7/16/09

Board of Commissioners | Representative Assembly | Judicial Tenure Commission | Young Lawyers Section Executive Council

SBM Board of Commissioners

Attorneys Lawrence P. Nolan of Eaton Rapids and Michael J. Riordan of Detroit won contested seats in this year's State Bar of Michigan Board of Commissioners elections. Both will serve three-year terms expiring at the close of the 2012 Annual Meeting. The State Bar Board of Commissioners provides oversight to the various operations of the Bar such as finance, public policy, and member services.

Lawrence Nolan	Michael Riordan

Nolan won in District E representing Barry, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Livingston, Montcalm, and Shiawassee counties. He is the president of Nolan Thomsen and Villas PC and has been actively involved in the State Bar for more than three decades. He served one term on the Board of Commissioners from 1983—1985. He has also participated in numerous State Bar committees. He currently serves as treasurer of the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society and is a member of the State Bar Representative Assembly and the Judicial Qualifications Committee. Nolan is also active in local bar activities and is the longest serving member of the Thomas M. Cooley Board of Directors, serving continuously for the past 25 years.

Riordan won in District H representing Wayne, Lenawee, and Monroe counties. He currently serves on the State Bar Board of Commissioners and was previously in the Representative Assembly. An assistant U.S. attorney for the past 11 years, he has handled both civil and criminal matters. He is on the State Bar Custodial Interrogation Task Force, Judicial Qualifications Committee, and the Federal Courts Committee. Riordan has served as an adjunct professor of securities regulation at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School for 10 years, and he has written for scholarly and Bar-related publications and spoken at many seminars.

Four attorneys won uncontested races for the 32-member Board of Commissioners. They are Thomas C. Rombach of New Baltimore, who won in District D covering Macomb and St. Clair counties; Lori A. Buiteweg of Ann Arbor, who won in District G covering Jackson and Washtenaw counties; and Donald E. McGinnis Jr. of Troy and Julie I. Fershtman of Farmington Hills, who were both re-elected in District I covering Oakland County.

SBM Representative Assembly

Forty-six attorneys won unopposed races in the Representative Assembly. The 150-member Representative Assembly was created in 1972 to increase the proportion of members who actively participate in bar policy; it serves as the final policy-making body of the State Bar. The new members are:

SBM Judicial Tenure Commission

The Hon. Jeanne Stempien of Detroit was re-elected to a third term as a member of the Judicial Tenure Commission. The three-year term begins Jan. 1, 2010 and expires Dec. 31, 2012. The Judicial Tenure Commission is a constitutionally created body that promotes the integrity of the judicial process and preserves public confidence in the courts.

Judge Stempien is serving her third term as a judge on the Wayne County Third Circuit Court. She is active in many professional associations and has served as a facilitator for the National Judicial College and as Master of the Bench for the Inns of Court, an advocacy program for law students.

SBM Young Lawyers Section Executive Committee

Three attorneys—Brandy Y. Robinson, Jennifer M. Harvey, and Felicia O. Johnson—won contested elections in Wayne and Macomb Counties. Their two-year terms expire at the close of the 2011 Annual Meeting. In Oakland County, Jessica Renee Simmons and Hope V. Shovein won in uncontested elections. Lisa C. Hagan won in District 3 representing all other counties.

The Young Lawyers Executive Council governs the members of the Young Lawyers Section, the State Bar's largest section. The section provides education, information, and analysis about issues of concern through meetings, seminars, public service programs, and newsletters. The section has won numerous awards for its public service and educational programs.

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