Butzel Long attorneys featured during Detroit Startup Week panel program
DETROIT, Mich. – Butzel Long attorneys Geaneen M. Arends and Paul M. Mersino will participate in a panel program on May 25, 2016 during Detroit StartUp Week, a five-day entrepreneurship conference.
Arends and Mersino will participate in a panel discussion titled “How to Scale Smart.” Panelists will discuss the basics to build a company designed to grow from the start. Other featured speakers include Durand F. Davis, Jr., Founder and CEO, LavLabs; Amy Swift, Founder, Building Hugger; and, Justin Anderson of Solidea Capital.
Geaneen Arends
Based in the firm’s Detroit office, Arends concentrates her practice on general business law and commercial real estate.
She assists business clients with general business planning, entity formation and maintenance, mergers, acquisitions, private placements, woman-owned/minority-owned/disadvantaged business certification, insurance and risk management issues and general business contracts.
She has advised business clients on a variety of real estate transactions, including acquisition, development and leasing of multi-family residential, retail, office and industrial properties throughout the United States. She has represented both borrowers and lenders in multi-million dollar real estate financing transactions.
Arends was recently recognized by the Association of Corporate Growth – Detroit for 2015 M&A Deal of the Year over $50M and by the M&A Advisor for Cross-Border M&A Deal of the Year (over $50MM – $100MM).
She serves on the Board of Trustees for the Detroit Educational Television Foundation/ Detroit Public Television (DPTV) and on the Board of Board of Trustees for the Detroit Historical Society. At the same time, she serves on the Steering Committee for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Classical Roots Celebration.
She also serves on the Board of Directors, and is the immediate past Chair of the Board, for Michigan Community Resources (formerly known as Community Legal Resources), a non-profit organization that provides technical assistance and free legal services to non- profit organizations revitalizing and bringing economic development to underserved communities in Detroit and throughout Michigan.
Arends was named as one of Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s Women in the Law, 2014. She is an alumna of Leadership Detroit, Class XXVII.
Paul M. Mersino
Based in Butzel Long’s Detroit office, Mersino is a member of Butzel Long’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group. He concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation, contract disputes, non-competition and trade secret disputes, and other business litigation matters. He also represents and advises several startup companies, assisting them with their legal needs and matching them with potential venture capital funding. He has served as a mentor to startup business incubators and accelerators, sat on the board of directors of a startup company, and served on a board of advisors for a venture capital group.
He has been recognized as a Michigan Super Lawyers Rising Star in Business Litigation every year since 2012. He also has handled matters and advised companies in nearly every state in the country. Mersino has had articles published in Crain’s Detroit Business, Corp! Magazine, and in Law Reviews and nation-wide publications, both on topics concerning Startups as well as companies’ needs to protect their Trade Secrets.
Mersino is very active in the community. He currently is the President of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association, Barrister’s Section and serves as an advisor to the Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Litigation Advisory Board. He was recently a member of Leadership Oakland and was recognized last year by L. Brooks Patterson as one of Oakland County’s Elite 40 under 40.
