Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Clark Hill PLC

Reginald M. Turner, Jr. Named to Michigan Lawyer's Weekly Lawyers of the Year
DETROIT, MI - Clark Hill member Reginald M. Turner, Jr. was chosen as one of Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly Lawyers of the Year for 2005. This award recognizes Turner’s contributions to the practice of law over the past year, including his work as President of the National Bar Association.
“I am grateful to Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly for recognizing me with this distinguished group of lawyers who strive to embody the highest ideals of our profession,” Turner said.
Turner is a member of Clark Hill's Executive Committee, its Labor and Employment Practice Group and its Government Policy & Practice Group. Turner has more than 15 years of experience in labor and employment law and government relations, and he is named in The Best Lawyers in America. Turner is also a past president of the State Bar of Michigan.
Turner is active in numerous public service and civic and charitable organizations. He is Chairman of the City of Detroit Board of Ethics, and in September 2003, Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Turner to the Michigan State Board of Education. From 2000-2003, he represented Detroit Mayors Dennis Archer and Kwame Kilpatrick on the Detroit Board of Education. He formerly served on Governor John Engler’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Michigan Gaming and on the City of Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Advisory Committee.
Turner is a Vice Chairman of the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Vice Chairman of the Detroit Police Foundation. He is also a Director of Comerica, Inc., the Hudson-Webber Foundation, and United Way of Southeastern Michigan.
Turner earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1987, and his bachelor of science degree from Wayne State University in 1982.

01-17-2006

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Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP

Peter Igel Joins Estate Planning Group
Peter Igel joins Calfee as a senior attorney with the firm's Estate and Succession Planning group. Pete is a graduate of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He earned his undergraduate degree in business accountancy from Miami University of Ohio.

01-17-2006

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Butzel & Long, P.C.

Lynne E. Deitch named Chair of HAVEN's Board of Directors
Butzel Long attorney Lynne E. Deitch named Chair of HAVEN’s Board of Directors
DETROIT, Mich. – Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Lynne E. Deitch has been elected Chair of HAVEN’s Board of Directors.
She joined HAVEN’s Board of Directors in 2001 and has served as Chair of its Human Resources Committee.
HAVEN is a nationally recognized non-profit whose mission is to eliminate domestic violence and sexual assault through treatment and prevention services across Oakland County and surrounding communities.
Ms. Deitch advises and represents clients in all facets of labor and employment law. She provides day-to-day counseling to employers, employee training, and develops company policies, as well as represents employers in arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges, strike situations, Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower actions, and employment litigation in state and federal court.
In 2001-2002, Ms. Deitch served as the Chair of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms. She was the first woman in the international organization’s history to serve in this leadership capacity. Ms. Deitch is only the fifth attorney from the United States to lead this prestigious global organization of more than 15,000 attorneys. She also was the first woman member of Lex Mundi’s Executive Committee.
Ms. Deitch is a founder and the first chair of Lex Mundi’s Women and the Law Committee, one of the first truly international efforts bringing together attorneys from around the globe to examine and discuss issues affecting women in the legal profession. Under her leadership, the Committee focused on developing strategies for law firms to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the increasing number and rising stature of women lawyers throughout the world. In 2003, she co-chaired the 2nd World Women Lawyers’ Conference of the International Bar Association (IBA) in London, England.
Ms. Deitch also is a member of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section, the State Bar of Michigan Employment and Labor Section, Oakland County Bar Association Employment Law Committee (former Chair), Inforum (formerly the Women’s Economic Club), Human Resources Association of Greater Detroit, Leadership Detroit XVIII and the Advisory Board of the Ministrelli Women’s Heart Center. She is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. In 1999, she was named one of Corp!’s Top 10 Business Attorneys. In 2002, she was named one of Corp!’s 95 Most Influential Women. And in 2005, she received the Anti-Defamation League’s Woman of Achievement Award which is given in recognition of devotion to the community and helping others.
Ms. Deitch is a graduate of The University of Michigan (A.B., 1973; J.D., 1976). She is a resident of Birmingham.
Butzel Long was established in 1854 and is headquartered in Detroit. Butzel Long is one of Michigan's oldest and largest law firms, with 215 attorneys and offices in Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Holland, Mich., Washington, D.C. and Boca Raton, Fla., as well as Alliance offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. The firm represents clients from diverse industries on a regional, national and multi-national level and is the sole Michigan member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 161 independent law firms. Visit the Butzel Long website at www.butzel.com

