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Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Elizabeth Crouse joined Holland & Knight LLP as partner in the firm’s Portland, Oregon, office. As an energy and tax law attorney, she advises clients on a range of US federal income tax matters, including tax credits for the renewable energy industry. Before joining the firm, Crouse was a partner at Perkins Coie LLP. She is the co-director of the Seattle chapter of Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy and co-chairs the tax committee of the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Anika Fischer joined DiamondRock Hospitality Company as senior vice president and general counsel. Previously, Fischer was deputy general counsel at Essex Property Trust Inc., where she led its legal department in capital markets transactions, securities and corporate governance, and other matters. Fischer began her career as an associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in the firm’s real estate group.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Ronald Nessim was named a 2024 Legal Legend by the Hollywood Reporter. He is a partner at Bird, Marella, Rhow, Lincenberg, Drooks, & Nessim LLP in Los Angeles, where he has practiced commercial and entertainment litigation and white-collar criminal defense for more than 30 years. Nessim has argued numerous appeals in federal and state courts, including in the US Supreme Court. Previously, he served as an assistant US attorney in the major frauds section of the US Department of Justice in Los Angeles. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

John W. Rees joined Reising Ethington PC in Troy, Michigan, as a senior attorney. Rees’s practice specializes in a broad range of technologies, including medical devices, machine-based inspection systems, and automotive-related products, with an emphasis on control algorithms. He has represented global clients across intellectual property matters, including US and foreign patent preparation and prosecution, trade secret protection, product reverse engineering studies, product and trademark clearances, and intellectual property due diligence. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Jonathan Lewis joined Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as counsel in Washington, DC. He is an antitrust and consumer protection attorney who advises clients from the consumer products, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, chemicals, and health care industries. Lewis joins Hunton from Lowenstein Sandler LLP, where he was a partner and member of the firm’s antitrust group. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Ray Espinosa, LLM, joined the board of directors for EEI Corporation, a construction company in the Philippines. He is an attorney and the director of the Philippines-based telecommunications company PLDT, where he is a member of its technology strategy and data privacy committee and the information security committee. He also serves as a director, chairman, and/or trustee of several corporations, holding companies, foundations, and trust funds. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Michaune D. Tillman joined Corning Inc. as senior vice president and general counsel. Tillman previously was general counsel and corporate secretary for Worthington Steel Inc. and has extensive experience in corporate governance matters, litigation, commercial transactions, regulatory, antitrust, environmental health and safety, cyber security, data privacy, import/export, labor and employment, intellectual property, and compliance. 

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

David Calzone co-founded Calzone Hiser PLLC in January 2024 with Susan Hartmus Hiser, ’91. The firm, located in Metro Detroit, provides neutral mediation, arbitration, investigation, and Title IX hearing officer services. Throughout his career, Calzone has practiced on behalf of public and private sector employers in the areas of employment discrimination, labor litigation, labor arbitration, appellate litigation, mediation, and complex class action litigation. He is a former director and shareholder of Vercruysse Murray & Calzone PC and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Alec Rogers has joined Ford Motor Company’s Washington, DC, office as a government affairs executive and director of tax and finance policy. His appointment follows 18 years as senior director for Xerox Corporation and a decade on Capitol Hill, where he was senior counsel to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Before working on Capitol Hill, Rogers was in private practice in Birmingham, Michigan, and Washington, DC.

Class Note Winter 2024-2025

Benjamin Zainea was selected by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a 2024 Go To Lawyer for business transactions. He is an attorney at the Grand Rapids-based law firm Mika Meyers PLC. Zainea specializes in transactions, mergers and acquisitions, business formation and succession planning, general business and real estate law, estate planning, commercial lending, and manufacturing.