise, LL.M. ’93, of Maddin Hauser Roth & Heller PC was recognized in Chambers USA’s ranking of business lawyers.

Alan Taylor, ’94, authored the lead chapter in Aspatore Books’ 2016 publication Understanding Landlord-Tenant Lease Agreements. Taylor is a shareholder with Segal McCambridge in Detroit.

Kerry Rhoads-Reith, ’96, was elected shareholder of Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney Ltd. in Novi.

Jermaine Wyrick, ’96, was a guest on the “Law Power Hour,” hosted by attorney Barry Keller. Wyrick spoke about police misconduct. Wyrick also presented a talk, “Actions have Consequences,” to a group of young men ages 10 to 17 at The Young King’s Conference in Detroit.

Catherine Mish, ’97, city attorney for Grand Rapids, joined Dickinson Wright as of counsel.

Iwona Niec Villaire, ’99, was appointed vice president and general counsel at Chassix in Southfield.

2000sLisa

Hamameh, ’00, was elected shareholder of Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC. She is a municipal litigation attorney in the firm’s Farmington Hills office.

Adam Kutinsky, ’00, of Dawda, Mann Mulcahy Sadler in Bloomfield Hills became a member of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. Membership, which is through a peer nomination and election process, is limited to one-third of 1 percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

Cora Morgan, ’00, joined Siciliano Mychalowych & Van Dusen PLC in Bloomfield Hills where she is practicing complex commercial litigation.

Nicole Wilinski, ’00, was elected partner at Collins Einhorn Farrell PC in Southfield.

Jeremy Piper, ’01, was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Piper is an attorney in Flint.

Shanna Boughton, ’02, was named a shareholder at LeClairRyan. She works in the firm’s Boston office.

Helal Farhat, ’02, was appointed as a part-time 19th District Court magistrate. He is with Farhat and Associates in Dearborn.

Joseph Doerr, ’03, opened Doerr Law Firm PLLC in Bloomfield Hills. The firm focuses on representing businesses and individuals in litigation.

Melissa D. Wojnar-Raycraft, ’03, joined Detroit law firm Racine & Associates. Her practice areas include commercial litigation, class action litigation, public pension, real estate, construction, family law and probate litigation.

Larry Williams,’03, was appointed to a vacancy on the 36th District Court bench in Detroit. He was an assistant Wayne County prosecutor.

Jeffrey S. Aronoff, ’04, was elected a principal at Miller Canfield in Detroit.

Darren Burmania, ’04, joined Miller Canfield as a senior attorney in the firm’s Grand Rapids office.

Marc Jerabek, ’04, was named a shareholder at Plunkett Cooney. He works in the Bloomfield Hills office.

Scott Baker, ’05, opened Baker & Elowsky PLLC, a law firm in Novi that specializes in municipal law.

Kerry Rhoads-Reith

Neil Rockind

Melissa D. Wojnar-Raycraft

Marc Jerabek

Iwona Niec Villaire

Jermaine Wyrick

Andrew “Jake” Grove


Alumni notes continued

Serene K. Zeni, ’05, joined Dickinson Wright’s Troy office as of counsel.

Corey M. Beaubien, ’06, coauthored an article, “The Supreme Court Gets Intellectual: A look at how the Court is reshaping IP law in significant ways,” published in the February Michigan Bar Journal. Beaubien is a shareholder at the IP law firm Reising Ethington PC

Chris Francis, ’06, was elected a member of Detroit intellectual property law firm Bejin Bieneman PLC.

Benjamin Glazebrook, ’06, was selected to participate in the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Inn of Court program. He is an attorney with Plunkett Cooney.

Tudo Pham, ’06, was promoted to major in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In her reserve capacity, she is an adjunct professor at The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center

and School in Charlottesville, Virginia. In her civilian capacity, she is an attorney-adviser with the U.S. Department of State, Office of Legal Adviser for Buildings and Acquisitions.

Daniel Dailey, ’07, joined intellectual property law firm Brinks Gilson & Lione as an associate attorney. He works in the firm’s Ann Arbor office.

Tanya Lundberg, ’07, received the 2016 Regional Leadership Award from the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan. Lundberg is an attorney with Collins Einhorn Farrell PC.

Gregory Nowakowski, ’07, was elected partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. He is with

the firm’s Health Care Practice Group in the Detroit office.

Jonathan H. Schwartz, ’07, was named an Up & Coming Lawyer for 2015 by Michigan Lawyers Weekly, and he was named to the Oakland County Executive’s Elite 40 Under 40 Class of 2016. He is an associate with Seyburn Kahn in Southfield.

Ryan Dibble, ’08, cofounder, chief information officer and general counsel of TherapyCharts, gave a guest lecture in Associate Professor John Rothchild’s Trademarks class.

Michael J. Druzinski, ’08, coauthored an article, “The Supreme Court Gets Intellectual: A look at how the Court is reshaping IP law in significant ways,” published in the February Michigan Bar Journal. Druzinski is a shareholder at the IP law firm Reising Ethington PC.

Nathaniel Hargress, ’08, won the Rising Star Award from The Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel. He is senior counsel of business and legal affairs at Viacom Media Networks in California.

Victoria Lehman, ’08, was named a shareholder with Giarmarco Mullins and Horton in Troy.