01-17-2006

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Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP

Ronald J.H. O’leary Joins Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs
Cleveland, OH - Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP today announced the addition of Ronald J. H. O’Leary an Associate, resident in the Cleveland office. The addition of Mr. O’Leary increases the Cleveland office to 31 attorneys, and strengthens its Real Estate & Construction practice.
Prior to joining the law firm, Mr. O’Leary was an appointed Judge for the Cleveland Municipal Court. He also served as Chief Assistant Director of Law, for the Cleveland Law Department, where he supervised attorneys and staff assigned to the Code-Enforcement section. Mr. O’Leary was also responsible for advising the Law Director on all issues related to enforcing Cleveland’s building, housing, zoning, health , fire and sidewalk codes. He also advised City officials on code-related issues. Additionally, he served as the Assistant Prosecutor to the Cleveland Law Department.
Mr. O’Leary earned his J.D. (1997) from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and his B.A. (1993) and M.A. (1994) from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He served as Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve School of Law, developing an extern program which covered multiple municipal-law practice areas, including code-enforcement practice. He is a member of the Cleveland Bar Association, Cuyahoga County Municipal Prosecutors’ Association, and Cuyahoga County Law Directors’ Association.
Mr. O’Leary currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio.
Since 1913, Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP has served individuals and businesses in virtually every industry and trade. We provide a full range of legal services to clients, from sole proprietors to multinational corporations, governmental bodies, foundations and public organizations. We understand what it takes to form and sustain supportive relationships with a focus on client goals.
Offices are located in Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio, and Boca Raton, Florida.
Areas of Focus: Alternate Dispute Resolution; Appellate; Bankruptcy; Business Law; Closely Held Companies; Commercial Law and Complex Litigation; Computer Law; Construction Law; Copyrights; Corporate Law; Creditors Rights; Criminal Law & Government Investigation; Employee Benefits; Environmental; Family Law; Finance Law; Franchise; Health Care; Health Personnel Immigration; Home Care Agencies; Hospice Care Programs; Hospitals & Health Systems; Immigration Law; Insurance Coverage; Insurance Defense; Insurance Providers; Intellectual Property; Labor and Employment Law; Land Use and Zoning; Litigation; Long-Term Care Providers; Medical Malpractice Defense; Mergers and Acquisitions; Non-Profit Organizations Law; Patents; Physicians and Physician Groups; Private Foundations; Probate; Public Law; Publicly Held Companies; Real Estate; School Law; Securities; Sports & Entertainment Law; Succession Planning; Taxation; Toxic Tort; Trademarks/Service Marks; Trade Secrets; Trial; Trust & Estate Planning; White Collar Defense; Workers’ Compensation.

01-17-2006

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Brown & Brown

Facing History And Ourselves And Brown Rudnick Co-Host A Breakfast Conversation With Justice Albie Sachs And Vanessa September
Boston, MA, November 3, 2005 – On January 17, 2006, Facing History and Ourselves and
Brown Rudnick will present a community-wide conversation with South African
Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs, the human rights activist world-recognized for
his role in creating South Africa’s new constitution. Justice Sachs and his life partner, Vanessa
September, will discuss South Africa’s emerging democracy following the fall of apartheid and
will share their personal stories on the transformation of that region. The event will take place
from 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. at the offices of Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP, One Financial
Center, Boston, MA 02111. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.
To RSVP contact Kristen Duffy at 617-735-1665 or kristen_duffy@facing.org.
Appointed by President Nelson Mandela in 1994, Justice Sachs is a member of the South
African Constitutional Court. His life partner, Vanessa September, is an architect working on
urban rebuilding. Justice Sachs has played an active role in the creation of South Africa’s
new constitution, and is the author of several books on human rights including The Soft
Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter. In his most recent book, The Free Diary of Albie Sachs,
Justice Sachs and Ms. September describe how South Africa is being healed and rebuilt.
Signed copies of both books will be available for purchase at the January 17th
event at Brown Rudnick.
Brown Rudnick has provided pro bono representation to Facing History since 1976 and
today serves as the organization’s General Counsel (Pro Bono). The firm has assisted in
every aspect of Facing History’s growth and development on issues ranging from
employment, employment benefits, contract negotiations, intellectual property, real estate,
corporate governance, and dispute resolution. (more)
About Facing History and Ourselves
Facing History and Ourselves in an international educational and professional development
organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination
of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more
humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical development lessons of the
Holocaust and other examples of genocide, students make the essential connection between
history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives. For more information, please
visit www.facinghistory.org.
About Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP
Brown Rudnick is a full-service, international law firm with offices in the United States and
Europe. The firm’s 200 attorneys provide representation across key areas of the law:
Corporate & Securities, Corporate Finance, Intellectual Property, Project and Structured
Finance, Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, Energy, Government Law & Strategies,
Health Care, Real Estate, Complex Litigation and Trusts & Estates. Combining a dedication
to excellence with the implementation of sophisticated technologies, Brown Rudnick
provides its clients with a breadth and depth of expertise uniquely suited to their legal
needs. For more information, please visit www.brownrudnick.com.
The Brown Rudnick Center for the Public Interest is a measure of the Firm’s strong
commitment to the community and serves as an umbrella entity encompassing the Firm's
pro bono legal work, charitable giving, community involvement and public interest efforts.
The Center supports the mission of the Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation Corp., which
provides grants in support of improving inner-city education. For more information about
the Center, please visit www.brownrudnick.com/what/center.htm.

