The State Bar of Michigan Young Lawyers Section will present Katherine Marcuz with the Regeana Myrick Outstanding Young Lawyer Award on Saturday, April 29, at Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville.

Marcuz is an appellate attorney at the State Appellate Defender Office and principal attorney for the Appellate Investigation Project, an innovative collaboration between SADO and the Michigan Assigned Appellate Counsel System to provide MAACS roster attorneys with greater access to investigators and training on spotting and litigating extra-record issues in need of expert witnesses. Prior to beginning her work at SADO in 2012, Marcuz clerked for Hon. Catherine Easterly of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Prior to becoming an attorney she worked as a high school English teacher in Brooklyn, New York. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College, a master’s degree in education from Brooklyn College and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

The Young Lawyers Section also named two finalists for the Regeana Myrick Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Ryan Berman runs his own law firm in Bloomfield Hills, working on international business law, real property law and criminal law. He is also a licensed real estate salesperson, mediator, political consultant, law enforcement trainer, reserve police officer, charter member of the International Law Enforcement Educators & Trainers Association and a judge for the Michigan High School Mock Trial Tournament. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and Wayne State University Law School. Abril Valdes is an attorney with Clement and Hurst in Troy, focusing her practice on immigration, family law and criminal defense. She serves as secretary of the Hispanic Bar Association of Michigan, director of membership for the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Wayne Region and a Barristers Board member of the Detroit Bar Association. She is a graduate of California State University and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

The award is named for Regeana Myrick, who was a very active member of the SBM Young Lawyers Section Executive Council when she died in 1997. It is presented annually to a young lawyer in Michigan who has demonstrated many of her best qualities, including an overwhelming commitment to public service, exemplary service to the State Bar, and exceptional professional accomplishments.

The Outstanding Young Lawyer Award will be presented as part of the SBM Young Lawyers Section 10th Annual Summit. The Summit contains a full day of seminars that will cover substantive and skill-based tracks on such topics as family law, civil rights law, insurance law, mediation, trial skills and advocacy, practice management and client development. It will also feature a keynote address from Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Markman.

For more information about the Summit, visit connect.michbar.org/yls/home or contact Shenique Moss at sheniquemoss@gmail.com.

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The State Bar of Michigan will present “Tips and Tools for a Successful Practice” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2, at the State Bar’s Michael Franck Building in downtown Lansing.

The semi-annual seminar features presentations on how to maintain mutually beneficial client relationships, draft effective fee agreements, manage lawyer trust accounts, analyze ethical issues, and use innovative techniques and technology for law office management. The seminar presents an excellent opportunity for solo practitioners and new lawyers to obtain ethical guidance and practical information from colleagues who have successfully implemented law office management techniques and utilized economically-priced technology to improve the efficiency of their law practices.

Registration costs $100 for lawyers who have been in practice for less than five years and $125 for those who have practiced law for five years or more. The registration fee includes seminar materials, a continental breakfast and buffet lunch. To view the agenda or make a reservation, visit http://www.michbar.org/tipstools. The registration deadline is Friday, April 28.

For more information contact Karen Spohn with the State Bar of Michigan Professional Standards Division at kspohn@mail.michbar.org or (517) 346-6309.

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Lakeshore Legal Aid and the City of Detroit Clean Slate Project will host an expungement fair to help low-income people expunge their non-violent criminal records in order to get jobs. The fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 6 at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, located at 2080 W. Grand Blvd. in Detroit. 

If you're an attorney in the metropolitan Detroit area, they need your help. They're expecting about 1,500 people to attend the fair and they will all need help learning if they are legally eligible for expungements. If they are eligible, they'll then need help preparing State Court Administrative Office pleadings. 

No prior experience in handling expungements is necessary, and you can sign up to participate in all or part of the day. You will NOT leave with cases. You WILL leave having participated in a very meaningful pro bono experience. 

For more information or to sign up to participate, contact Lynda Krupp at lkrupp@lakeshorelegalaid.org. 

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We at the State Bar of Michigan want to help low income people get answers to their pressing legal questions. 

In order to accomplish that goal, we're launching mi.freelegalanswers.org, a pro bono website that is beginning in Genesee County that we hope will expand across the state, and will make it very easy for attorneys to provide quick, correct answers to the important and urgent questions of low income people. 

We're working on this project in collaboration with Legal Services of Eastern Michigan, the Genesee County Bar Association and the American Bar Association. 

In order to get this project up and running we need attorneys in Genesee County to sign up and participate. Once you sign up, you decide where and when you'll participate. You do not have to meet any time commitments. And clients will be given the understanding that you will not go to court with them or prepare any paperwork for them. By participating in the program, you will be provided with free malpractice coverage for legal guidance you provide via mi.freelegalanswers.org. 

To find out more about how mi.freelegalanswers.org works, watch this short video. For more information, visit attorney FAQs or email freelegalanswers@mail.michbar.org. 

If you're ready to join us, visit mi.freelegalanswers.org and click "Get Started." 

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The State Bar of Michigan mourns the loss of its 36th president, Charles W. Joiner, who died March 10 at the age of 101.

A 1939 graduate of the University of Iowa Law School, Joiner was elected president of the State Bar of Michigan from 1970-1971. He had a long and distinguished legal career in the Ann Arbor area, after first serving as an aviation cadet, flight instructor, pilot and crew commander of a B-29 bomber squadron in the Pacific during World War II, and then served as an attorney with the firm Miller, Huebner, and Miller in Des Moines. In 1947 he and his family moved to Ann Arbor where he practiced law and served on the city council from 1955-1959.