Stephen Kontos, ’08, was elected a member of Detroit intellectual property law firm Bejin Bieneman PLC.

Paul Thursam, ’08, was named a shareholder with Giarmarco Mullins and Horton in Troy.

Farayha Arrine, ’09, was elected a member of Dickinson Wright PLLC. She works in the firm’s Detroit office.

Amy Kwiatkowski, ’09, was elected a member of Dickinson Wright. She works in the firm’s Detroit office.

Paul ThursamTayna Lundberg

SAVE THE DATEWAYNE LAW

ALUMNI RECEPTIONState Bar of Michigan

Annual MeetingThursday, Sept. 22

4:30 to 6 p.m.Amway Grand Plaza Hotel – Emerald A Room

187 Monroe Ave. N.W., Grand Rapids

RSVP: law.wayne.edu/statebar2016


Jim Roush, ’’09, was promoted from attorney II to attorney III with Consumers Energy Co.

Benjamin Sobczak, ’09, was elected a member of Dickinson Wright. He works in the firm’s Troy office.

2010sRebecca Davies, LL.M. ’10, was

named a Most Valuable Professional by Corp! magazine. She is a shareholder in Butzel Long’s Detroit office.

Stefania Gismondi, ’10, joined Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC. She is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group in the Farmington Hills office.

Tad T. Roumayah, ’10, was promoted to shareholder at Sommers Schwartz PC.

May Saad, ’10, joined Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss in Southfield as an associate in the firm’s Real Estate Practice Group.

Bryan Schomer, ’10, was elected a member of Dickinson Wright. He works in the firm’s Troy office.

Paul Isso, ’11, became a registered sports agent with Arizona State University. He owns The Isso Law Firm in Arizona.

Kimberly Seibert, ’11, was selected to participate in the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Inn of Court program. She is an attorney with Plunkett Cooney.

Kathryn Tignanelli Jones, ’11, joined Starr Butler Alexopoulos & Stoner PLLC in Southfield as an associate attorney.

Mitchell McIntyre, ’12, was selected to participate in the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Inn of Court program. He is an attorney with Plunkett Cooney.

Tim Murphy, ’12, and his wife, Amber, were featured on the HGTV series “House Hunters.” The couple was looking for their first home together and toured houses in Beverly Hills, Birmingham and Royal Oak. They chose the house in Birmingham. Murphy is a patent attorney with Carlson Gaskey & Olds PC in Birmingham.

Robert Thomas, ’13, was chosen as one of the Michigan Chronicle’s 2016 Men of Excellence. He is a patent law clerk and prior art searcher for Darrow Mustafa and vice chair of Detroit’s Board of Zoning Appeals.

Vanessa L. Bailey, ’14, joined Southfield law firm Maddin Hauser Roth & Heller PC as an associate.

Kiefer Cox, ’15, joined Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss as an associate in the Litigation Practice Group. He works in the firm’s Southfield office.

Mercy Kotei, LL.M ’15, was promoted from a magistrate to a circuit court judge in Ghana.

Michael Yu, ’15, has joined Antone Casagrande & Adwers PC in Farmington Hills as an associate immigration attorney.

Mercy Kotei

Michael Yu

In memoriamWe respectfully remember the following members of the Wayne Law community and acknowledge their passing with sorrow.

Hon. Carolyn A. Archbold, ’74

Hon. Norman A. Baguley, ’60

Hon. Y. Gladys Barsamian, ’56

William K. Berton, ’71

Thaddeus A. Bohlen, ’62

Charles C. Collison, ’60

Michael J. Connolly, ’77

Elbert E. Cooper, ’54

Fred W. Dixon, ’80

D. Edward Dolgorukov, ’72

Kathie D. Dones-Carson, ’82

Donald A. Edwards, ’54

Charles E. Feder, ’79

Larry D. Fowler, ’61

Mark J. Hibbs, ’77

John A. Hilgendorf, ’59

John R. Hocking, ’50

Hon. Richard F. Kern, ’55

Theodore J. Kohn, ’50

Keith J. Leenhouts, ’52

S. Daniel Levit, ’52

William R. McFadden, ’60

John L. Nagy, ’57

Robert A. Ruby, ’75

A. Lawrence Russell, ’70

Neil F. Sandler, ’62

Charles F. Sibert, ’49

Robert J. Stowe, ’60

Hon. Henry J. Szymanski, ’51

Anthony V. Trogan Jr., ’71

Rodger G. Will, ’65

James M. Wouczyna, ’77

Walter F. Wykes, ’50

Tad T. Roumayah

Paul Isso


Law School471 W. Palmer St.Detroit, MI 48202

Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Int Ice at MGM Grand Detroit

Cocktail and hors d’oeuvres reception: $25Tickets: law.wayne.edu/reunion

All Wayne Law alumni invited

Honoring the classes of:2006 and 2011

Class of 2006 leaders:Alexander A. Ayar

Catherine A. BrainerdKelly A. Van Suilichem

Amanda D. SzukalaRonda Tate Truvillion

Class of 2011 leaders:Daimeon Cotton

David J. DeegLaura Marie KubitAndrew M. Mast

Erika A. Riggs

We are still looking for additional class leaders.If you are interested, contact Duc Abrahamson

at 313-577-6199 or [email protected].

Save the date

Wayne Law Reunion

distinguished professor celebrating 50 years on wayne law faculty

Documents