Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP attorneys Robert M. Riley and Andrew M. Pauwels recently helped a father fend off a challenge that could have usurped his parental rights to his child. The pair, through an amicus curiae brief as pro bono counsel to the Legal Services Association of Michigan (LSAM), successfully petitioned the Michigan Supreme Court not to hear an adoption proceeding denial from the Michigan Court of Appeals. Had the high court heard the case, the father’s rights may have been in jeopardy.

The case concerned a father attempting to establish and maintain parenthood of a child whose grandparents petitioned the court to adopt. As counsel to LSAM, the Honigman attorneys were charged with promoting the mission of the organization to protect the rights of low-income families, parents, and children in family law cases where a parent’s constitutional right to custody of a child is at stake.

The 35th Judicial Circuit Court of Shiawassee County first ruled that through DNA evidence, paternity of the father was proven. As such, it dismissed the adoption proceeding. The grandparents of the child appealed the decision to the Court of Appeals, which upheld the circuit court’s ruling. The grandparents then appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, which found that the case did not merit review.

Riley is a member of Honigman’s Litigation Department. His multi-disciplinary litigation experience includes complex commercial litigation, commercial transactions, shareholder disputes, corporate restructuring, and corporate bankruptcy. He earned a J.D., cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School, an MBA, with high distinction, from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Pauwels also is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department and focuses his practice on assisting with complex commercial litigation matters. He earned a J.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and a B.A. in American studies from the University of Notre Dame.

—Benjamin Ensroth, Robert Mathis, and Lynn Ingram contributed to this story.