DETROIT (Sept. 24, 2009) - The 2009 issue of Michigan Super Lawyers magazine has placed Wayne Law at the top of its list of law schools whose graduates are among the most accomplished in the state. According to the magazine, 347 --or 24 percent -- of Michigan's top lawyers are Wayne Law graduates.

Four of the Top 10 Michigan Super Lawyers for 2009 are Wayne Law alumni: WSU Governor Eugene Driker, Barris Sott Denn & Driker; Daniel J. Bretz, Clark Hill; E. Powell Miller, The Miller Law Firm; and Jon R. Muth, Miller Johnson. All four have appeared on the Super Lawyers list every year since 2006.

In addition, 14 of the Top 50 Women Michigan Super Lawyers are also Wayne Law alumni: Tracy Lee Allen, Bodman LLP; Judy B. Calton, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP; Bernadette M. Dennehy, Dickinson Wright PLLC; Susan K. Friedlaender, Berry Reynolds & Rogowski, PC; Elizabeth P. Hardy, Kienbaum Opperwall Hardy & Pelton PLC; Anna M. Maiuri, Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone PLC; Aleksandra A. Miziolek, Dykema Gossett PLLC; Margaret J. Nichols, Nichols, Sacks, Slank, Sendelbach & Buiteweg, PC; Carol A. Rosati, Johnson, Rosati, LaBarge, Aseltyne & Field, PC; Linda S. Ross, Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP; Mary Massaron Ross, Plunkett Cooney; Noreen L. Slank, Collins Einhom Farrell & Ulanoff, PC; Wendy L. Zabriskie, Bodman LLP; and Susan H. Zitterman, Kitch Drutchas Wagner Valitutti & Sherbrook.

In a letter to alumni and friends, Wayne Law Dean Robert M. Ackerman said "I believe that this listing says a great deal about our law school. Year in, year out, Wayne Law graduates are leaders of the bar, in Michigan and elsewhere. And it is easy to see why. Our students are bright, mature, conscientious, and altruistic. They understand that anything they achieve will be the product of hard work. Our faculty are superb teachers, whose nationally and internationally recognized scholarship adds depth to our students' understanding of legal theory, doctrine, and practice. Our students and faculty are engaged in the community and the profession, demonstrating that the worlds of academia and practice can be effectively linked. This mixture of motivation and expertise has produced several generations of superb lawyers."

Two Wayne Law alumni were also profiled in the magazine: Robert A. Castelli, CEO of Kemp Klein in Troy, who is also in his seventh term as mayor of Pleasant Ridge, MI; and Kelly Allen, a liquor-control law expert at Adkison, Need & Allen.

Super Lawyers is a listing of exceptional lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Following Wayne Law in this year's list of top law schools are, in order: the University of Michigan Law School, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, Michigan State University College of Law, Thomas M. Cooley School of Law, Harvard Law School, University of Notre Dame Law School, University of Toledo College of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, and Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Super Lawyers is published as a special supplement in leading newspapers and city and regional magazines across the country. Polling, research and selection are performed by Law & Politics, a publication of Key Professional Media, Inc. Law & Politics has been publishing legal magazines since 1990 and Super Lawyers since 1991.

About Wayne Law
Wayne State University Law School has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit's re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media and distance learning classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.