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Thursday, April 26, 2012
GR Managing Partners Diversity Collaborative: True Leadership
Last year the Grand Rapids Bar Association (“GRBA”) invited managing partners of large and medium-size
Grand Rapids law firms to meet for the purpose of discussing diversity and inclusion within their firms. The
result was the Managing Partners Diversity Collaborative.
Last month, managing partners of 12 law firms [Barnes &
Thornburg, Clark Hill, Dykema, Dickinson Wright PLLC, Foster Swift Collins & Smith, Miller Canfield, Miller Johnson, Price
Heneveld, Rhoades McKee, Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge, Varnum, and Warner Norcross & Judd] and a representative of
the GRBA signed the Managing Partners Diversity Collaborative Agreement. It includes a five-year action
plan to address “three initial challenges facing our organization and the bar.” As stated in
the action plan, the three initial challenges are:
a. Increasing the number
attorneys of color in our organizations within five years;
b. Improving the rate of retention and advancement of female and attorneys of color in our organizations;
c.
Expanding the pipeline of persons of color who enter law school and the profession.
The GRBA is Michigan's first bar association to undertake
this effort within its community. A copy of the Agreement can be found here, and here is a link to a press release regarding last month’s signing ceremony.
 I congratulate and thank the GRBA, its President, Mark R. Smith (pictured to the left), and its immediate past President, Susan Wilson Keener, for their leadership in actively addressing the issue of diversity.
The program promises to become a model for other local bar associations. For information regarding
diversity initiatives at the State Bar level as well as resources, here is a link to the State Bar of Michigan’s
diversity and inclusion page, and the SBM Pledge to Achieve Diversity and Inclusion.
2:10 pm edt
SBM's 'Supreme Court Victory'
 Last week, I blogged about the State Bar of Michigan winning an ABA Advocacy Award during a reception at the United
States Supreme Court. The ABA just released photos from this memorable event.
Realizing that the day may never come when I win anything at the U.S.
Supreme Court, I had to share a photo. Please remember that many people made this award possible – I merely
accepted it on behalf of the State Bar.
Photo credit: American
Bar Association. Pictured (L-R): William C. Hubbard, Chair of "ABA Day," me, and William T. ("Bill")
Robinson, ABA President.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Two Packed Days on Capitol Hill Supporting Access to Justice
 This evening I returned from a two-day trip to Washington, DC, for the annual “ABA Day” where I joined the State
Bar of Michigan delegation– Bruce
Courtade (SBM President-Elect), Hon. Tim Hicks (President of the Michigan Judges Association), past SBM President Reginald
Turner, Elizabeth Lyon (SBM Director of Governmental relations), and Janet Welch (SBM Executive Director)– to meet members of Congress or their staff
and attend special briefings and meetings. Other bar associations around the country sent delegations, as well. [Pictured
are Bruce Courtade, Elizabeth Lyon, and Judge Tim Hicks.]
State Bar Awarded
 Last night, the State Bar of Michigan received the ABA’s prestigious “Advocacy Award” during an ABA reception
at the U.S. Supreme Court. Meeting Justice Sonya Sotomayor at the event made it even more special.
[Pictured (L-R) are: Elizabeth Lyon, Justice Sotomayor, Bruce Courtade, and me.]
My acceptance remarks acknowledged SBM Executive Director Janet
Welch for her efforts in the development of and work with the “Judicial Crossroads Task Force” as well
as SBM Director of Governmental Relations Elizabeth Lyon who works tirelessly on state and national policy issues affecting
our profession.
Our Meetings
With
17 congressional visits spread out over two days, the Michigan delegation often divided into two groups. One of our key discussion
topics was to encourage support for Legal Services Corporation funding, which provides a substantial portion of Michigan’s
civil legal aid budgets. The battle to fund the LSC grows tougher every year. For example,
over 2 years Congress cut LSC funding by $71.8 million, and last year a House bill, the Duncan Amendment, proposed to eliminate
all LSC funding. Michigan’s LSC-funded programs, Legal Aid and Defender Association, Legal Services of Eastern Michigan, Legal Services of Northern Michigan, Legal Services of South Central Michigan, Legal Aid of Western Michigan, and Michigan Indian Legal Services, rely heavily on LSC funding to survive. For more information on the LSC funding we supported, please
visit the ABA website.
