Pia, Joseph

• LL.M. New York University '95
• J.D. University of Detroit Mercy '94
• B.S. University of Detroit Mercy '85

Professor Pia earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting summa cum laude at the University of Detroit in 1985.  He is also a 1994 cum laude graduate of the School of Law.  During his time as a student at UDM Law, he was junior staff editor and then editor-in-chief of the University of Detroit Mercy Law Review.  Following his J.D., Prof. Pia earned an LL.M. in Taxation at New York University School of Law, and then he returned to Detroit to work as a tax associate for Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss until the summer of 1996.  His next position was with the tax department of General Motors Corporation in Detroit, followed by tax associate for Finkel, Whitefield, Selik, Raymond, Ferrara & Feldman, PC in Farmington Hills, MI. 

Since 1998, Prof. Pia has been an associate and then a shareholder in the tax department of Hyman Lippitt, P.C. in Birmingham, MI.  His responsibilities at the firm included tax-exempt organizations, compliance, corporate taxation, estate planning, probate and trust administration, financial products, individual tax advice, international tax, litigation and controversy, state and local tax administration, pass-thru entity taxation, and qualified/nonqualified profit sharing plans.  

Professor Pia has taught as an adjunct professor for several colleges and universities in the metro-Detroit area. He was an adjunct professor of tax law at UDM Law and Thomas M. Cooley School of Law.  He also taught business tax classes at Walsh College School of Business, UDM School of Business, and Oakland University School of Business. 

A member of the State Bar of Michigan since 1994, Prof. Pia is admitted to the U.S. Tax Court and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.  He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Oakland County Bar Association.  He is past chairperson of the Practice & Procedure Committee of the State Bar of Michigan Tax Section, and he has served as a panelist for the State Bar of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board. 

Professor Pia lives in Rochester Hills, MI with his wife, Sally A. Rutledge, a 1992 alumna of UDM Law, and their daughter, Grace.  Ms. Rutledge is an attorney in the Royal Oak, MI office of Howard & Howard Attorneys PLLC, specializing in real estate, general corporate, and corporate transaction law.