LAWCrossing EMPLOYMENTCROSSING | BUSINESSDEVELOPMENTCROSSING The most jobs jobs— — anywhere
Law Job Star
Ginny Mikita -Honored as one of Michigan’s Top 10 Lawyers with Passion This article talks about Ginny K. Mikita, who several years after law school went into a law firm in Michigan where she practiced animal law and eventually created two amendments to animal law in Michigan. During her years at the firm she was honored as one of the Top 10 Lawyers in Michigan in 1998 for her work with cases in animal rights law.
Attorney Ginny Mikita earned her undergraduate degree from Florida University in Economics. As one of her last classes she took Contemporary Moral Issues and this class changed her life direction when she was assigned to read the work of Peter Singer entitled ‘’Animal Liberation.’’ After graduating from Florida University in 1985 she spent three years working in corporate lending. However, the story of Peter Singer and his passion for animal liberation stayed with her all those years. She changed her direction and enrolled in Notre Dame Law School to become an animal rights lobbyist. She learned later that she didn’t need a law degree after all to be a lobbyist for animal rights. Nevertheless she graduated from law school in 1991 and accepted a position as clerk for the Honorable Joseph Scoville. The Honorable Judge Scoville was a federal magistrate judge in Michigan who Ginny Mikita approached for her first opportunity to respond to an article printed in the Michigan Bar Journal. It was a pro-hunting article and the judge was gracious to her request so Attorney Ginny K. Mikita made her first step towards being an ‘’animal attorney.’’ After Attorney Ginny Mikita finished two years clerking for Jude Scoville, she became in-house counsel for the Animal Legal Defense Fund in Washington D.C. and for PETA. After almost two years as counsel in D.C. she decided to return to Grand Rapids Michigan in 1994 where she was hired into the firm of Smith Haughey, Rice & Roegge PC. Attorney
Ginny Mikita was pleased that the firm supported her passion for animal rights law and in between cases for insurance companies she was able to take on animal law cases. Her greatest contribution was following a well-publicized case involving animal cruelty. She drafted two amendments for the misdemeanor animal cruelty law. The first amendment provided a way for humane organizations to require prepayment for animal care during the course of the trial. Alternatively the alleged abuser could give up his ownership of the animal before the trial takes place and owe nothing for the animal care. This made it easier to begin placement for the abused animal into a caring home or facility without abuse. The second amendment written by Attorney Ginny Mikita created harsher penalties for repeat abusers. After she drafted the amendments she was well-known as an animal attorney in Michigan and in 1998 was named Top Ten Lawyers in Michigan by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. In the year 2000 Attorney Ginny Mikita formed her own law firm and worked out of her home. She felt compelled to spend more time in her home with her children after the suicide of her 21 year old step son. The evolvement of her successful career as a sole practitioner is a remarkable story. Later her husband, who also graduated from Notre Dame, became her partner and today she is President of her firm which is named Mikita Kruse Law Center. She takes only cases that she enjoys and her walls are full of pictures from happy clients.
EmploymentCrossing is the largest collection of active jobs in the world. We continuously monitor the hiring needs of more than 250,000 employers, including virtually every corporation and organization in the United States. We do not charge employers to post their jobs and we aggressively contact and investigate thousands of employers each day to learn of new positions. No one works harder than EmploymentCrossing. Let EmploymentCrossing go to work for you.
PAGE
www.lawcrossing.com