I would like to
thank the Michigan delegation for its hard work in DC. I also thank Dykema, which allowed a few of its
lobbyists to join us, at no cost, on our visits and helped schedule our appointments.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
"What She Said": Echoing the SBM Blog's Support of "Soultivity"
My blog's been running a bit behind these days — my attention's been focused
on lawyering when not making presidential rounds — but the SBM Blog covered one of my 'posts in waiting.' (Thanks, Janet!) Realizing that repetition can only benefit
the intended beneficiary of this message, I'm echoing the SBM Blog's encouraging message to actively support
"Soultivity," an all-lawyer R&B band. "Soultivity" is currently in third place in the ABA's
"Battle of the Lawyer Bands" Contest.
The Washtenaw County lawyers of "Soultivity" are
Robin Stephens (lead vocal), Stefani Carter (backup vocal), Joy Gaines (backup vocal), Jon Emmons (bass), Charles Groh (guitar),
Robert Killewald (guitar), Mike Gatti (guitar), John Reiser (keyboards), and Robert Carbeck (drums).
Soultivity occasionally performs for charitable organizations and has raised money or goods
for Food Gatherers, the Humane Society of Huron Valley, Toys for Tots, and the Avon Breast Cancer Walkathon. The group
is now trying to raise money for the Washtenaw County Bar Association's Law and Justice Fund. Here is a YouTube link to a performance. If you scroll down the page on the link, you can find a link to vote in the ABA contest.
Please
cast your vote today to support "Soultivity" in the ABA Battle of the Lawyer Bands. The top three vote-getters will be invited to perform on August 4,
2012, during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. (I look
forward to cheering on "Soultivity" at its ABA performance, if not sooner, and learning whether band members use
their "P-numbers" when they sign autographs.)
9:57 am edt
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The 'Happy Birthday' Song - Worth Millions?
 People have sung the "Happy Birthday" song to me at least a dozen times this morning. As a lawyer,
my thoughts trail from my advancing age to the song that I've heard for 51 years — after all this time, is
it still protected by copyright?
Blogger John August writes that Warner Music Group acquired the copyright to "Happy Birthday" in 1988 and continues to collect about
$2 million annually in royalties. Rightfully so? Maybe not. August's blog
quotes Professor Robert Brauneis of George Washington University Law School who commented that the song “is almost certainly
no longer under copyright due to a lack of evidence about who wrote the words; defective copyright notice; and a failure to
file a proper renewal application.”
The payment stream, August
speculates, can be attributed to risk-averse film financers who prefer to pay permission fees/royalties to Warner rather than
risk litigation.
Photo courtesy of nocaptionneeded.com
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About Me - Updated in 2025
Thank
you for visiting my State Bar presidential blog. My name is Julie Fershtman, and I was the 77th president of the 42,000-member State Bar of Michigan from September 2011 through
September 2012. A member of the State Bar for over 38 years (as of 2025), I practice with the
law firm Foster Swift Collins & Smith, PC, in its Southfield office, where I'm an Equity Shareholder.
My areas of practice include commercial litigation, insurance defense and coverage, sporting and recreational liability,
fraud litigation, agribusiness law and liability, real estate litigation, and equine law. I've tried cases before
juries in 4 states (Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Connecticut) and have been counsel on cases in 21 jurisdictions nationwide.
Back in 2011-2012, business continued during my presidency with assistance from a great Board of Commissioners, a supporive
Executive Director, lawyers in my firm, and the cooperation of fellow counsel and judges. Aside from my law practice, I
also enjoy speaking and lecturing on liability, insurance, and risk management at seminars, conventions, CLE programs,
and conferences. I've been a speaker in 29 states across the country. Around the time of my State Bar presidency, I spoke
on a panel at the 2011 ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto. I was also a panelist on ABA webinars in 2011 and 2012. I also love writing on legal subjects. I've written 4 books and have contributed to or co-authored 4 ABA books and 5 law journal articles for the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice
Section. My writings also include about 425 published articles on legal subjects. In 2019, the ABA published my latest
book, called Equine Law and Horse Sense, which is available through ABA Publishing and Amazon (look for the horse
on the cover). I grew up in the Detroit area and graduated from Emory
College and Emory Law School. On a personal level, my father (the late Sidney Fershtman) was a Michigan lawyer,
and my husband is a lawyer. Although work, family, and bar activities leave little time for hobbies, my favorite hobby
is horses. My personal website explains more about my
background and law practice: www.fershtmanlaw.com
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