In the 1960s Joiner organized and directed a group of attorneys in drafting a complete revision of the 40-year-old Procedural Statutes and Rules for Michigan’s state courts, and then led the successful drive for their enactment. He served as director of the Preparatory Commission and director of Research and Drafting for the 1961-62 Michigan Constitutional Convention. United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren tapped him to help author the proposal that resulted in the Uniform Rules of Evidence for the federal court system, and Joiner helped advocate for its adoption. Chief Justice Warren also recruited Joiner to serve on the Civil Rules Advisory Committee, the Standing Committee on Civil Rules of the Judicial Conference and the Committee to Review Circuit Council Conduct and Disability Orders.

Joiner served for nine years on the American Bar Association Committee on Ethics, served as chair of the ABA Committee on Specialization and also served as chair of the SBM Privacy Committee. He was named by Governor William Milliken as a commissioner of Uniform State Laws. He also served as a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where he founded the Advocacy Institute for Continuing Education for lawyers, and he also served as associate dean and then acting dean. He then served as dean of Wayne State University Law School until 1972, when he was appointed a district judge for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, where he served until 1984. He then served by invitation on the U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit bench, taking about a one third load. He authored six books and many articles for law reviews and bar journals. He was an active member of the American Law Institute, American Judicature Society Board of Directors, American Bar Foundation Fellows chair, and a Life Member of the NAACP.

Joiner is survived by his wife of 72 years, Anna Helen Martin Joiner, and three children, Charles Joiner Jr. (Katherine) of Greenville, SC; Nancy Bidlack (Stan), of Pinckney; and Richard Joiner, of Madisonville, KY; as well as seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. His favorite personal pastime was golf, and he enjoyed a round almost every day until he was 96. He and his wife enjoyed nature, new spring flowers and the greenness of the grass each spring.

Memorial services have been held. Memorial contributions may be made to North Methodist Church of Naples, 6000 Goodlette-Frank Rd., Naples, Fla. 34109. To view or contribute online condolences, visit http://fullernaples.com.

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The State Bar of Michigan Young Lawyers Section will host its 10^th Annual Summit April 28–29 at Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville.

The Summit will feature a special keynote address by new Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Markman, and two educational programming tracks. The Professional and Business Development Track will include the following educational seminars: “Beyond LinkedIn: How to Build a Powerful Professional Network on Social Media,” “Rainmaking: Much More than Simply Making Money,” “Cut the Fat: Use Lean to Improve Efficiency, Reduce Cost & Return Respect for People to Your Legal Practice,” “The Professional Professional: Cultivating an Image for an Entire Career and Beyond,” & “Becoming an Articulate Advocate: Strategies for Powerful Public Speaking in and out of Court.”

The Litigation Boot Camp Track will include the following educational seminars: “Write Like the Best: A Hands-on Editorial Session,” “Evidence Jeopardy:  Enhancing Your on-the-Spot Evidence Knowledge in a Fun-Not-Painful-Way!,” “The Anatomy of the Ultimate Trial Notebook: from Case Screening to Verdict,” “Perfecting the Art of Voir Dire: Selecting the Best Jurors for Your Case,” and “Trial No Error: Tips on Trial Strategy.”

The Summit will also feature many networking opportunities, including a welcome reception at 7:00 p.m. on April 28, and morning exercise classes, breakfast, a keynote luncheon, and dinner on April 29. 

Young Lawyer Section members who register for the Summit before April 14 will pay $45, and the cost rises to $60 after April 14. For more information about the Summit, visit connect.michbar.org/yls or contact Shenique Moss at sheniquemoss@gmail.com.

A block of rooms is being held at Crystal Mountain Resort until March 29. Reserve your hotel room at Crystal Mountain Resort online or by calling (855) 520-2974 and using the group code 4617RV.

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The State Bar of Michigan invites all law firms of two or more attorneys to apply for the 2017 Pro Bono Circle of Excellence, recognizing each firm that fully complied with the State Bar’s Voluntary Pro Bono Standard in 2016. The application deadline is April 7.

The Voluntary Pro Bono Standard applies to legal services for low-income individuals and organizations, as well as financial support for eligible nonprofit organizations providing free civil legal aid for the poor. Contributions to the Access to Justice Fund count toward fulfilling the Standard.

The Standard calls for attorneys to annually take three pro bono cases, devote at least thirty hours of pro bono service, or contribute $300 to a legal aid provider organization. Firms that can afford to do so are asked to make annual financial contributions of $500 per attorney and are recognized at the “Leadership Level” of the Circle of Excellence. Individual lawyers who meet the Pro Bono Standard are celebrated locally through their Access to Justice programs, and through the State Bar of Michigan’s A Lawyer Helps website.

“Last year there were a record 56 firms and corporations in the Circle of Excellence in its newly redesigned format,” SBM President Larry Nolan said. “I want to extend congratulations to all firms who have met these impressive standards and joined the State Bar in our pro bono efforts. I also want to encourage even more firms to get involved and help us build momentum and make an even bigger difference for those in need.”

Fill out a Circle of Excellence application form. For more information, contact Robert Mathis at rmathis@mail.michbar.org.

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The State Bar of Michigan Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program will host a training program for providers called, "The Digital Age's Public Health Crisis: Sex and Porn Addiction," at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 17 at the State Bar of Michigan Michael Franck Building, located at 306 Townsend St. in Lansing. 

Kenneth M. Adams, Ph.D., CSAT-S will present the $99 training, which will allow those in attendance to earn three CAC-related credits. Any provider on the SBM preferred provider list or anyone interested in being added to the list is welcome to attend, but must register by March 10. There are only 20 spots available for the training on a first-come-first-serve basis and no on-site registrations will be allowed.

Read more information or register for the program. 

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