Miller Canfield Expands Corporate and Securities Practice with Addition of Attorneys Kinnie Smith and Mike VanHemert
Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. announces it has added two prominent corporate attorneys to its Detroit office. S. Kinnie Smith, Jr. joins the firm as senior counsel after serving most recently as vice chairman and general counsel of CMS Energy Corporation and vice chairman of Consumers Energy. Also, Michael D. VanHemert has joined Miller Canfield as a principal from CMS Energy and Consumers Energy where he most recently was vice president, deputy general counsel, and chief governance officer.
“Kinnie Smith and Mike VanHemert bring nearly 75 years’ combined experience to the firm,” said Thomas W. Linn, CEO of Miller Canfield. “Dedicated corporate lawyers, their backgrounds in securities, finance, energy and public utilities law, when combined with their cutting-edge expertise in compliance, governance and crisis-management matters, are unrivaled in Michigan.”
Smith has been practicing law for over 50 years, focusing on corporate compliance and governance, securities, mergers and acquisitions, utility and energy law. He has provided testimony before the United States Senate and House, state and national commissions and other public utility organizations relating to the restructuring of the natural gas and electric power industries.
He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, Illinois Bar Association, and Chicago Bar Association. His J.D. is from the University of Wisconsin where he was a member of the Order of the Coif, and his B.A. is from Yale University, with distinction, in Economics. He resides in the city of Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
VanHemert has 23 years’ experience in banking, corporate governance, executive compensation, finance, securities, and mergers and acquisitions. He has the distinction of being named by the CMS Energy Board of Directors to the newly created positions of chief governance officer (in 2006) and chief compliance officer (in 2003), which were formed during periods of significant challenge for the company. He also served as in-house counsel and assistant corporate secretary at NBD Bancorp during its period of significant interstate growth via mergers and acquisitions.
He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and Massachusetts Bar Association. He earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan School of Law, and a B.A. from Hope College. He resides in Northville, Michigan.
The 350-attorney law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C. was established in Detroit in 1852 and has offices in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Howell, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Monroe, Saginaw, and Troy, Michigan. Other offices are located in New York City, Naples and Pensacola, Florida, Windsor, Ontario, and in Gdynia, Warsaw, and Wroclaw, Poland