By BTL Staff
GRAND RAPIDS – Michigan State Bar members will assemble this month to honor and present awards to top legal professionals in the state.
State Bar of Michigan members will gather Sept. 17 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids to honor 15 Michigan Bar members. The DeBoer attorneys will be amongst a group of 12 State Bar of Michigan lawyers awarded for excellence in the field.
The DeBoer v Snyder team consisting of four attorneys – Kenneth M. Mogill, Dana M. Nessel, Robert A. Sedler and Carole M. Stanyar – will be awarded the Champion of Justice Award. They worked largely on a pro bono basis and served as a model for superior lawyering. For eight days of testimony, these four represented the plaintiffs April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, the Mich. couple seeking to jointly adopt their three children.
The team celebrated a landmark victory on March 21 when Judge Bernard A. Friedman struck down Michigan's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Friedman was the first judge to not issue a stay on his ruling. However, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay the following day on March 22.
The case was presented to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Aug. 6 along with same-sex marriage cases from three other states. The country is currently awaiting the decision.
