legal news

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Washtenaw County
LEGAL NEWS
—A Detroit Legal News Publication
Vol. 9 , No. 57
PAID
ANN ARBOR, MI
PERMIT NO. 152
legalnews.com
Thursday, August 22, 2013
50¢
NEWSPAPER OF RECORD SERVING THE BUSINESS, LEGAL AND FINANCIAL COMMUNITIES OF WASHTENAW COUNTY
Sports agency president
Michigan Legal Help assists
200,000 people in its first year found his perfect job
BY SHEILA PURSGLOVE
Legal News
LiveHelp feature
will begin this fall to
allow visitors to chat
online with staff
When MichiganLegalHelp.org
launched on August 17, 2012,
initial estimates expected around
3,000 visits per week to the legal
information website.
According to Michigan Legal
Help Project Manager Angela
Tripp, this estimate proved too
conservative.
In the second quarter of 2013,
website visitors used the automated interviews to create 7,359
sets of forms, placing Michigan
fifth in the nation among states
using these types of automated
forms.
“We are very gratified that so
many people have turned to the
website for help,” said Tripp.
The Michigan Legal Help
website was created to provide
free legal information to people
who cannot afford to hire an attorney and need to represent themselves in simple legal matters.
The website contains information on many areas of law in the
form of articles, toolkits, forms
and instructional checklists to
help prepare people who represent themselves in court. Many
court forms can be completed
using a simple question and
answer interview format.
“We are very
gratified that so
many people have
turned to the
website for help.”
—Michigan Legal
Help Project Manager
Angela Tripp
The website can also help
users look for a lawyer in their
area if they need more assistance,
and includes information about
legal self-help centers and local
community services as well as
details about the court where a
website visitor’s legal issue may
be handled.
The Michigan Legal Help
Program is the culmination of
several years of work by the
Solutions on Self-Help Task
Force, which was established in
2010 by (then) Michigan
Supreme Court Chief Justice
Marilyn Kelly to improve and
coordinate resources for self-represented persons. More than 100
individuals participated in the
Task Force’s work, reflecting
input from judges, bar associations, legal aid, local self-help
centers, libraries and others.
Many of these groups continue to
collaborate with the effort which
is managed by a nonprofit organization, Michigan Poverty Law
Program, based in Ann Arbor.
The Michigan Legal Help
Program plans to expand to cover
more areas of law especially
needed by low-income persons.
In addition, a LiveHelp feature
will be launched this fall
enabling website visitors to chat
online with navigators who can
help them find what they need on
the website.
An updated mobile version of
the site will be available in September. And much of the content
will soon be available in Spanish.
Questions or requests for
other information can be directed to Tripp on the website.
Building a sports agency
from the ground floor, recruiting
clients, negotiating contracts and
understanding collective bargaining agreements – not your
usual topics for a law school
class.
But students in the Sports
Law class at the University of
Detroit Mercy School of Law
enjoyed the learning opportunity
from attorney Storm Kirschenbaum, a certified MLBPA player
agent and president of Metis
Sports Management in Birmingham, specializing in baseball and
NFL benefit matters.
“I’ve been approached on
several occasions to teach sports
law at UDM Law, but it was diff icult to f ind time with my
volatile schedule as an agent,”
says Kirschenbaum, a 2003
graduate of the law school,
where he served three terms as
president of the Entertainment
and Sports Law Society.
While Kirschenbaum enjoys
going to work every day and
having a passion for his craft, he
advises it’s not an easy field to
break into.
“The most challenging aspect
is the competition and lack of
jobs in the industry,” he says.
“It’s a ‘who you know’ business
and making contacts while in
school will certainly help your
career path. I encourage all my
students and interns to make an
effort in making contacts with
anyone in this field, because you
Storm Kirschenbaum
never know when an opening
may occur.”
Getting experience as an
attorney in others areas of law
before embracing a focus on getting a job in sports law is important, he notes.
“If you can become an expert
in labor law, malpractice law or
other areas it can open a door
into a company looking for
someone that has specific skills
outside just the area of sports.”
But for Kirschenbaum, there
was never any doubt of his
career path. A star baseball player at Birmingham Groves High
School, he was named to the
USA Today All-American Team,
and was All-State, and Michigan
High School Baseball Coaches
Association “Dream Team.”
He followed this with a
scholarship from No. 1 ranked
See GAME, Page 2
YOUNG?LAWYERS
Michigan Law alum delves into food tech
2008 grad shows
there is more than
one way to use a
law degree
BY JENNY WHALEN
Michigan Law
In Josh Tetrick's case, it was the law
degree that came before the egg.
