09.29.2021

The State Bar of Michigan’s Appellate Practice Section recently announced that it has selected Plunkett Cooney partner Mary Massaron as the recipient of its 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award will be presented to Massaron during the 2022 Appellate Bench Bar Conference next May. Anne Argiroff, who chairs the Appellate Practice Section, said Massaron was selected because of her tireless efforts to support the section and to improve appellate advocacy in Michigan.

“You continue to provide the standard to which we, as appellate attorneys, aspire: meticulous and zealous advocacy, an innate understanding of the law and its effects, and outstanding professional leadership,” Argiroff wrote in her award notification letter to Massaron. “This is most appropriate in light of your decades of work as co-chair of the Michigan Bench Bar Conference Foundation. Your involvement with the Conference, as well as other state and national organizations, has been instrumental in improving the appellate justice system and facilitating the relationships between the bench and bar.”

Massaron, one of Plunkett Cooney’s most accomplished appellate attorneys, will add the SBM Appellate Section Lifetime Achievement Award to a long list of other honors. She is a former president of DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar and the first woman president of Lawyers for Civil Justice. A member of the prestigious American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and American Law Institute, Massaron is also a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs, a five-member committee that oversees preparation of ABA briefs for filing in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The list of Massaron’s appellate victories is long and distinguished, including an award-winning brief in Nexteer Automotive Group v. Mando America Corp in 2018. Cooley Law Review presented Massaron with its Distinguished Brief Award for her efforts in this case. She has also received distinguished service awards from the Michigan Municipal League in 2003 and Marygrove College in 2004, as well as the Leaders in the Law Award from Michigan Lawyers Weekly in 2009. Additionally, Massaron received the 2020 Al Cortese Award for outstanding contributions to the cause of civil justice, which was presented to her by Lawyers for Civil Justice.

With over 100 appeals as lead attorney before the U.S. Circuit Court for the Sixth Circuit, Massaron’s list of published cases in state appellate courts is equally as long and distinguished. She is admitted to almost every federal circuit court of appeals and has handled matters before the Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth circuits. She has also handled cases in Alabama, California, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Ohio courts, as well as in the Tribal Court of Appeals.

Massaron, who has exclusively practiced in the area of appellate law for over 30 years, is perennially recognized by Best Lawyers in America for appellate law and has been repeatedly acknowledged as one of the top 100 lawyers, top 50 business lawyers, top 25 women business lawyers, top 50 female lawyers, and top appellate law practitioners by Michigan Super Lawyers. She was recognized as the Best Lawyers 2017 and 2021 Appellate Practice "Lawyer of the Year" for attorneys practicing in Bloomfield Hills. Dbusiness magazine has named Massaron its top appellate lawyer for the past five years.

Plunkett Cooney, one of the oldest and largest law firms in the nation, is one of only a few Midwest law firms with a dedicated team of appellate attorneys. The members of the Appellate Law Practice Group are responsible for over 1,500 cases decided by state and federal appellate courts, including all Michigan appellate courts, the Ohio Supreme Court, the Indiana appellate courts, the California Court of Appeals, and numerous federal circuit courts of appeal.

Plunkett Cooney’s appellate attorneys are routinely retained to handle cutting edge appeals involving issues of first impression or to seek reversal of large adverse judgments. They have also prepared numerous amicus curiae briefs on behalf of firm clients for filing in state and federal courts.

Established in 1913, Plunkett Cooney is a leading provider of business and litigation services to clients in the private and public sectors. The firm employs approximately 150 attorneys in seven Michigan cities, Chicago, Illinois, Indianapolis, Indiana and Columbus, Ohio. Plunkett Cooney has achieved the highest rating (AV) awarded by Martindale-Hubbell, a leading, international directory of law firms.

For more information about Mary Massaron’s State Bar of Michigan Lifetime Achievement Award, contact the firm’s Director of Marketing and Business Development, John Cornwell, at (248) 901-4008; jcornwell@plunkettcooney.com.

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