03.09.2012

Partners Michael S. Bogren and Michael P. Ashcraft, Jr. were recently elected Chairman and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively, of the Board of Directors of Plunkett Cooney, one of the Midwest’s oldest and largest full-service law firms.

At the firm’s recent annual meeting, Ashcraft was elected to serve as a member of the board of directors for the first time. In addition, Bogren and partners Kenneth C. Newa and Michael K. Sheehy each won re-election. All will serve three-year terms.

Following the annual meeting, the firm’s board of directors met and elected Bogren and Ashcraft to the officer positions for one-year terms.

Bogren, formerly the board’s Secretary/Treasurer for nine consecutive years, was named a partner in 1989 and has been a board member since 2003. In addition to his board duties, Bogren manages Plunkett Cooney’s Kalamazoo office and serves as the firm’s Governmental Law Practice Group Leader. He focuses his practice in the areas of municipal law, civil rights and labor and employment law.

A 1982 cum laude graduate of University of Detroit School of Law, Bogren has extensive experience representing municipalities in both state and federal court claims involving police liability, due process matters, first amendment issues, Open Meetings and Freedom of Information Act violations, zoning disputes and employment law.

Bogren is a member of number of several professional organizations, including the Kalamazoo County Bar Association, State Bar of Michigan (Public Corporations and Real Property sections), American Bar Association, International Municipal Lawyers Association and Association of Governmental Risk Pools.

New board Secretary/Treasurer, Michael P. Ashcraft, Jr., is a partner in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office who currently serves as the firm’s Professional Liability Practice Group Leader. He concentrates his practice in the defense of attorneys and accountants in malpractice claims, and he represents insurance brokers and agents, securities brokers, real estate brokers and agents, investment advisors, officers and directors and notaries public in professional liability cases in state and federal courts.

Admitted to state and federal courts in Michigan and Nebraska, Ashcraft graduated, cum laude, from Detroit College of Law in 1992. He received his undergraduate degree from University of Michigan in 1987. Ashcraft is a member of the Oakland County Bar Association’s Negligence Section, the State Bar of Michigan’s Professional Ethics Committee and the American Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Responsibility and Liability.

Kenneth C. Newa is a partner in Plunkett Cooney’s Bloomfield Hills office and co-chair of the firm’s Insurance Coverage Practice Group. He focuses his practice principally upon the representation of insurance companies in a variety of insurance coverage disputes, including complex, high-exposure coverage litigation relating to environmental, asbestos, toxic tort and defective construction claims. He is admitted to practice in Michigan and Ohio, and in federal courts in Indiana.

A cum laude graduate of University of Detroit School of Law, Newa is a member of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, the Environmental Law and Negligence sections of the State Bar of Michigan, and the Tort and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association. He is also a member of the DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar. He received his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University in 1986.

Michael K. Sheehy, a partner in Plunkett Cooney’s Detroit office, currently serves as the firm’s Trucking & Transportation Practice Group Leader. He focuses his practice in the areas of trucking and transportation litigation, product liability, mold/toxin liability, construction law, premises liability and motor vehicle claims. 

Sheehy is active in a number of trucking and transportation industry organizations, including the Trucking Industry Defense Association, ALFA International’s Transportation Practice Group and the DRI’s Trucking Law Committee.

Established in 1913, Plunkett Cooney employs approximately 160 attorneys in nine Michigan cities, Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm, which provides a range of transactional and litigation services, has achieved the highest rating (AV) awarded by Martindale-Hubbell, a leading, international directory of law firms. Fortune magazine also recently named Plunkett Cooney among the top commercial firms in the United States.

For more information about Plunkett Cooney’s recent board elections, contact the firm’s Practice Development Manager John Cornwell at (248) 901-4008 or jcornwell@plunkettcooney.com.

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