Obituary: Michael E. Scharrer, 71
The Frankenmuth attorney was employed by General Motors for 53 years and ran a general practice in Birch Run.
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Divorce lawyers tell Supreme Court why ‘value-added’ fees are allowed
Attorneys should be able to collect value-added fees at the end of a divorce case because the client can always reject them, practitioners told the high court. But the Attorney Grievance Commission maintained they are unethical contingency fees.
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Attorneys tell Supreme Court: ‘Disfavoring’ unpublished opinions is a bad idea
Amending the Michigan Court Rules to “disfavor” using unpublished opinions in appellate briefs will have many unintended — and negative — consequences, lawyers from across the state told the justices at a recent public hearing.
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Professional Responsibility – Client file transfer did not end firm’s legal representation
A law firm’s transfer of client files to another attorney did not end the firm’s legal representation because additional “professional services” were performed and billed after the transfer.
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Obituaries: John H. Bauckham, Ann Kavanaugh Mandt, Howard J. Osborn, Edward E. Schilling
Bauckham helped establish the Michigan Townships Association, Mandt was a registered nurse who handled medical-malpractice cases, Osborn patented the first hang glider, and Schilling was a patent attorney for Dow Chemical.
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GM will reportedly be fined $1 billion for deadly ignition switch
As part of an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York, GM will reportedly be charged with two felonies.
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Attorney not entitled to 1/3 of other lawyer’s million-dollar settlement
A lawyer cannot collect a $135,000 referral fee from a fellow attorney’s $1 million-plus settlement because, while the two practitioners discussed a fee, they never contractually agreed on the exact amount, says a Kent County judge.
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Obituaries: Hon. Hudson E. Deming, Hon. Myrtis McDonald Lowery, Howard J. Osborn, Edward E. Schilling, George Demetrios Spanos
Deming was an Eaton County circuit judge; Lowery was the first woman to sit on the Midland County Probate Court; Osborn patented the first hang glider; Schilling was a patent attorney with Dow Chemical; and Spanos was a partner at Burns and Spanos in Petoskey.
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Civil rights attorney named Woman of the Year
The Detroit lawyer whose four-year legal battle led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic June 2015 same-sex marriage decision was named Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2015 “Woman of the Year.”
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Civil Procedure – Treble damages for conversion of attorney’s fees is jury issue
A jury could award treble damages under Michigan’s conversion statute if it finds that the plaintiffs’ former attorney acted with “willful misconduct” by charging fees in excess of the parties’ retainer agreement .
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