OCTOBER 20 • 2022 | 33
P
rominent Detroit-area lawyer
Ira Jaffe’s official retirement
was brief. As he explains it, “I
view doing very little as purgatory.”
After retiring last year from Jaffe,
Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, the Southfield-
based law firm that he founded
in 1968, Jaffe, 81, was doing some
consulting for families and businesses
concerning succession planning and
wealth transition — his particular
areas of interest. But last month he
joined the powerhouse law firm of
Honigman LLP as distinguished
counsel. “I love working,” Jaffe says,
and he seeks “enjoyable ways to make
a difference.”
“Ira was ready to do something
different, and I was ready to try
something new,” says
Honigman CEO and Chair
David Foltyn, adding
that other prominent
individuals, including
the late U.S. Sen. Carl
Levin, have served the
firm as distinguished
counsel.
Foltyn says that it took less than two
weeks to put together Jaffe’s affiliation
with Honigman. “We were excited to
do it with him. We love having him
in the firm, sharing his brilliance and
expertise,” he says.
Jaffe will focus on his special
areas of expertise and interest —
charitable foundations, family business
succession, wealth plans and charitable
giving. In addition, Foltyn expects to
turn to Jaffe for assistance because of
his experience in starting and building
a big law firm.
“We are honored to have Ira join
Honigman as distinguished counsel, a
special Honigman status reserved for
attorneys who are widely recognized
in the legal and business communities
as preeminent practitioners,” Foltyn
says.
Honigman LLP has more than
330 attorneys at multiple offices in
Michigan, Chicago and Washington,
D.C.
In addition to his former role as law
firm CEO, Jaffe served as CEO and
president of The Fisher Group, the
Max and Marjorie Fisher family office,
until 2019. He has been active with the
Norman and Esther Allen Foundation,
which focuses on helping the elderly
Orthodox community. Jaffe is trustee
emeritus of the Fred A. and Barbara
M. Erb Foundation.
Jaffe enjoys “helping families with
transition including wealth transfer.
Family businesses need to consider
the future by asking ‘What is the
succession plan? Is it the right time to
sell? Are there appropriate managers
in place?’”
He enjoys helping families consider
wealth and tax issues. “Some want
to spend it all themselves and don’t
want to transfer so much to the next
generation. There are no right or
wrong choices. Everyone is different,”
he says.
Jaffe explains that some wealthy
individuals may give large charitable
gifts or establish donor-advised
funds with the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit or the
Community Foundation of Southeast
Michigan.
“Some want their own foundations
— they want to see the good that is
achieved and participate. It can be a
way to interface with the second and
third generations — to engage them in
good deeds.”
Jaffe will be based at Honigman’s
Bloomfield Hills office but may open
an office in Florida for Honigman.
Jaffe and his wife, Brenda, longtime
members of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, spend much of the year in
Naples. Fortunately, they were not
there during Hurricane Ian.
“Ira has more than 50 years of
experience working with and advising
some of the nation’s most sophisticated
and successful individuals, businesses,
foundation and nonprofit community
organizations, a background and skill
set that will prove invaluable to the
many Honigman clients he will come
to serve,” Foltyn says.
BUSINESS
Ira Jaffe is named distinguished counsel
at Honigman Law Firm.
Not Ready to Retire
David
Foltyn
SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Ira Jaffe