WI!

ALAN ABRAMS
Special to The Jewish News

Joel Adelman's
arguments with lawyers
are moving from the
courtroom
the board room.

C

ome July 1, Joel S. Adelman
will become only the second
CEO in the history of
Honigman Miller Schwartz
and Cohn, one of Detroit's largest law
firms.
The role and function of a chief
executive officer at a law firm is not all
that different from that of a major
corporation.
And Honigman Miller is a close
equivalent. The firm occupies five
floors in downtown Detroit's First
National Building, which they've filled
with 167 practicing lawyers (there are
an additional 18 in their Lansing
offices) and a support staff of 350.
The firm utilizes additional space in
the building for storage. Their confer-
ence room, used for staff meetings,
can accommodate several hundred
people.
Adelman is one of the firm's two •
original vice chairmen. Alan Stuart
Schwartz, president of Shaarey Zedek,
is the other. (Alan E. Schwartz, former
president of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit, is also a mem-
ber of the firm.)
Adelman will succeed William
Hochkammer, who although stepping
down as CEO, will remain on the
firm's 15-member board. Adelman's
successor as vice chairman has not yet
been named.
Adelman has spent his entire law
career at Honigman Miller, which he
joined in 1967 after graduation from
the University of Michigan Law
School. His career illustrates the firm's
growth: When Adelman was hired, he
was one of only 17 lawyers.
Honigman Miller is a general busi-
ness practice. It is easier to list the
things the firm doesn't do (with some
exceptions): personal injury work,
workman's compensation and divorce.
They have one of the largest real
estate departments in the state and a
large corporate department. The firm
handles estate planning, taxes, pro-
bate, labor and health care law.
By specialization, Adelthan is a real
estate lawyer, having represented many
leading area builders and developers,
including Gilbert "Buzz" Silverman
and the Silverman Companies;
Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust;
e,y, the Taubman Company; Puke Homes
x v and
an Schostak Brothers. Honigm
Honigman
••T. Miller also represents, non-exclusively,
automobile giants General Motors and
g Ford, as well as a number of leading