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The Honigman Story
David Foltyn
H
onigman Miller Schwartz
and Cohn LLP, the largest law
firm in Metro Detroit and
Michigan, began humbly seven
decades ago when Jason Honigman and
his associate Jack Miller joined forces
with Alan E. Schwartz, with the intention
of building a significant law firm.
Today, with a talented team of nearly
300 lawyers, Honigman has the most
attorneys in both Southeast Michigan
and the state, and is headquartered
in Downtown Detroit (in its original
offices), and with offices in Bloomfield
Hills, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids,
Kalamazoo and Chicago. The firm serves
clients nationally and globally in more
than 60 areas of law, including corporate
and securities, mergers and acquisitions,
intellectual property, real estate, tax,
insurance, labor, Israeli/U.S. businesses,
matrimonial and family, and trusts and
estates. Honigman Chairman and CEO
David Foltyn noted that “we handled
180 merger and acquisition transactions
last year — which puts us in the top 10
or 11 law firms in the country. And we
did about 1,200 real estate transactions,
which would put us very high up nation-
ally, too.”
The firm began in Detroit in 1948 when
the late Jason Honigman hired the late
Jack Miller to join him in his thriving law
practice. Alan E. Schwartz joined them in
1952, when he returned to his hometown
from a prestigious Wall Street firm.
In the early 1950s, Jewish attorneys
were excluded from the city’s top law
firms, and local business institutions
would not hire Jewish attorneys. “Our
firm grew by hiring brilliant Jewish law
students from outstanding law schools
who were denied employment by ‘silk
stocking’ firms, and serving Jewish entre-
preneurs as clients, primarily in the retail
and real estate sectors,” Foltyn said.
In the firm’s early years, Honigman
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Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn has been serving the community for 70 years.
Miller and Schwartz were joined by the
late Irwin Cohn and his law firm, which
included son Avern Cohn, who would be
appointed a federal district court judge
in Detroit in 1979. Today, the Honigman
firm boasts a large, diverse attorney base
and clientele.
GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
Through Alan E. Schwartz’s leadership
and guidance, Honigman Miller Schwartz
and Cohn became very active in the
Jewish community and the civic affairs
of Detroit. Schwartz became one of the
city’s most prominent proponents, dedi-
cated to its progress and to the Detroit
Institute of Arts (DIA), the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra and many other
civic and community organizations.
Throughout the decades, the firm
has continued its tradition of com-
munity involvement and leadership,
with attorneys taking important roles
in the Downtown Detroit Partnership,
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the
Riverfront Conservancy, the United Way
and many others.
“One of the things we’re proudest of,”
Foltyn said, “is that a team of our lawyers
headed by Alan S. Schwartz [not related
to founder Alan E. Schwartz] represented
the DIA in the ‘Grand Bargain,’ which
allowed the DIA to survive Detroit’s
bankruptcy. The DIA is very dear to us, as
is the entire Detroit community.”
Honigman attorneys’ voluntary ser-
vice to the Jewish community is leg-
endary as well. “We’ve had many who
have served on boards and committees
of the Detroit Jewish Federation and
Jewish Foundation,” said Foltyn, who
is a vice president of Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township and a past chair
of Southfield-based JVS. “For instance,
Alan E. Schwartz, Avern Cohn and the
late David Page were all presidents of
Federation, and now Josh Operrer, who
runs Honigman’s Israeli initiative, is very
active in Federation, Jewish day schools
and the Jewish Fund.” Y
Honigman Miller Schwartz
and Cohn LLP
www.honigman.com