Butzel Long Names New Shareholders

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 DETROIT —  Attorneys Geaneen M. Arends, Joseph E. Richotte, and Milton B. Whitfield have joined the Butzel Long law firm.

Arends, far left, will be based in Butzel Long’s Detroit office and will practice general business law and commercial real estate. Arends serves as the chairperson of the board of directors and president for Michigan Community Resources (formerly known as Community Legal Resources), a nonprofit organization that provides technical assistance and free legal services to nonprofit organizations revitalizing and bringing economic development to underserved communities in Detroit and throughout Michigan. She is an alumna of Leadership Detroit. She also belongs to the Royal Oak Woman’s Club and is a master gardener. She is an active member of the Butzel Long PAC Committee and Butzel Long’s Women’s Leadership Committee. Arends is a member of the Wolverine Bar Association and the Detroit Economic Club. She was recognized by DBusiness  as a Top Lawyer in the areas of real estate law and nonprofit law. Arends is a graduate of Michigan State University and of Boston College Law School. She is admitted to the State Bar of Michigan and the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan.

Richotte, middle, is based in Butzel Long’s Bloomfield Hills office and practices in the areas of white collar criminal defense, securities and business litigation, news media defense, and attorney discipline defense. He also is  active in the firm’s appellate practice, focusing on appeals in his practice areas. Before joining Butzel Long, Richotte interned for the Honorable Avern Cohn of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He also has worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan in the National Security Unit and for the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office. Richotte is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association’s Eastern District of Michigan Chapter, the Lex Mundi Business Crimes Group, the Lex Mundi Media, Sports, and Entertainment Group, and the Media Law Resource Center. Richotte also is a member of the Order of the Coif and Phi Beta Kappa.

Whitfield recently joined Butzel Long and is based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He represents companies in complex corporate and technology transactions. He specializes in licensing and outsourcing of business processes, information technology, and related sourcing services. He served as a Special Assistant to Admiral H.G. Rickover, director, Division of Naval Reactors in the Department of Energy.  He is a member of the American Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar and Virginia Bar Associations: Sections on Business, Energy, Science and Technology and International Association of Outsourcing Professionals In 2013. He is a recipient of the District of Columbia Bar and ABA Pro Bono Awards. Whitfield earned two BS from University of Virginia. He received a J.D., from Georgetown University, where he was editor of The International Law Journal, and an MBA from George Washington University.