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MAMA Honors Attorney Don M. Schmidt By Teresa Cajot The William L. Steude Ethics and Civility in Government Award was presented to Don M. Schmidt, of Miller Canfield, on October 4, 2011 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The award, which was presented at the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys (MAMA) luncheon, was initially created to recognize achievements in local government ethics and civility.
Schmidt was nominated by Dennis Perkins, a Howell City Attorney, who has relied on Schmidt for guidance on a number of complicated legal matters related to public entities. “I, like many of my brother and sister attorneys in municipal law have relied on Don over the years as it related to issues concerning the Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings in particular. I look upon Don as the guru for legal advice and assistance with respect to those two acts,” Perkins wrote in his nomination letter. MAMA and the Michigan Municipal League also honored Schmidt with the 2009 Distinguished Attorney Award, which acknowledges achievements in the representation of municipal interests. He has also been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America since 2007 and as a Michigan Super Lawyer since 2008. Schmidt, a principal in Miller Canfield’s Kalamazoo office, serves public entities of all kinds, in meeting the legal regulations of a public agency. He specializes in economic development projects, intergovernmental agreements, PA 425 conditional land transfers, annexation, municipal utility issues, FOIA, Open Meetings Act issues, elections, construction contracts, and contracting matters.
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He served as a city attorney for Kalamazoo in the late 1980s and as a Deputy City Attorney from 1973 to 1977. He clerked for the Honorable Judge John W. Fitzgerald, Chief Judge Pro Tem, Michigan Court of Appeals, following his graduation from Wayne State University. He is frequently called upon as a presenter on the topics of FOIA and Open Meetings and has also been published on these topics. In addition to holding membership with the American Bar Association and the Legal Defense Fund, Schmidt has also served as the President of the Kalamazoo County Bar Association and the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys. In the past, he also held the position of the Chairperson of the Public Corporation Law Section for the State Bar of Michigan and for the Michigan Municipal League. The William L. Steude Ethics and Civility in Government Award was established to honor the memory of William L. Steude, who served as general counsel of the Michigan Municipal League. Honorees are ultimately selected the Board of Directors of the Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys and the president and executive director of the Michigan Municipal League.
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