Members

Mr. Nussbaumer is Associate Dean at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, directing its Auburn Hills campus. A former assistant defender at SADO, Dean Nussbaumer is a Michigan Supreme Court appointee to the Michigan Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, a member of the ABA Council on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline, served as reporter to both Michigan and 6th Circuit criminal jury instruction committees, and was an initiator of Cooley’s Innocence Project.

Mr. Cranmer, a former President of the State Bar of Michigan, is a Principal and Managing Director of Miller Canfield, Michigan’s largest law firm. With more than 35 years of courtroom experience, Mr. Cranmer’s practice focuses largely on white-collar criminal defense, complex commercial litigation and arbitration/facilitation matters. Over the years, he has repeatedly been recognized as one of Michigan’s leading trial lawyers.

Ms. Gracey is a prominent attorney with a diversified practice that includes defense of state and federal criminal defendants, centered in her Sylvan Lake office. A former president of the Oakland County Bar Association, Ms. Gracey has served on the State Bar of Michigan’s Criminal Justice Task Force and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

John T. Hammond is a retired Circuit Judge who served for over 40 years as a Michigan Judge. He also served as a Prosecuting Attorney, Representative Assembly member and as Chair of the Criminal Law Section. He now is a member of the Criminal Jury Instruction Committee and is an Appellate Defender Commissioner.

Doug Messing has worked for the Michigan Court of Appeals since 1989. He is currently the assistant director of the Research Division. He previously worked at the Court as a prehearing attorney, a judicial law clerk, a senior research attorney, and as supervisor of the senior research attorneys. He also previously worked as an attorney in private practice. He received his law degree from the Detroit College of Law in 1985.

Mr. McNeill, 2011 President-Elect of the Federal Bar Association (Eastern District), is Practice Manager of the Commercial Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Department of Dickinson Wright, the state’s fourth-largest law firm. Mr. McNeill has represented a large number of prominent companies and firms in securities and ERISA class actions, SEC investigations, and other business matters. Having tried 34 cases to verdict or award, he has compiled a record of winning 33 of those cases.