Butzel names Co-Managing Shareholders for firm’s Lansing office
LANSING, Mich. – Butzel has appointed attorneys Aaron L. Davis and James J. Urban Co-Managing Shareholders for the firm’s Lansing office. They are responsible for the day-to-day operations of Butzel’s Lansing office. Butzel is a full-service law firm.
Aaron L. Davis
Aaron Davis has significant experience representing employers on all matters impacting their employees under federal and state labor and employment laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). He also has experience representing clients in union representation, labor arbitrations, collective bargaining and litigation before the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC).
He devotes a portion of his practice to the representation of State of Michigan Non-Exclusively Represented Employees (NERE) through the Michigan State Civil Service appeal process. He has successfully represented clients in front of the Michigan Employment Relations Board and appeals up to the Michigan Civil Service Commission.
Davis routinely counsels employers on employment disputes and day-to-day employee issues prior to the commencement of litigation. He frequently consults with and trains employers on employment practices and policies, to include the handling of employee separations, workplace investigations, disciplinary matters, wage and hour issues, requests for accommodation and leaves of absence.
He serves on the HR Committee for the Capital Region Community Foundation and previously served as the Co-Chair of the Ingham County Bar Association’s Section of Employment and Labor Law.
Davis earned a J.D. from The University of Illinois-Chicago School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from Michigan State University.
James J. Urban
James J. Urban has concentrated his practice in the representation of infrastructure contractors and their trade associations for more than 25 years. He has extensive experience representing infrastructure contractors in the public and private sectors in a wide variety of challenges facing those contractors.
Urban has handled and resolved construction disputes throughout Michigan and in Indiana, Ohio, Florida, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas and Canada for Butzel’s infrastructure contractor clients. He also has served as an arbitrator and as a mediator in construction disputes on both public and private projects.
His experience in representing construction industry trade associations is equally broad and has put him at the forefront of significant developments affecting the infrastructure construction industry in Michigan. Among the most notable of those developments, he served as lead counsel in the historic merger of the Michigan Roadbuilders Association and the Associated Underground Contractors Association which formed the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association (MITA).
Urban is a frequent speaker on public works contracting and construction law at construction industry events and has published numerous articles on those subjects. He has served as industry counsel to the government-industry committee involved in the redrafting of MDOT’s Standard Specifications for Construction, 1996, 2003, 2012, and 2020 Editions.
He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the ABA Construction Law Forum, the Ingham County Bar Association and is a former member of the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Association. He is admitted to practice in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and in the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan. Prior to entering private practice, he was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Livingston County, Michigan.
Urban has been listed in Michigan Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America for Construction Litigation, 2007 – 2022 and was named Lansing Construction Litigation Law Lawyer of the Year in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 by Best Lawyers. He also has been listed in DBusiness Top Lawyers in Metro Detroit, Construction Litigation, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
He is a graduate of Thomas M. Cooley Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1982) and Michigan State University (B.A., 1977).
