Clark Hill Attorney Jeffrey A. Steele to Speak at Mid-Winter Conference of the Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar of Michigan

DETROIT , MI – Clark Hill attorney Jeffrey A. Steele will speak Saturday, January 31, 2009 at the Mid-Winter Conference of the Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar of Michigan. Mr. Steele will give an update of employment-related, equal opportunity cases from across the county in 2008. For registration and more information, please visit www.michbar.org .

Jeffrey A. Steele represents management in all aspects of employment and labor law.  He defends employers in state and federal court actions against age, sex, race, national origin, pregnancy and disability discrimination claims, as well as claims alleging wrongful discharge, First Amendment retaliation, employment torts, negligent hire and retention, and breach of contract.  Mr. Steele also represents management and executives in commercial disputes involving non-competition agreements, trade secret usage and misappropriation, confidentiality agreements, fiduciary duty and sales commissions.

Mr. Steele creates and revises employment policies, including non-competition agreements, confidentiality agreements, non-solicitation agreements, anti-harassment policies, employee manuals, independent contractor agreements and employment applications.

Mr. Steele regularly publishes an annual survey of state and federal employment law for the Michigan State Bar, the Oakland County Bar Association, and the Institute of Continuing Legal Education .  He writes a quarterly column summarizing developments in the Eastern District of Michigan for the Labor and Employment Section of the Michigan State Bar Association and has published seminar papers on arbitration law, non-competition law, public employer speech, direct evidence and sexual harassment law.  He has also lectured on various employment-related matters before entities such as the Labor and Employment Section of the Michigan State Bar Association, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, the Michigan Public Employer Labor Relations Association, the Oakland County Bar Association and the Institute of Continuing Legal Education .

Mr. Steele graduated magna cum laude from John Carroll University in 1991, and received his law degree, magna cum laude , from the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law in 1994.

At John Carroll University , Mr. Steele was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Jesuit Honor Society, the political science honor society and received the Dean’s Award for excellence in debate. He also played on the school's hockey team.

In law school, Mr. Steele was an Article and Book Review Editor of the University of Detroit Mercy Law Review and a member of the Moot Court Board of Directors. He participated in two national moot court competitions and won the G. Mennen Williams Moot Court Competition in 1992. He was inducted into the Justice Frank Murphy Honor Society and the Order of the Barristers.

Mr. Steele also served as the Law Clerk to the Honorable Richard Allen Griffin, and as a Prehearing Attorney for the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Mr. Steele is a member of the American Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Section and the ABA ’s EEO Sub Committee. He is also a member of the Labor and Employment Section of the Michigan State Bar Association and the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association.

Since 1890, Clark Hill PLC has been serving the business, government, non-profit and personal needs of clients throughout the country. With offices in Detroit , Birmingham , Grand Rapids , and Lansing , Michigan , Chicago , Phoenix , and Washington , DC , Clark Hill is a full service law firm with more than 190 attorneys. For more information, visit www.clarkhill.com .