A 2008 Michigan Law graduate,
Tetrick has since trekked the globe in
search of solutions to some of the
world's greatest problems, from climate change and education inequality
to unsustainable farming and global
hunger.
It was this passion for meaningful
change—and a diagram drawn one day
at Michigan Law—that led Tetrick to
his current endeavor: food technology.
The founder and CEO of Hampton
Creek Foods, a food tech company
specializing in the development of
plant-based eggs, Tetrick is a selfdescribed social entrepreneur who
thinks like a lawyer.
"A social entrepreneur is someone
who sees that in order to solve some of
our world's most pressing problems,
you can approach those needs from a
business perspective," Tetrick explains.
"The study of law, and specifically the
education I received at Michigan,
leads to a sharpening of the mind and
the ability to dig deep into a problem
and see where the gaps are."
But before he would lead development of McGuire Woods LLP's global
climate strategy, oversee reform of
Liberia's foreign direct investment
incentive law, or found a food tech
company backed by Bill Gates, Tetrick
was a 1L struggling with the question
that plagues all law students: What
will I do with my degree?
He found his answer in the form of
a quickly sketched diagram.
"I knew I had a passion for the
impact law can have on society, but I
wasn't sure I wanted to practice at a
firm. My first year I remember writing
down on a piece of paper some of the
global challenges—climate change,
hunger, food systems, education
inequality—and in the middle I had
law, with lines going from law to all
the other items. At the bottom, I wrote,
'Understand the connections.'"
By graduation, Tetrick had interSee FOOD, page 2
Photo by Jordan Viola
Josh Tetrick
Page 2, Washtenaw County Legal News
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Food system is broken, Tetrick says
The game is short, but earnings can last a lifetime
From Page 1
From Page 1
preted "connections" to mean an
interdisciplinar y approach.
"Michigan Law really emphasizes a system's thinking
approach," he said. "You're not
lear ning law as an island of
itself. You're learning law in
combination with science, public policy, and entrepreneurship."
While he has since worked
on many of the issues listed in
that first diagram, Tetrick said it
is the field of food technology
that has attracted him as the
ideal platform to have the greatest social and environmental
impact.
"Our food system is broken.
Ineff icient,” Tetrick said. “It's
devastating to the environment
and bad for our health. Our
approach is to use technology to
leap over the older ways of
thinking and develop a new
world of food—a world 10 times
more sustainable and 10 times
more affordable. Our path to do
that is focusing on animal farming and, more specifically, egg
production."
Using plants with the same
functional properties of eggs,
Tetrick's company has developed Beyond Eggs, an egg-substitute with the potential to be
cheaper, safer, more sustainable,
and healthier than real eggs.
And it is Tetrick's law background that keeps his company's
results at the cutting-edge of
intellectual property law and
offers insight to the licensing
negotiations and foreign investment needed to grow.
"A Michigan Law education
gives you the breadth to do a
lot," Tetrick said. "Whether it is
working at a law firm, or starting your own business, by
virtue of going to a place like
Michigan it is almost required
that you think about the greatest
problems and spend time being
engaged and making the world
better."
Office Available
For One Lawyer
In well-appointed suite.
All amenities included.
Ample free parking.
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WASHTENAW COUNTY
LEGAL NEWS
Published every Monday and Thursday by
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University of Florida, and
played his last two seasons at
Long Island University–C.W.
Post (Division I).
He knew going into law
school that he wanted to represent athletes – and was drawn to
the law to better understand the
inner workings of how to negotiate a contract, navigate collective bargaining agreements, and
become familiar in various areas
of law his clients would come
across in their careers.
Kirschenbaum opened Metis
Sports Management in July
2007, after seeing too many stories of athletes losing their fortunes or getting bad advice from
agents that were not looking out
for their client’s best interest.
“We quarterback our clients’
needs by assisting them with
obtaining experts such as, financial planners, accountants, estate
attorneys, so they are set for
life,” he says. “The game is
short, but the money earned during a career can last a lifetime if
properly managed.”
The agency represents close
to 100 athletes, and in the past
four years, has negotiated more
than $30 million in contracts.
Currently, it has had 10 players reach the 40-man Major
League roster this season,
including Philadelphia Phillies’
catcher Erik Kratz, Fernando
Rodriguez of the Oakland Athletics, and flame thrower Jose
Dominguez of the Los Angeles
Dodgers.
With his own sports back-
ground, Kirschenbaum knows
only too well the lofty challenges and amount of time it
takes to become a professional
athlete.
“It’s hard on the family, hard
physically and emotionally on
the client and financially can be
difficult swimming in the minor
leagues waiting for your break,”
he says.
