Miller Canfield is pleased to announce that Ahmad Chehab and Schuyler Ferguson have joined the firm's Employment and Labor Group.

Chehab joins Miller Canfield from Collins & Blaha in Farmington Hills, Michigan. He represents employers in collective bargaining, labor arbitration, litigation in federal and state courts and in matters before the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. He has experience directing and conducting investigations of employee misconduct and developing and coordinating staff training programs.

Last night, we learned that eight people, including six Asian-American women, were killed in Atlanta. Today, along with many of our AmLaw colleagues, I joined the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s call for a united legal community coming together to reject hate.

I know that in every such instance, there are questions about motive. As with many such tragedies, perhaps the motive will never be known for certain in this case.

We are pleased to welcome commercial real estate attorney LaVon Johns to our Chicago office.

LaVon's practice focuses on real estate transactions, MBE/WBE (minority business enterprise/women's business enterprise) certification and nonprofit law. She will be a key member of Miller Canfield's P3 (public-private partnerships) team and the firm's Real Estate Group.

We are pleased to share that the following six attorneys were elected to principalship at our firm's recent (Virtual) Annual Meeting:

• Eric Bergeron, a member of the firm's Financial Services Group
• Manuel Placencia, a member of the firm's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group
• Justyna Regan, a member of the firm's Corporate and Transactions Group
• Lauren Verbiscus Rowe, a member of the firm's Financial Services Group
• Yuri Shidenko, a member of the firm's Real Estate Group
• James Woolard, a member of the firm's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group

We are pleased to announce that A. Michael Palizzi has been elected by the principals of the firm to serve as one of its five Managing Directors.

Mike co-leads Miller Canfield's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group and leads the firm's Intellectual Property practice. He will serve alongside the firm's other four Managing Directors: Danielle Mason Anderson, who was re-elected this year, Thomas Colis, Scott Eldridge and Amy Johnston.

For the third year in a row, Pawel Chudzicki has been recognized in Chambers & Partners Global Rankings as one of the two U.S. lawyers among Foreign Experts Based Abroad in the area of corporate and commercial law in Qatar.

Chambers & Partners Global rankings recognize foreign experts as those attorneys who have expertise in a different jurisdiction from where they are based, and who are particularly highly regarded for international and cross-border work.

We are pleased to share that Megan Norris will be Miller Canfield's next Chief Executive Officer. View the official announcement here.

"Megan is an exceptional leader who will bring great vision and values to her work as CEO. The firm has benefitted tremendously from her leadership, and we are extraordinarily fortunate to have her serve in this capacity," said Mike McGee, who is stepping down after serving as CEO since 2013.

We are pleased to announce that Andrew Blum has been chosen to serve as the Resident Director of Miller Canfield's Grand Rapids, Michigan, office. 

Andrew is a principal attorney in our Litigation and Dispute Resolution group. He was named the winner of the Samaritas Ambassador Award in 2020, as well as the Grand Rapids Notre Dame Club's 2017 Person of the Year. He is a longtime member and former president of the Notre Dame Club Board of Directors. Blum serves on the Samaritas Board of Directors and is active in the Basilica of St. Adalbert Knights of Columbus, where he serves as an officer, and is the vice chair of the Diocese of Grand Rapids' Diocesan-wide School Board.

Miller Canfield is pleased to announce that nine associate attorneys have joined the firm in six key practice groups: Corporate and Transactions, Employment and Labor, Energy and Environmental, Financial Institutions, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, and Real Estate. Miller Canfield's new associates are:

Joanna Dreaver, Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group, Troy, Michigan. She comes to the firm after working as a contract attorney at Perdue Law Group in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 2015, Dreaver was a summer intern for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judge Helene White. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and earned her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the University of Michigan.

Congratulations to Kimberly Berger, who was named among Michigan Lawyers Weekly's inaugural Go-To Business Lawyers.

Berger is an intellectual property attorney and is part of Miller Canfield's core team that manages a trademark docket of more than 4,000 pending and registered marks in 146 countries.

She represents some of the world's most well-known and respected brands. She has extensive knowledge in her niche practice of trademark enforcement and prosecution, including assisting companies with the selection of relevant trademarks and slogans, obtaining protection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and taking action against infringers.