03.21.2009

Mary Massaron, a partner of Plunkett Cooney, one of the Midwest’s oldest and largest law firms, was recently named as one of the Michigan Lawyers Weekly 2009 Leaders in the Law.

A member of the firm’s Detroit office, Massaron, along with 24 members of the state's legal community, will be honored at the Leaders in the Law luncheon and awards ceremony on Wednesday, March 25 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Troy Marriott Hotel. From the 25 honorees, Michigan Lawyers Weekly will also announce the winner of the 2009 Lawyer of the Year award.

"To have been nominated by my fellow colleagues is truly an honor," said Massaron, Plunkett Cooney’s Appellate Law Practice Group Leader. "It is a privilege to serve as a lawyer, and I’m grateful to be recognized as an attorney who exemplifies the legal tradition of pursuing justice under law, serving the community, and contributing to the civil justice system."

Previously known for the past 11 years as the Lawyers of the Year award, Michigan Lawyers Weekly changed the name of it to Leaders in the Law to recognize the need to honor both legal success and qualities of character that make only a few attorneys stand out.

Key criteria for nominating an attorney for the Leaders in the Law honor include winning cases and solving problems with the utmost integrity; inspiring and leading others with their skills and character; mentoring; and defending clients and the community passionately and aggressively.

Massaron is a member of Plunkett Cooney’s Board of Directors. A former law clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Associate Justice Patricia J. Boyle, Massaron has handled appeals resulting in over 50 published opinions and was inducted into the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers several years ago.

She has won numerous victories before the Michigan Supreme Court for clients in both the public and private sector, overturning multi-million dollar judgments and establishing new legal principles. She has also handled appellate matters before state appellate courts throughout the country, including the Indiana Supreme Court, the Ohio Supreme Court and the California Court of Appeals. She has also handled over a hundred appeals in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and in other federal circuit courts of appeal. Massaron Ross is a past recipient of recognition as a Lawyer of the Year by Michigan Lawyer’s Weekly, and she has won the prestigious Cooley Law School Distinguished Brief Award for her brief in Gilbert v. Daimler-Chrysler. She was recognized as a Distinguished Alumna of Marygrove College and received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Michigan Municipal League.

Massaron’s leadership includes stints on numerous state and national bar organization boards. She serves as a national director on the board of DRI, and currently chairs its Annual Meeting Steering Committee. She serves as vice-chair of DRI’s Amicus Committee, and previously chaired the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs, the five-member committee that oversees preparation of ABA briefs for filing in the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts. She is co-chair of Michigan Defense Trial Counsel’s Appellate and Amicus Section. She is also a past chair of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers, a division of the Appellate Judges Conference and currently co-chairs its Appellate Practice Institute. She also co-chairs the Michigan Appellate Bench Bar Conference Foundation, an organization of Michigan appellate judges and lawyers.

Massaron received her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Marygrove College where she remains an active member of the alumni association. She was awarded her law degree, summa cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School.

Plunkett Cooney’s appellate attorneys concentrate their practices exclusively on appeals and have more than 1,500 combined state and federal appellate decisions to their credit. They offer clients a vision for litigation based on their knowledge of the law and whether it can be changed through appellate procedure. Members of the group also provide the firm’s commercial and municipal clients with insight regarding appropriate settlement decisions based on their appellate experience and knowledge. 

Established in 1913, Plunkett Cooney maintains offices in nine Michigan cities and one each in Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm employs 320 people, including 150 attorneys, many of whom are nationally known experts in their field. The firm has achieved the highest rating (AV) awarded by Martindale-Hubbell, a leading, international directory of law firms.

 

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