Butzel Long attorney Jennifer Dukarski will discuss self-driving cars during the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in July

ANN ARBOR, Mich. –  Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Jennifer Dukarski will be a featured panelist during the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing Seminars (MBS) 2018 in Traverse City this summer. She will participate in a panel program on July 30 titled, “Will Your Self-driving Car Need a License?” Eric Paul Dennis, Center for Automotive Research), will serve as moderator. Other panelists include: Bryant Walker Smith, University of South Carolina and David Strickland, Self-driving Coalition for Safer Streets.

Dukarski focuses her practice at the intersection of technology and communications with an emphasis on emerging and disruptive issues: digital media, cybersecurity, infotainment, vehicle safety and connected and autonomous cars. 

In her practice, she has negotiated contracts for autonomous vehicle components, reviewed contracts involving wireless updates to in-vehicle technology, assisted companies in achieving successful Petitions for Inconsequential Noncompliance with NHTSA and has addressed multiple vehicle component recalls. Dukarski has become a national leader in legal issues facing emerging automotive technology and is the leader of Butzel Long’s connected car working group.  She also has spearheaded the reporting efforts for two national data breaches and focuses on the threat vectors facing automotive component design. 

A self-titled “recovering engineer,” Dukarski serves as Counsel to the OESA’s Product Development Council and has spoken on First Amendment issues ranging from newsgathering in the digital age to the impact of the FBI iPhone strategy.  She has been a panelist at the North American International Auto Show for the last two years, covering a broad variety of legal concerns focused on the autonomous and connected car.  She has appeared on several television programs, including Autoline and AutoBeat, and in many print interviews (including CIO Magazine, PC World, Bridge Magazine, Computer World and Automotive News) discussing automotive technology and its related legal issues.

Prior to joining Butzel, she gained automotive manufacturing and design experience as a result of high-level quality management and engineering positions.  She has worked extensively on successful automotive product launches, managing vendors and Tier One manufacturing facilities.  A Six Sigma Master Black Belt, she applies her experience to create innovative approaches to the protection of IP assets and disruptive technology. 

Dukarski has experience with field recalls and was a representative to the University of Michigan’s CIREN (Crash Injury Research & Engineering Network) and UMPIRE (University of Michigan Program for Injury Research and Education).  Working as a design engineer, she received multiple Record of Invention Awards for contributions to patents and trade secrets. 

Notably, Dukarski has attained the distinction of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Senior member status, the highest grade for which IEEE members can apply.

Further, she was named a “2016 Honoree for Michigan Women in the Law” by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. She also is among Michigan Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” and DBusiness “Top Lawyers.”  She is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).  She is the IEEE Southeastern Michigan Vehicle Technology Society Treasurer and serves as a Working Group member with IEEE PAR 1912 (Privacy and Security Architecture for Consumer Wireless Devices) which is focused on setting standards for privacy and security protocols.  She also coaches and mentors’ women engineers.

At the same time, she is a co-Chair of the Women in Communication Law committee of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Forum on Communications Law and serves on the Forum’s Governing Committee. Moreover, Dukarski is an adjunct professor in the Paralegal Program, teaching Intellectual Property at Baker College. 

She is a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2010). She’s also a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy College of Engineering and Science, (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, summa cum laude, 1996).