Lunch with a Lawyer

The Lunch with a Lawyer program hosts attorneys, judges, and business leaders (many of whom are Detroit Mercy Law alumni) who visit with students over lunch or late afternoon hors d'oeuvres. The number of students at each event is limited in order to give all students who participate an opportunity for truly meaningful interaction and conversation with our guests.

Some of our recent Lunch with a Lawyer guests include:

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    James A. Hiller '73

    Jim Hiller ran a successful supermarket chain for more than 25 years before recently selling his stores to Kroger. He is the managing partner of Hiller Consulting Group LLC which provides guidance to entrepreneurs. He will be joined by his Consulting Partner, Yelizaveta Svidler, who will address newly immigrated Americans and their particular required nuances to success.
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    Dennis L. Dabney '00

    Dennis Dabney is Senior Vice President, National Labor Relations and Office of Labor Management Partnership (OLMP),  for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA. Kaiser Permanente is the country’s largest not-for-profit health maintenance organization with approximately $50 billion in annual revenue. He previously held senior human resources positions with FirstEnergy Corp. in Akron, OH, DTE Energy in Detroit, and ThyssenKrupp – The Budd Company in Troy, MI. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Mercy Law Alumni Association.
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    Martin Sultana '06

    Martin Sultana is a shareholder at Brooks Kushman in Southfield and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. His practice involves counseling clients from small startups to Fortune 500 based corporations on a number of intellectual property matters, with an emphasis on patent preparation, patent prosecution, and opinion related work.
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    Fredrick V. Owens '96

    Fred Owens is the Director of Global Patents for Harman International in Dearborn, MI. Harman designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions, and connected services. He previously worked in the legal department of Ford Motor Co.
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    Michael J. Sullivan '83

    Michael Sullivan is the President and co-managing shareholder of Collins Einhorn Farrell PC in Southfield, MI. He has more than 30 years of litigation experience. In the professional liability arena, he has represented attorneys, physicians, accountants, architects, engineers, real estate appraisers, real estate brokers, and title agents in defense of significant claims involving personal injury, property damage, and business loss. He also has substantial experience in product liability litigation. He maintains an active general civil litigation practice, including business disputes, insurance disputes, and personal injury defense. In the field of business litigation, he represents parties to commercial disputes, including tier one and tier two automotive suppliers in disputes with vendors and purchasers.
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    Steven D. Sallen '84

    Steven Sallen began his career at Maddin, Hauser, Roth & Heller in 1983 as a law clerk. Today, he is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the firm. Mr. Sallen received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, and his law degree, cum laude, from University of Detroit School of Law, where he served as Case and Comment Editor of the University of Detroit Law Review.

    Sallen concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate law, environmental law, and corporate law, and his clients include some of Michigan’s most successful manufacturing firms, real estate developers, general contractors, commercial real estate brokers, and environmental consulting firms. He is also the head of Maddin Hauser’s Environmental Law Practice Group and co-chair of the Real Estate Practice Group.

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    Bob Abramson '05

    Bob Abramson is a shareholder at the law firm of Kopka, Pinkus, Dolin in the Farmington Hills office. He concentrates his practice in insurance defense related to automobile personal injury and benefits claims. He was promoted to equity partner in just five years, and he has brought in more than $1 million of business to his firm. He is the author of the best-selling book, Wow Your Clients. How to Land Clients and Build Long-Lasting Relationships. This is a guide for lawyers who want to learn how to become successful rainmakers. Before entering law school, he was an award-winning author and sports writer for USA Today, Gannett News Service, the Ann Arbor News, and the Wolverine Magazine.
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    Wendy McIntyre '95

    Wendy McIntyre is the Vice President, General Counsel – Enterprise Operations, Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer for ITC Holdings Corp.in Novi. In her position, she assumes leadership and responsibility for the company’s corporate compliance program. She is also responsible for managing holding company legal matters, including public company SEC and NYSE compliance and reporting, securities and financing activities, shareholder services and equity administration, development and transactional work, human resources matters, and lobbying and PAC compliance/administration. ITC is the largest independent electricity transmission company in the country, operating in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and portions of Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
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    Elishiva Mosko '09

    Elishiva Mosko received a B.A. from James Madison College, Michigan State University. While at MSU, she studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, where she also interned with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Social Justice Unit. After graduation, she spent six weeks performing volunteer services in the Northern Volta Region of Ghana.

    Ms. Mosko worked at Justice for Our Neighbors–Southeastern Michigan where she served as the Regional Attorney, providing free legal immigration services to the southeastern Michigan immigrant community. During this time, she represented hundreds of clients from all over the world on a wide range of immigration legal issues. She later worked as counsel with the law firm of Ellis Porter, PLC, specializing in family-based immigration law, naturalization, inadmissibility, removability, and humanitarian forms of relief for immigrants. She then formed her own practice, Mosko Law, to continue with these specialty areas.

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    Florence Schoenherr-Warnez '57 and Dana M. Warnez '96

    This mother/daughter alumnae duo practice together at the firm they founded in Center Line, Schoenherr, Cahill & Warnez, PC. They concentrate their practice in Probate & Estate Planning, Family Law, Real Property Law, Elder Law & Disability Rights, LGBTQA Law, American Indian Law, and Military and Veterans’ Law. Dana Warnez holds senior leadership roles with the State Bar of Michigan and the Macomb County Bar Association. Her mother, who was one of only four women in her law school class, is celebrating her 60th anniversary of her law school graduation and continues to work daily.
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    Genelle Allen '85

    Genelle Allen is the Chief Operating Officer/Assistant County Executive for Wayne County. In this position, she oversees all internal operations for various County departments/divisions. She previously served as Vice President of a transportation firm and as Deputy Director and Interim CEO of the Wayne County Airport Authority.
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    Charles Gross '81

    Charles Gross is a sole practitioner in Tecumseh and has the most comprehensive real estate practice in Lenawee County. While earning his law degree in the evening program at Detroit Mercy, he was an Assistant Vice President for First Federal of Michigan’s mortgage and legal department.