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Best Lawyers in America® has announced that eight (8) attorneys from Kotz Sangster have been recognized in the 29th Edition and are included in the publication’s 2023 publication. And four (4) attorneys have been honored in the 3rd Edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, which recognizes lawyers who are associates or earlier in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice.
Additionally, 2023 U.S. News – Best Lawyers ®, “Best Law Firms” listing has recognized Kotz Sangster regionally in eight (8) practice areas.
Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal profession. Recognition in Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a prestigious honor.
The attorneys being honored in the 2023 publications are: R. Edward Boucher, Jovan Dragovic, Mowitt S. Drew, III, Dennis K. Egan, Robert C. Kotz, Jeffrey M. Sangster, Keith J. Soltis and Gregory L. Wysocki. Also honored are: Evan M. Lumley, Bruce A. Margulis, Amber D. Peters and J. Lauren Virzi.
BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA®
R. Edward Boucher Recognized for both Construction Law and Litigation – Construction.
Boucher practices in the firm’s Detroit office. With a focus on the representation of contractors for more than 20 years, he possesses a depth of industry knowledge and talent in developing effective and practical solutions to problems that arise during construction projects. Representative clients include developers, institutional owners, general contractors, construction managers, trade contractors and suppliers. Boucher’s extensive experience has produced excellent results for the firm’s clients through negotiation or mediation but also through arbitration or litigation.
Dragovic is resident in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. He concentrates his practice on the increasingly-complex legal issues confronting physicians, physician organizations, group practices and ancillary health care items and service providers and suppliers. Dragovic’s business transactions include organization and entity structure and creation, acquisitions and business combinations, employment and independent contractor relationships, document preparation and regulatory guidance and compliance. His work on the transactional and regulatory side of health care law is an advantage to clients who experience disputes that result in litigation.
Mowitt S. Drew, III Recognized for Family Law in 2023 and as “Lawyer of the Year” in 2022 in the Kalamazoo region for Family Law.
Drew serves as Managing Director of the firm’s Southwest Michigan offices. Resident in the Niles office, he practices in the St. Joseph, South Haven and Grand Rapids offices as well. He is a seasoned trial lawyer with more than 20 years of experience. With a special focus on domestic relations, high net worth cases involving complex family or financial issues, contested probate matters, and estate and long-term care planning, Drew’s honest but aggressive approach has served the best interests of his clients.
Dennis K. Egan Recognized for both Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Securities.
Egan is resident in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. He is an accomplished trial lawyer with decades of experience successfully representing clients in lawsuits and arbitration proceedings brought not only in Michigan but across the country. His focused approach in the representation of large clients, defending national class actions in the federal courts, and small clients in the state courts, addressing contractual disputes, has proved consistently successful. This includes a large number of securities arbitrations before the NYSE, NASD, FINRA Dispute Resolution, and the American Arbitration Association.
Robert C. Kotz Recognized for Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law.
Kotz is a founding member of the firm with a practice spanning nearly fifty years. Kotz has focused on advising closely held entrepreneurial companies, concentrating primarily on merger and acquisition work, general business and tax law, and developing business strategies in the closely held and entrepreneurial client environment. He has served on and acted as advisor to various boards of directors in business strategies, corporate governance, succession planning, strategic planning and general compliance issues. Kotz has been at the forefront of developing Kotz Sangster’s service-driven culture that puts the client’s interests first in every matter.
Jeffrey M. Sangster Recognized for both Construction Law and Litigation – Construction.
A founding member of the firm, Sangster practices in the Detroit office. He serves as chair of the firm’s Construction Group and has practiced law for 40 years. With an intimate understanding of contractors and their business objectives and challenges, he has focused on all aspects of construction law, from construction contract drafting and negotiations, contract review and risk analysis, to claim resolution through litigation, arbitration, facilitation and mediation.
Keith J. Soltis Recognized for Health Care Law in 2023 and as the region’s “Lawyer of the Year” in 2019 in Health Care Law.
Soltis serves as Managing Director of the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. He has been honored by his peers with recognition in Best Lawyers for nearly 15 years. Concentrating his practice in health care law, Soltis focuses on corporate and transactional issues, fraud and abuse analysis and advice, and third party reimbursement issues through his representation of physicians, physician organizations, group practices and ancillary health care items and service providers and suppliers.
Gregory L. Wysocki Recognized for Corporate Law, and Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law in 2023 and as the region’s “Lawyer of the Year” in 2022 for Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law.
Wysocki serves as president of Kotz Sangster Wysocki P.C. and has practiced for 40 years with a special focus on counseling owners and management of closely-held entrepreneurial businesses, including family-owned companies, in connection with succession planning, shareholder agreements and buy-sell agreements. Wysocki serves as practice group leader of the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group and has substantial experience in planning, negotiating and implementing various types of M&A transactions as well as recapitalizations.
Lumley is a Senior Associate practicing in the firm’s Detroit office. A member of the firm’s Construction Practice Group, he brings more than ten years of litigation and discovery management expertise to the firm. Lumley focuses on commercial litigation and construction law. Leveraging his prior experience with a prominent New York defense firm, he effectively represents the firm’s clients in every phase of litigation, from fact investigation through trial.
Margulis is a Senior Associate and resident in the firm’s Bloomfield Hills office. Through his involvement in the Financial Services Group, he assists borrowers and lenders with asset and real estate backed loan facilities of all sizes, and handles forbearance and foreclosure matters. Additionally, he has experience in mergers and acquisitions as well as complex real estate transactions.
Peters is a Senior Associate practicing in the firm’s St. Joseph office in Southwest Michigan. She has significant experience in domestic relations (i.e., divorce, custody, etc.), civil litigation and criminal litigation. Peters brings her previous experience clerking for the Family Division, 3rd Circuit Court to Kotz Sangster. Focusing primarily on general litigation, her practice also includes the representation of municipalities as well as areas of probate matters and estate planning.
J. Lauren Virzi Recognized for Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, and Litigation – Construction.
Virzi is a Senior Associate in the firm’s Detroit office. An experienced litigator, she has knowledge in a broad range of practice areas including construction defect and insurance subrogation and defense, as well as complex litigation. Her in-depth understanding of AIA contract documents and the oversight and management of root cause investigations and analysis allows her to effectively represent the firm’s clients.
2023 U.S. NEWS – BEST LAWYERS®, “BEST LAW FIRMS”
Kotz Sangster has been recognized in Michigan’s regional specific areas. For 2023, the firm is listed in three (3) different tier levels and eight (8) separate areas of law across the state by U.S. News. & World Report.
