Brooks Kushman announced today that Phyllis G. Morey has joined the law firm as head of Commercial Litigation and e-Discovery Compliance and will spearhead the firm`s expanded focus of these key areas. The announcement was made by Ernie L. Brooks, president and managing partner.
“Through Phyllis`s extensive experience and focus on commercial litigation, Brooks Kushman will further develop a practice area that has not been in the forefront at our firm in the past,” Brooks said. “She will also assist in expanding our e-discovery offering – which is a natural fit for our expertise as a technology-based firm and is gaining more attention due to recent discovery changes regarding electronically stored information.”
Morey has more than 25 years of legal experience as in-house counsel and as a litigator in private and government practices. Prior to joining Brooks Kushman in early January 2007, she served as vice president, chief litigation and compliance counsel at Lear Corp. in Southfield, Mich.
While at Lear, she had oversight responsibility for litigation and arbitration matters, including intellectual property, commercial, product liability and employment. She also designed and implemented the infrastructure for legal and regulatory compliance oversight. She was responsible for the development of records management policies and the implementation of information management systems to ensure readiness for e-discovery in litigation. She also provided advice and counseling in connection with contract negotiations.
Prior to Lear, Morey worked at Ford Motor Co. where she served as the director of the Global Compliance Office and implemented compliance programs and activities, and coordinated internal audits and investigations. In previous positions at Ford, she supervised commercial litigation, dealer terminations and employment litigation cases. She also coordinated the company`s responses to government investigations initiated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and coordinated discovery in class actions.
Prior to Ford, Morey served as in-house counsel for Ameritech (now AT&T), and she was a partner at Pepper, Hamilton & Scheetz.
Immediately after graduating from law school, she held positions of increasing responsibility, including serving as a judicial law clerk to federal judges in Tennessee and Ohio and as assistant U.S. attorney in the United States Attorney`s office, Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit.
Morey has been actively involved in a number of professional associations, including serving on various committees for the Federal Bar Association. She also has served on the board of directors for various non-profit organizations. She currently serves as a board member for Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit.
She earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville, Tenn. and her bachelor`s degree from Memphis State University in Memphis, Tenn.
