Ohio University alum Justin G. Klimko ’97HTC History told the Detroit Free Press that research and development and entrepreneurship are keeping the region at the heart of auto industry in an article on “Leaders of old Detroit law firm ebullient about region.”
Butzel Long, a 160-year-old law firm in Detroit, has long had ties to the auto industry — and attorneys, who have had prominent roles in business and politics.
“We’re always going to need lawyers,” said Justin Klimko, the firm’s president. “Any society that has rules is going to need someone to interpret those rules.”
The 140-lawyer firm — named after partners Leo Butzel and Thomas Long — initially focused on representing Great Lakes shipping concerns, but grew as the area and industries in it did as well.
The firm was so significant that at in 1884, one of its attorneys with a national reputation managed Grover Cleveland’s presidential campaign. The lawyer later became postmaster general.
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