T.L. Summerville, President

T.L. Summerville is a Member at the Dykema Gossett law firm in Detroit, Michigan.  His practice focuses on business and commercial disputes, consumer finance matters, and defense of personal injury claims.  He has represented clients in breach of contract and fraud cases, real estate development suits, construction litigation cases, environmental contamination actions, matters involving consumer credit and residential mortgages, automotive supplier disputes, premises liability cases, and suits involving allegations of negligent design and manufacture of both automobiles and pharmaceutical products.  Additionally, T.L. has advised and assisted clients responding to requests for information or documents in connection with criminal investigations in both federal and state courts.  He has also represented pro bono clients in breach of insurance contract and landlord-tenant matters.

Before joining Dykema, Mr. Summerville was an Assistant District Attorney with the Office of the District Attorney of New York County (Manhattan) and an assistant prosecutor with both the Oakland and Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney's offices.  As a law student, Mr. Summerville was a judicial extern for the Honorable John Gleeson, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York.

Niesa Trent Fagan, President-Elect

Ms. Fagan is an associate in the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Group at Bodman LLP.  Ms. Fagan also has experience representing clients in employment, bankruptcy, environmental and health care matters.

Ms. Fagan has served as a board memeber of the Wolverine Bar Association and Wolverine Bar Foundation since 2006, and currently serves as Treasurer of both organizations.

Ronda L. Tate, Treasurer

Ronda L. Tate is a member of Lewis & Munday's Litigation Group. She represents a wide array of clients in the public and private sectors, ranging from municipalities and charter schools to Fortune 500 corporations, as well as companies in the entertainment/hospitality industries.

Ms. Tate's practice is largely devoted to labor and employment issues. Her experience includes handling unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board and assisting in the drafting of collective bargaining agreements. She has successfully resolved complaints with administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and defended employers in civil lawsuits regarding claims under the ELCRA, ADEA and Title VII.

Andrea J. Bradley, Secretary

Andrea J. Bradley is an Administrative Law Judge for the Michigan Administrative Hearing System. Ms. Bradley has a particular focus on all state benefit programs and regulatory authority affecting state benefits.

Prior to becoming an ALJ, Ms. Bradley worked as a litigation associate in the downtown Detroit offices of Dykema Gossett PLLC (2006-2008) and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP (2008-2011). As a litigator, Ms. Bradley focused her practice in the areas of complex civil litigation, products liability litigation, consumer finance, and commercial landlord-tenant litigation.

Ms. Bradley has served as Co-Chair of the WBA Summer Clerkship Program and Chair of the WBA Minority Bar Passage Program. She is a member of the Michigan Association of Administrative Law Judges.

Brandy Y. Robinson, Immediate Past President

Brandy Y. Robinson is a law clerk to the Honorable Julian Abele Cook Jr. of the Eastern District of Michigan.

Before clerking for Judge Cook, Ms. Robinson worked as an Assistant Defender with the State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) in Detroit. There, she successfully represented indigent criminal defendants at all stages of appeal, in both state and federal courts. Ms. Robinson also worked as an associate in the Public Law Group of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone prior to joining SADO.

Michelle A. Carter

Ms. Carter, a Partner at the Troy, Michigan office of Bodman LLP, represents clients involved in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters, contract matters, real property matters and construction matters. Ms. Carter also has experience with labor and employment law, employment litigation and employment counseling.

Ms. Carter was recognized as a Rising Star in Michigan Super Lawyers 2009, and again in 2010, under Business Litigation.

Diane Hutcherson

Diane Hutcherson received a dual B.A. degree in Political Science and English in 1982 from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and  received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Wayne State University in 1986.

She is currently an associate attorney with Hom, Killeen, Siefer, Arene & Hoehn, the in-house counsel for AAA /Michigan.  Her current duties are in the  referral unit, where she monitors cases handled by outside referral counsel in many states, particularly Illinois and Indiana.

Eric M. Mathis

Eric M. Mathis is an attorney at the Detroit Medical Center in Detroit, MI where he practices employment law litigation, real property litigation and guardianship law. He also advises DMC on state and federal healthcare law, including HIPAA, Stark, anti-kickback and other fraud and abuse provisions. Prior to joining the Detroit Medical Center, Mr. Mathis was an associate based in the Detroit office of Butzel Long, practicing primarily in the area of commercial litigation.

Chantez Pattman Knowles

Ms. Knowles is an associate at Bodman LLP. She concentrates her practice in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administration, and probate litigation. She also represents business clients in a broad range of commercial transactions, including supply arrangements and vendor services agreements. 

Ms. Knowles has served as a board member for the Wolverine Bar Association since the 2009-2010 term. 

David Perkins

Guy Sohou

Guy is a solo practitioner whose practice focuses primarily in the field of criminal defense, personal injury and insurance litigation.

He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2004. Armed with both a Civil Law Degree (Law Degree from the National University of Cote D’Ivoire) and a common law education (J.D. at U.D. Mercy), he was perfectly suited for major international law firms. But Guy chose the less traveled path.

Khalilah V. Spencer

Khalilah V. Spencer is a Partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in Detroit.  She has extensive experience in a wide variety of complex commercial and employment litigation matters in federal and state courts and arbitration.  While focused on representing public and private companies in a wide variety of industries including automotive, financial services, telecommunications, logistics and real estate, Khalilah has significant pro bono experience in civil rights advocacy involving public education, voting rights and election protection.

Khalilah also holds leadership positions in several organizations benefiting the metropolitan Detroit community.  She currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the NAACP's Detroit Branch and as a member of the Board of Directors for Gilda's Club of Metro Detroit since 2004. 

Khalilah has made presentations and published materials for ICLE, Lorman Educational Services, the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants and the Advancement Project.

Currently, she is admitted to practice in Michigan, the U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Michigan and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.   

She received her J.D. in December of 2001 from the University of Michigan Law School and her B.A. in Political Science in 1999 from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. 

Honorable Craig S. Strong

In January of 1978, he was appointed referee in the Traffic & Ordinance Division of Detroit’s Recorders Court.  At age 31, being the youngest to serve in this capacity, he was elected Judge of the Detroit Recorders Court and was re-elected four times.  Strong became an officer of the Wolverine Bar Association and its’ youngest president at age 30. He later became one of the founding members of the Association of Black Judges of Michigan and served as president.

Sherry D. O'Neal Taylor

Sherry D. O'Neal Taylor is a Member in Dickinson Wright's Detroit office. Ms. O'Neal has successfully defended clients in racial discrimination, national origin discrimination, age discrimination, disability discrimination and gender discrimination lawsuits, EEOC and MDCR Charges and ERISA litigation matters. Her practice includes counseling companies on all aspects of employment policies and procedures and addressing ERISA benefit claim issues. She holds a B. S. Degree from Wayne State University and J. D. from Wayne State University Law School.

Ms. Taylor is amember of the Labor and Employment section and Litigation Council of the State Bar of Michigan. She is also a member of the NAACP Detroit Chapter's Legal Redress Committee, Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association and Federal Bar Association (Co-Chair of the Law Student Initiative Committee).

In 2009, Ms. Taylor was named one of 20 Up and Coming Lawyers by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. In 2010, Ms. Taylor was named a Michigan Super Lawyers "Rising Star" in the areas of ERISA and Employee Benefits.