Top Rated Business Litigation Attorney in Bloomfield Hills, MI

Honors/Awards:

• Super Lawyers, Rising Star, 2010-2012
• dBusiness Magazine, Top Woman Lawyer
• Ms. MacWilliams was chosen as one of the 2013 "Michigan Lawyers Weekly Up & Coming Lawyers.", Michigan Lawyers Weekly Up & Coming Lawyers, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, 2013
• Super Lawyers, Super Lawyer, 2013-2018
• Avvo, Client’s Choice Award, 2017
• Ms MacWilliams has been honored to be selected as a SuperLawyer every year since 2011 and has also been listed as a top Michigan women attorneys in Hour Detroit Magazine for business litigation every year since 2013, Hour Detroit Top Women Attorneys, Hour Detroit, 2013
• Super Lawyers, Top 50 Woman Lawyer, 2017-2018
• ​Fellow, Michigan State Bar

Bar/Professional Activity:

• Women Lawyers Association, 2017
• State of Oregon
• United States Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan
• Oakland County Real Estate Law Committee, Member
• State of Michigan
• United States District Court, Western District of Michigan
• United States Federal Circuit Court of Appeals
• Oakland County Bar Association, 2011
• Oakland County Inns of Court, 2017
• United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
• United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana
• United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals

Pro bono/Community Service:

• Birmingham Covington School Elementary Team Coach, Destination Imagination, 2017
• Nominated for and accepted into Fellows of the Michigan State Bar 
• Case evaluator for Oakland County Circuit and District Courts

Scholarly Lectures/Writings:

• Co-authored ICLE publication regarding rules for attorneys moving between law firms, Co-Author, Changing Law Firms Ethically, ICLE, 2017
• Together with Todd Mendel of Barris, Sott, Denn and Driker, Ms. MacWilliams published an article in the Michigan Bar Journal addressing how to recover attorney fees pursuant to fee-shifting rules, contract provisions and statutes, Co-Author, Recovering Attorney Fees and Costs: What You Need to Know, 2014
• Sara K. MacWilliams and Jason D. Killips jointly published an article in the Fall 2016 Michigan Business Law Journal entitled Court-Appointed Receivers: Clarification of Powers. The article addressed an appeal that the two attorneys successfully took to the Michigan Court of Appeals in November of 2015, Co-Author, Court-appointed Receivers: Clarification of Powers, 2016
• Article regarding managing disputes between co-owners of commercial property, Author, Shareholder Disputes in the Commercial Property Context
• Co-author (with Anissa Hudy), Choices...Choices...Choices: Who is the Right Receiver, Feb. 16, 2018, 2018
• Co-author (with Anissa Hudy), Placing Control of Your Property with a Receiver: What Business and Property Owners Need to Know, Part I, Feb. 9, 2018
• Co-author, Changing Law Firms—Ethically, Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Sept. 2017
• Co-author, Court-Appointed Receivers: Clarification of Powers, Michigan Business Law Journal, Fall 2016
• Author, The Executive’s Testimony: Hot Topics in Litigation, ExecSense, 2015
• Co-author, Recovering Attorney Fees and Costs: What You Need to Know, Michigan Bar Journal, Sept. 2014 

Verdicts/Settlements:

• Closed on complex real estate transaction involving mulit-family property. , 2019
• Settled $100,000 shareholder dispute. , 2018
• Succesfully obtained full payment on multiple claims by large Toyota dealership, 2018
• [Party names withheld] In July of 2016, Ms. MacWilliams was part of a team that negotiated a $3.6 million settlement of a complex litigation involving three interrelated lawsuits and five parties, which was originally filed in 2013. The favorable settlement was paid over six months, with the transaction successfully closing in January of 2017, 2016
• Succesfully represented real estate owner against six figure challenge by former partner for damages related to lost opportunity. Obtained order refuting all claims. , 2018
• Settled $500,000 shareholder and related contract dispute for corporation at substantial discount and without litigation. , 2019
• In April of 2017, Ms. MacWilliams successfully resolved a $60,000 collection suit with the case dismissed and her client receiving legal fees, 2017
• Local counsel in merger and acquisition dispute involving eight law firms around the country and which settled favorably within three months of the original filing, 2018
• On July 22, 2010, a jury in Oakland County Circuit Court awarded $4.5 million to Young & Associates' client, TheraMatrix Physical Therapy. Ms. MacWilliams was second chair counsel throughout the case and trial. The case has since been covered in numerous media outlets. On December 2, 2011, Young & Associates won an aggressively fought commercial contract suit on behalf of Coupled Products, LLC against Navistar, Inc. Navistar counterclaimed for extensive damages, but Coupled Products won all damages claimed plus attorney fees and costs. Ms. MacWilliams was third counsel and responsible for extensive trial preparation, including witness preparation, motions in limine, jury instructions and arguments, verdict form argument, and trial motions, 2010
• In September of 2017, Ms. MacWilliams resolved a $5.5 million foreclosure and related shareholder dispute with a settlement involving the successful sale of six commercial properties and related business, 2017
• Settled and collected full payment on commercial property dispute involving complex machinery, where contractors failed to timely and competently complete a build-out and the ultimately successful business was delayed in opening for six months, 2018
• Represented multi-million dollar company in threatened shareholder litigation, settling case before any pleadings were filed and keeping dispute fully confidential, 2018
• [Names withheld] In January of 2017, Ms. MacWilliams successfully settled a partnership dispute with no written partnership agreement, for $300,000, 2017
• In May of 2017, Ms. MacWilliams was part of the team that successfully resolved two class actions involving breach of fiduciary duties, 2017
• Successfully represented an accounting firm in breach of contractual non-compete case where the business seller breached a non-compete commitment mid-way through the term and the defendant refused in two facilitations to put money on the table, 2018

Transactions:

• Represented foreign machinery manufacturer in the process of preparing to do business within Michigan, obtaining an appropriate commercial building, and finalizing a line of credit to fund new operations, 2018
• Negotiated and closed sale of franchise, 2017
• Negotiated and finalized sale of commercial property for medical marijuana business, 2018
• Managed and closed commercial property re-finance of mortgage and simultaneous settlement of multiple guaranty obligations, avoiding foreclosure and managing numerous shareholder disputes, 2018
• Negotiated and finalized commercial property sales agreement for international supplier and prepared company for business operations within Michigan, 2018
• Closed settlement of mortgage foreclosure/shareholder/alleged mismanagement dispute with over $15 million net to shareholders, 2018
• Negotiated and closed sale of commercial property portfolio, 2017
• Managed and closed commercial property re-finance and settlement of multiple guaranty obligations in commercial property with mature mortgage and looming foreclosure, 2018
• Negotiated and prepared independent sales representative agreements for mid-sized company with numerous trade secrets and issued patents, managing business interests and the critical protection of valuable company information, 2018
• Negotiated and closed sale of LLC interests in various commercial properties, 2016
• Negotiated and finalized lease of commercial property re-zoned for marijuana use, 2018
• Negotiated and prepared sales representative standard form agreement for medical company with sales nationwise, 2018

Representative Clients:

• Litigation counsel for large trucking company
• General counsel for multi-family housing complex with multiple investor owners 
• Macley Auto Group, LLC, 2018
• General counsel for real estate investment group 
• Wright Steel 
• Page Toyota Imports, Inc., 2018
• ANYI Management Company, LLC 
• The Rest Institute, LLC, 2018
• TheraMatrix, Inc. and TheraMatrix Physical Therapy Network, LLC
• Page Toyota and Page Honda of Bloomfield 
• GRL Properties, LLC 

Educational Background:

• Kalamazoo College, B.A., History and Chinese, summa cum laude, 2001
• One Year Foreign Student Degree, Beijing Language and Culture University, 2000