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Students
Lunches With Lawyers
Winter 2007 - 2008

This fall semester UDM Law students enjoyed the participation of a talented and successful array of attorneys in our Lunches with Lawyers (LWL) program.  To all those who gave of their time to meet with our students, thank you.  Your stories and advice help not only to guide but also to motivate students as they make their way through law school and on to their legal careers.  Here’s a rundown of a small handful of the sessions:

SHIRLEY KAIGLER – Students interested in estate, tax, retirement, and business succession planning; probate; and elder law recently had the opportunity to visit with an expert in the field.  Shirley Kaigler, a Member of the firm of Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, spoke about her practice and career.  She encouraged students to think carefully about and be aware of the variety of opportunities available to attorneys and to look for the right fit at the right time.  Using her own career path as an example, she explained that she started working for an accounting firm after graduation in order to get experience and training in the tax field.  After a couple of years with the accounting firm, the demands of caring for a growing family prompted her to open her own practice, which she maintained for twenty years.  During that time, she also earned an LL.M. in Taxation.  When her children were grown, she transitioned to a large firm where her experience and education could be applied to more challenging and complex matters.  Ms. Kaigler emphasized the importance of career-long professional development and growth, including the value of an LL.M. in practicing tax law.

JOSEPH PAPELIAN, ’76 – Joseph Papelian, Deputy General Counsel of Litigation with Delphi Corp. and great friend of the School of Law, joined us for a mid-October LWL.  Sitting with students and faculty, Dean Gordon introduced Mr. Papelian as a man who has “done so much for the School of Law.”  From setting up a three-part PricewaterhouseCoopers conference, to helping acquire support for the School’s legal clinics, he has been an immense help in meeting the School’s goals for the future.  Mr. Papelian began by asking the students why they are attending law school, and what they hope to achieve with their J.D.’s.  Smiling at the wide array of responses, he replied, “I’d like to tell you that when I got out of law school I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but that just wasn’t the case.”  He proceeded to tell story after gripping story of the courtroom drama he’d been part of, the many events that led his career in its current direction, and the things he learned along the way.  He told the students to remember that with a J.D. they will be held to a higher standard in the world and will be seen as gate keepers.  As such, it’s important to maintain their integrity, because once lost it’s nearly impossible to get back.  “Write clearly, be precise, and be persuasive,” he told them firmly.  “Those three things, and the time and effort it takes to be truly prepared for each case, are what make great lawyers.” 

WARREN KIFFERSTEIN, ’70 – Dean Gordon introduced Warren Kifferstein as an active alumnus and a very successful attorney, though due to a glitch in our records he was listed as deceased for quite some time.  “The first thing he said to me when I met him,” said Gordon, laughing, “was ‘You know, you think I’m dead.’”  Very much alive and well, Mr. Kifferstein joined us for a Lunch with a Lawyer and regaled us with tales of his journey from law school to having a private practice in family law and in general civil law, representing builders, developers, and architects in commercial litigation.  After earning his J.D. from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1970, he pursued a master’s degree in Labor Relations from Wayne State University.  He talked about how his social sportsman’s nature led him to forming friendships with architects, developers, and builders who would ask for legal advice.  After deciding to practice that aspect of law full time, he began representing the employees of these corporations in divorce, negligence, and other such cases, leading him to practice family law as well.  “There are as many roads to success as there are definitions of success,” he told the law students gathered around the table.  He pointed out the importance of becoming active in bar associations, getting to know the judges you will go before in court, being social, being cognizant of your client, and even being mindful of your opposing counsel.  “Do them favors or they won’t extend favors to you when time is of the essence,” he said.  He also talked about showing respect to judges, suggesting that “your recourse is not to berate a judge for an off-the-wall decision, but to appeal their decision.”  Like many of the attorneys who speak at LWL, Mr. Kifferstein told the students to be ethical first and foremost, because “word travels very fast when a lawyer tries to make a quick buck at another’s expense.”  The theme running through his LWL was to have fun.  When asked how that was possible with the late nights and consuming cases, he said he felt the same way when he was a young lawyer, but if you don’t take yourself too seriously you will find yourself having fun.  He ended the lunch by telling the students, “I hope each and every one of you here can leave this world a better place than when you came into it… Even if you only help one client, you’ve done that.”

The list of attorney participants this year also includes:

Anthony Asher, ‘66
William Booth, ‘62
Arthur F. Brandt, ’90
Jonathan Bricker
David Chernow, ‘93
S. Allen Early
Larry Emmons, Jr., ’05
Gary Golden, ‘76
Joseph Golden, ‘67
Michael Gordon
Hon. Kathleen Jansen, ’77
Michael Kargula, ‘78
Storm T. Kirschenbaum, ’03
Jeffrey Kopelman, ‘76
Ronald Latiff, ‘93
Stephen Milbeck, ‘85
Michael Moran, ‘69
Robert O’Donnell, ‘87
Mary Catherine Rentz, ’81
Harriet Rotter, ‘75
Charles Rutherford, Sr., ’57
Joel Schwartz, ‘88
Robert Shaffer, ‘85
Stephen Stella, ‘81
Leonard Suchyta, ‘68
Michael J. Sullivan, ’83
C. Thomas Toppin
Grant Trigger, ‘85
Hon. David Viviano

Student Invited to Argue Before the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal

Most students in law school hope to get some experience in the classroom before they graduate.  But it is a rare student who gets the opportunity to argue before a U.S. Court of Appeal.  That has now happened twice in eight months for the students in UDM School of Law’s Immigration Law Clinic.  In March 2007, UDM law students argued before the Sixth Circuit on behalf of a Pakistani woman who faced a threat of an “honor killing” because she married outside her family’s faith.  And, as we were going to press, UDM just learned that in January 2008, law student Asma Alghaiti will be arguing before the Seventh Circuit on behalf of an asylum claimant from Albania. 

“The U.S. Courts of Appeal very rarely grant oral argument on immigration-related cases, and for students to argue cases before a federal court one step below the U.S. Supreme Court is a great honor for UDM and its students,” said David Koelsch, director of the Immigration Law Clinic.  Koelsch added, “Not only do students have the opportunity to display their appellate advocacy skills but we may also be able to add to the body of precedential decisions in a rapidly-evolving area of the law.”