In one challenging case, a
client had tested positive for a
banned substance in the previous
season. Adamant that he never
took anything illegal, he wanted
to appeal his suspension.
“We worked diligently on his
case and were able to find the
laboratory that tested his sample
accidentally made an error and
gave him a false positive result,”
Kirschenbaum says. “He won
his appeal and we became only
the third agency to successfully
appeal a positive drug test.”
Boxing is another sports passion; Kirschenbaum and his
father created the Michigan Boxing Hall of Fame and are seeking
a facility to home the Hall.
“Boxing and Detroit go handin-hand – there are numerous
world champions from Michigan, like Joe Louis, Sugar Ray
Robinson, and Thomas Hearns.”
Despite a hectic schedule,
Kirschenbaum finds time to give
back to the community.
“I’ve enjoyed my experience
serving on the board with the
Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation,” he says.
“We’ve given over a million
dollars to cancer causes and
operate the Hank Greenberg
Golf and Tennis Invitational,
which is one of the finest golf
outings in the country.”
A native of Franklin,
Kirschenbaum and his wife, Dr.
Alison Kirschenbaum, live in
Birmingham with their sons,
Cole, 5, and 2-month-old Blaine.
Kirschenbaum has lived in
Birmingham since moving back
from college 13 years ago.
He also chose to headquarter
Metis in Birmingham, despite
having always been told that to
be an agent he would need to
move to Los Angeles or New
York.
“I’m a f irm believer in the
state of Michigan and the city of
Detroit, which is why I work as
much as possible with firms and
companies locally owned and
operated,” he says.
He coaches Cole’s T-ball
team, and tries to make time for
an occasional round of golf.
“And I’m still active in hockey and softball, however, my
body is refusing to keep up with
me after two ACL surgeries and
a torn labrum,” he says.
Baseball is still his overriding
passion.
“Baseball is in my veins –
there’s no sport that is set up
where you fail more than you
succeed,” he says. “But, failing 7
out of 10 times when you are at
the plate still can land you in the
Hall of Fame. That foundation is
parallel to the agency industry.
We don’t land every client we go
after, but the clients we represent, and enjoy success with,
make the outcome much more
rewarding.”
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Worth NotiNg....
Adams
Boonin
Washtenaw County Legal News, Page 3
Have you or your company been honored?
Email your good news to Jo Mathis at [email protected].
Fransway
Kuehn
Rast
Butzel Long
Five attorneys from the Ann Arbor office of Butzel Long have been chosen by their peers for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers in America 2014.”
They are James C. Adams, real estate law; Robert A. Boonin, employment law – management, and litigation labor and employment; Paul R. Fransway, franchise
law; George E. Kuehn, corporate law; and Claudia Rast, environmental law.
Oberholtzer
Chandler
Sosenko
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Steven L. Oberholtzer and Eric J. Sosenko, shareholders in the Ann Arbor
office of Chicago-based Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, were selected by their
peers for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers in America 2014.”
Additionally, Steve Oberholtzer was named The 2014 Ann Arbor patent law
"Lawyer of the Year."
Oberholtzer is the managing partner of the Ann Arbor office and serves on
the firm’s Board of Directors and was listed in the specialty area of patent law.
Sosenko was listed in his specialty areas of patent law and trademark law, as
well as intellectual property litigation.
Hebert
Stein
Smith Haughey
Smith Haughey has announced that three Ann Arbor attorneys have been
named a “Best Lawyer in America 2014.”
They are Cheryl L. Chandler, medical malpractice law-defense; Dale L.
Hebert, medical malpractice law-defense; and Edward R. Stein, personal injury
litigation – defense, and medical malpractice law – defense.
In addition, Stein was listed as “Lawyer of the Year” for personal injury litigation - defense.
Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is
honored as the “Lawyer of the Year.”
WASHTENAW COUNTY
LEGAL NEWS
Ph. 734.477.0201 • Fax 734.477.0345
TO THE LEGAL COMMUNITY:
After 17 years as Senior Assistant City Attorney, Robert West has announced
his intention to retire by December of 2014. As many of you know, Bob is in
charge of the 15th District Court docket, advises the Police Department
about legal issues, and handles civil litigation in state and federal court (primarily those involving governmental immunity and defense of claims against
police officers). Bob has done an excellent job for the City Attorney’s Office.
I have posted a position in the employment section of the City of Ann Arbor’s website and
anticipate interviewing candidates from September through December of 2013. I am looking
for an attorney to start prior to May 1, 2014 and overlap with Mr. West prior to his retirement.
I am looking for someone who wants to become a dedicated public servant and will take
excellent care of the Police Department and the City of Ann Arbor.
Stephen K. Postema
Ann Arbor City Attorney