Cooley Law School Board of Directors Chair Mitchell Zajac Named to Crain’s Detroit Business 2025 Class Of ’40 Under 40’

Cooley Law School’s Board of Directors Chair Mitchell Zajac has been named to Crain’s Detroit Business 2025 Class of “40 Under 40,” which highlights CEOs, founders, innovators, community champions and others younger than 40 who are making significant impacts. Zajac will be recognized during a reception on Nov. 20 at The Department at Hudson’s in Detroit.

Zajac, who was elected as board chair in June 2024, is an attorney and shareholder with Butzel Attorneys and Counselors. His extensive legal practice focuses on automotive, intellectual property, regulatory and emissions compliance. Additionally, he has substantial experience in commercial litigation, transactional matters, counseling, and negotiating successful resolutions in a variety of sectors, for large corporations and entities of all sizes.

His experience is comprised of commercial automotive advising, including supply chain disputes for light-duty, commercial vehicle, after-market, and remanufacturing suppliers; non-disclosure, joint-development, and public-private-partnership agreements in a variety of industries, including automotive, defense, and construction; product warranty and cost-recovery; product safety and compliance; emissions certification and compliance; international trade and customs, including United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement matters, Section 301 China tariffs, Section 232 steel and aluminum, and IEEPA tariffs; and e-discovery.

Zajac, a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, joined Cooley’s Board of Directors in 2020 and was elected vice chair in 2022. He also is a member of the WMU Alumni Association Board of Directors, and a member of the WMU Lee Honors College Dean’s Advisory Board. Additionally, Zajac is a member of the Michigan Chapter of the American Inns of Court and the Detroit Bar Association.