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Michigan State Bar Foundation Elects Officers and Trustees
10/27/03 The Michigan State Bar Foundation has elected Officers and Trustees for 2003-2004. The Foundation is a non-profit corporation, founded by Michigan judges and lawyers in 1947 to support law-related charitable purposes. It currently administers more than $8 million in annual grants to improve the administration of justice and further the delivery of legal services to the poor.  Margaret J. Nichols was elected President of the Foundation. She previously served as Vice President, Vice Chair of the Legal Services Grant Committee, and was elected a Fellow of the Foundation in 1995. Nichols is a shareholder in the Ann Arbor firm of Nichols, Sacks, Slank & Sendelbach, PC, where her practice is devoted entirely to family law, mediation, and arbitration. She received the 2002 Michael Franck Award for outstanding contributions to the profession and the public. Nichols is a past chair of the Washtenaw County Bar Association, past Chair of the State Bar Family Law Section and a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
 Alfred M. Butzbaugh of Butzbaugh & Dewane, PLC, in St. Joseph was elected vice president. He became a Foundation Fellow in 1989 and is currently the Chair of the Michigan State Bar Foundation's Legal Services Grants Committee, which oversees significant grant awards to support civil legal aid for the poor. A former president of the State Bar of Michigan, he helped launch the Access to Justice Campaign to build an endowment and raise other funds for civil legal aid services. Under his leadership, the State Bar received the American Bar Association's Harrison Tweed award for its Access to Justice efforts. Butzbaugh also received the State Bar's highest honor, the Roberts P. Hudson award.
 Lamont Buffington was chosen as Treasurer. He is a senior shareholder in the Detroit firm, Garan Lucow Miller, PC, where his practice focuses on medical malpractice, pharmaceutical and general liability litigation. Elected a Foundation Fellow in 1995, he will now chair the Foundation's Finance Committee. He has been a long-time member of the Foundation's Legal Services Grants Committee. Buffington also served on the State Bar's Board of Commissioners as well as a member of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel. He is also a member of the Association of Defense Trial Counsel, International Association of Defense Counsel, and has served as chair of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association's Public Advisory Committee.
 Stefani Carter was elected Secretary. She is a partner at Hamilton, McDonald & Carter, P.C., in Ann Arbor. She was named a Foundation Fellow in 1999 and is a member of the Foundation's Finance Committee and Legal Services Grants Committee. She was a member of the State Bar's Board of Commissioners and has served on numerous State Bar Committees. Carter is an active member and past president of the Washtenaw County Bar Association, Washtenaw County Trial Lawyers Association, and Vanzetti M. Hamilton Bar Association. She has also served on the Washtenaw County Circuit Court Mediation Committee and has been a faculty member for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education.
Other Trustees recently named to serve on the Foundation's Board of Trustees include: Hon. Victoria A. Roberts, Detroit; Jon R. Muth, Grand Rapids, Julie I. Fershtman, Farmington Hills and Nancy J. Diehl, Detroit. Judge Roberts was commissioned in 1998 to serve as a United State District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan. Prior to that, she was the president of the State Bar of Michigan and has served in many other State Bar leadership roles, including helping to launch the State Bar's Access to Justice Task Force. Jon Muth is a shareholder with Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey, PLC, in Grand Rapids. He is a founder of the Grand Rapids Legal Assistance Center and former chair of the Committee, he was past President of the State Bar of Michigan and he has served on numerous State Bar and American Bar Association Committees. Julie Fershtman is of Counsel with Zausmer, Kaufman, August & Caldwell, P.C., in Farmington Hills. Fershtman is a member of the State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners as well as the Board of Directors of the Oakland County Bar Association. She was Chair of the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly. Nancy Diehl is a chief in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office in Detroit where she is in charge of the Projects in Training Division. Diehl is an ex-officio Foundation Trustee by virtue of her position as President-Elect of the State Bar of Michigan. Diehl is chair of the State Bar's Access to Justice Statewide Campaign Committee to raise resources for civil legal aid. The Fellows of the Michigan State Bar Foundation also elected officers. The Fellows program recognizes outstanding legal ability and community contributions. Fellows help support the Foundation's public service program. Some 1200 Michigan lawyers are Fellows. Honorable Julian A. Cook, Jr., Chairperson has been reelected as Fellows Chair. Judge Cook is Senior Judge in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. Elected Vice Chair was Hon. Hilda R. Gage who serves as a Michigan Court of Appeals Judge in Southfield. Charles R. Rutherford was named as Fellows Secretary in Bloomfield Hills. Rutherford is a member of Dykema Gossett, PLLC in Bloomfield Hills and a past President of the Foundation. Other Foundation Trustees include: Peter H. Ellsworth, Dickinson Wright, PLLC, Lansing; Michael G. Harrison, Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, PC, Lansing; R. Stuart Hoffius, Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett, LLP, Grand Rapids; Hon. Harold Hood, Retired from the Michigan Court of Appeals, Detroit; Jon H. Kingsepp, Howard & Howard, PC, Bloomfield Hills; Hon. William B. Murphy, Michigan Court of Appeals, Grand Rapids; Richard K. Rappleye, The Kresge Foundation, Troy; Richard A. Soble, Soble & Rowe, Ann Arbor and Ex-Officio Trustees, Hon. Maura D. Corrigan, Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court and Scott S. Brinkmeyer, President, State Bar of Michigan. For more information, call the Foundation offices at 1-800-968-6723 or visit the web site at www.msbf.org.
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