01-17-2006

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Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP

Labor, Employment & Immigration
In a case that highlights the issue of what constitutes compensable work time under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), a federal appeals court has ruled that an employee mandated by her employer to attend counseling sessions after working hours was entitled to compensation for her time spent attending and traveling to and from the sessions.
The employee, an emergency dispatcher for the City of Aurora, Illinois, attended weekly counseling sessions to deal with work-related stress. Each session lasted one hour and required the employee to travel two hours back and forth. The time was in addition to her 40-hour a week schedule as a 911 operator, but was not treated as compensable work time by the City of Aurora. The City ordered the employee to attend these sessions — or face losing her job — because the employee had previously expressed frustrations with her job and, on one occasion, left work without permission. The City rejected the employee’s offer to receive counseling from her own therapist, and instead, required her to get counseling from a City-approved physician. Additionally, the City, which was short-staffed on dispatchers, paid 90% of the total cost of the employee’s treatment.
Affirming the district court’s decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit found that the time spent attending and traveling to and from the employer-mandated sessions was compensable work time. Citing the federal regulations implementing the FLSA, the appeals court noted that, as a general rule, an employee must be paid for all time spent in physical or mental exertion, controlled and required by the employer, and pursued necessarily and primarily for the benefit of the employer. In this case, the appeals court found that the counseling sessions were primarily for the benefit of the City because they were a mandatory condition of continued employment and were designed by the City to keep the employee working as a dispatcher and to improve her job performance and interaction with co-workers. The court found that imposing mandatory sessions at a time when the City was short-staffed for dispatchers created a presumption that the sessions were primarily for the benefit of the employer.
The court also found it significant that the City refused the employee’s request to see her own therapist and that it paid 90% of the sessions’ costs.
Although the court cautioned that its holding was a narrow one, specific to the facts of this particular case, this case raises the issue of whether an employer may be obliged to pay any employee it requires to participate in any Employee Assistance Program (“EAP”) as a condition of employment. While we are not aware of any other federal court decisions that have specifically addressed this issue, we anticipate that courts would conduct a similar analysis to determine the primary beneficiary of the sessions. Moreover, the court’s approach here was consistent with opinion letters issued by the Department of Labor, holding that an employee must be compensated for time spent undergoing physical or mental examinations that an employer requires as a condition of continued employment.
To avoid being required to compensate employees for time spent in employer-mandated counseling sessions, employers should design any counseling program or mandated EAP primarily for the benefit of the employee. This may include, among other things, allowing the employee to select his or her own provider and develop his or her own schedule for counseling sessions and avoiding the appearance that the employer’s need to retain the employee is the motivating factor in requiring the employee to attend the sessions. Otherwise, time spent participating in such EAPs may be considered compensable time under the FLSA, subject to the minimum wage and overtime rules

01-17-2006

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Arnall, Golden & Gregory, L.L.P.

Bill Kitchens Receives Georgia Biomedical Partnership Community Service Award
Bill Kitchens received a Community Services Award at the Georgia Biomedical Partnership (GBP) awards dinner on January 13. He is currently a member of the GBP Board of Directors, and during his tenure, Georgia has risen to the top ten among states in the life sciences industry

01-17-2006

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