Butzel Long elects shareholders to the firm’s Board of Directors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

DETROIT, Mich. – Butzel Long has elected the following shareholders to serve a two-year term on the firm’s Board of Directors: Richard B. Brosnick, W. Patrick Dreisig, Cynthia J. Haffey and James E. Wynne. Other Butzel Long Board members include: Justin G. Klimko, Mark T. Nelson and Louis Theros.

Richard B. Brosnick

Mr. Brosnick is a shareholder, vice president and director of Butzel Long’s New York office. He concentrates his practice in the areas of financial services and securities litigation, antitrust litigation and counseling, commercial contract litigation, white collar crime, intellectual property and employment law.

He has successfully represented a broad range of U.S. and international clients in a wide variety of commercial litigations involving a wide variety of industries, including financial services, high tech, medical equipment, industrials, pharmaceuticals, software, electronics, telecommunications, and retail.

Mr. Brosnick attended New York University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, 1996 and Columbia University, B.A., 1992.

W. Patrick Dreisig

Mr.  Dreisig is a shareholder and vice president practicing in Butzel Long’s Bloomfield Hills office. He is co-chair of the firm’s Finance Committee and Global Automotive Industry Group and a member of the firm’s Business Law Practice.

He focuses his practice in general business law and transactional matters, including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, recapitalizations, debt and equity finance transactions, venture capital transactions, supply agreements, intellectual property development and licensing transactions, customer and supplier workouts, entity selection and formation, corporate governance and business succession.

Mr. Dreisig practices extensively within the automotive supplier industry. He is highly experienced in representing automotive suppliers in structuring and negotiating long term supply and other commercial arrangements with automotive manufacturers and other suppliers. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Dreisig received his B.A. degree, with distinction, from the University of Michigan in 1974 and his J.D. degree from Wayne State University in 1977, where he served as an editor of the Wayne Law Review in 1976-77.

Cynthia J. Haffey

Ms. Haffey is a shareholder and vice president practicing in Butzel Long’s Detroit office. She represents corporations, limited liability companies and partnerships in complex disputes involving a wide range of corporate and commercial matters. She regularly appears before the federal and state courts, as well as arbitration tribunals.

She represents clients in cases involving commercial disputes and business litigation, including automotive supply chain disputes, shareholder, partner and owner disputes, corporate mergers, acquisitions and other transaction disputes, fraud and other business torts, sales commission disputes, non-compete agreements and trade secrets, real estate disputes, construction contract disputes, anti-trust, bankruptcy and securities litigation. In addition, Ms. Haffey also has significant experience in advising and defending clients at trial and in arbitration in age, sex, and racial discrimination actions and other wrongful discharge claims.

Ms. Haffey currently serves as the co-chair of the firm's Automotive Practice Group, chair of the firm’s Women’s Initiative Committee and a co-chair of the Federal Bar Association, Eastern District of Michigan Chapter’s Social Justice Committee.

Ms. Haffey is a graduate of Wayne State University Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1997) and Western Michigan University (B.S., magna cum laude, 1980).

James E. Wynne

Mr. Wynne is a shareholder and vice president practicing in Butzel Long’s Detroit office. He has handled commercial and product liability trials and litigation since 1975. He serves as the national trial counsel for several major automotive suppliers, handling cases in a variety of states. 

He has specific experience with specialized personal-injury asbestos litigation in thousands of such cases throughout the United States. He has been involved in several landmark decisions in this area, and serves as a key strategic advisor to several global manufacturing concerns regarding asbestos and toxic tort matters. Mr. Wynne also has substantial experience in computer support for mass tort litigation. 

Mr. Wynne graduated from Michigan State University in 1972 and from the Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1975. He is admitted to practice law in both Michigan and Illinois and in numerous federal courts across the country. Mr. Wynne is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Justin G. Klimko

Mr. Klimko is President of Butzel Long and based in the firm’s Detroit office. He has extensive experience in securities regulation, corporate financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general corporate matters, fields in which he has practiced since 1980. 

Mr. Klimko was recently named a winner of the 2013 Client Choice Awards, presented by the International Law Office (ILO) and Lexology. Mr. Klimko was honored for mergers & acquisitions.

He is a past chair of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. He serves as Chair of the Section’s Corporate Laws Committee, which prepares amendments to Michigan corporate statutes for legislative approval to keep Michigan corporate law current with modern trends and developments.

Mr. Klimko also is a member of the Legal Opinions Committee, the Negotiated Acquisitions Committee and the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee of the American Bar Association.

He is included in the publication The Best Lawyers in America and enjoys an “AV” rating from the Martindale-Hubbell rating system. He is rated one of Michigan's top Corporate/M&A attorneys by Chambers USA Guide of America's Leading Lawyers for Business and is listed in Michigan Super Lawyers (Mergers and Acquisitions). He was the recipient of the 2009 Stephen H. Schulman Outstanding Business Lawyer Award from the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan and Best Lawyers’ 2012 Detroit Governance Law Lawyer of the Year.

Mr. Klimko graduated from Duke University Law School (J.D., with distinction, 1980) and Ohio University (B.A., summa cum laude, 1977).

Mark T. Nelson

Mr. Nelson is a shareholder and vice president practicing in Butzel Long’s Ann Arbor office. He is a seasoned litigator specializing in employment litigation, particularly ERISA litigation as well as trust and estate litigation. Since joining Butzel Long in 1979, Mr. Nelson has represented a multitude of clients in both the public and private sector. He has extensive trial experience in both Federal and State of Michigan courts.

In the employment area, Mr. Nelson has successfully tried contract and discrimination claims to jury verdict he has also defended employers in cases involving ADA, FMLA, COBRA, ERISA (retiree healthcare class actions) and severance pay plans. He is a member of the Litigation and Probate Sections of the American Bar Association and State Bar of Michigan.

Mr. Nelson is an honors graduate of Detroit College of Law (J.D. 1976) and The University of Michigan (B.A. 1973). He has been listed in Best Lawyers, Michigan Super Lawyers and DBusiness Top Lawyers.

Louis Theros

Mr. Theros is a shareholder and vice president with Butzel Long, located in the firm's Detroit office. He concentrates his legal practice in the areas of employment litigation, labor, advising and counseling clients on statutory employment compliance and gaming law. 

Mr. Theros has more than 20 years experience, including first chair trial and appellate responsibilities, in employment discrimination and harassment matters and large class action lawsuits, throughout Michigan and the Midwest. 

He has extensive experience in handling arbitrations arising from collective bargaining disputes and unfair labor practice complaints, and in alternate dispute resolution. Mr. Theros has served as counsel on various traditional labor issues, including organizational campaigns and collective bargaining agreement negotiations and implementation. 

He is listed in Best Lawyers in America and is named in Michigan Super Lawyers, both since 2007. He has received an “AV Preeminent” peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell. 

Mr. Theros is a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law (J.D., 1989), and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan (B.A., 1985). 

About Butzel Long

Established in 1854, Butzel Long is a leading law firm with offices in Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan, New York City, and Washington, D.C., as well as Alliance offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Mexico City and Monterrey. The firm is also a member of the Washington D.C. law firm, Butzel Long Tighe Patton. Butzel Long represents clients from diverse industries on regional, national, and multi-national levels and is a member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 160 independent law firms. Visit the Butzel Long website at www.butzel.com.

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Media Contact: Maribeth Farkas at Caponigro Public Relations Inc.,
(248) 353-3030, ext. 2114