Nick Dondzila

With a background in finance and accounting, and with specialized training in business valuation, Paul helps clients determine the value of privately held business interests, often in high-stakes, complex and (sometimes) contentious shareholder and family law disputes. Business valuation expertise is critical to his clients with respect to shareholder and governance issues, shareholders looking to exit companies who either have or lack liquidity rights, families in multi-generational business...

Leslee Lewis provides legal advice to businesses (from privately held to Fortune 500), banks, nonprofits, and municipalities on matters such as business organization and governance, qualification and licensing of nonprofit entities, financing, contracts, consulting agreements, asset purchases, multi-million dollar loan originations and modifications, real estate purchasing and disposition, construction and development, secured transactions and mortgages, leases, title, conservation easements,...

Jeff chairs Varnum's employee benefits practice group. He has 25 years of experience working with employers, executives and third-party administrators on a wide range of employee benefit, executive compensation and individual retirement matters, including plan design, plan administration, benefit plan disputes and tax planning for retirement. He also helps solve complex tax issues in business and investment transactions, especially those involving pass-through entities and oil and gas activit...

Steven R. Ryan has been practicing law since 1987. In addition to serving on the management committee, he is the chair of the firm’s Healthcare Reimbursement Group. The group works with hospitals, health systems, and medical providers to provide litigation and counseling on reimbursement issues. Mr. Ryan belongs to the American Bar Association, State Bar of Michigan, and Federal Bar Association. He is a member of the Grand Rapids Bar Association and served on the Clerkship Committee. He...

Mr. Mitchell focuses his practice on intellectual property procurement, licensing and enforcement in the areas of consumer products, automotive products, life sciences and medical devices. He has represented biochemical producers, manufacturers of food products, sporting goods and building products, food service franchisors, consumer product companies, medical device manufacturers, automotive parts suppliers, clothing manufacturers, national consumer products’ retailers and online servi...

Joan is a member of the Financial Services Practice Group. She represents commercial lenders and asset-based lenders (including banks) in documenting, negotiating and closing numerous commercial loan transactions, including working capital and formula-based loans; real estate acquisition and development loans; and leveraged buy-out financing. She also represents lenders in connection with borrower insolvencies, loan restructurings and workouts, banks in various matters concerning regulatory c...

Fred is a member of the Estate Planning Practice Group. He has been assisting his clients with their estate planning needs since he first began his practice, and he has during that time handled a wide variety of estate settlements and estate settlement issues. His particular focus is on counseling clients on techniques to minimize estate and gift taxes, and drafting the documents to accomplish that objective. Fred is also a trusted personal advisor to many of the families he has worked with o...

Although Jim's legal practice is broad, much of his work involves conflict resolution. He often represents businesses and individuals who find themselves in crisis – they may have been named as a defendant in a lawsuit, have a disagreement over a contract, or have a dispute with a tenant. Jim's role is to learn as much as possible about the legal problem and the individuals involved, help his client understand the potential consequences, weigh potential solutions, and assist the client ...

Scott M. Watson is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Environmental Law and Litigation - Environmental. Scott M., who practices law in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Scott M. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Harvey Koning is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group and is active in the firm’s Financial Institutions Industry group. He works with a wide variety of businesses, from start-ups to public companies. He represents companies involved in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and also initial and secondary public offerings. Harvey’s corporate practice also includes private equity, venture capital, securities regulation and executive compensation. He works extensively with a numbe...