Cooley Law School Distinguished Professor Emeritus Marla Mitchell-Cichon, along with two Cooley graduates, have been selected to Michigan Lawyers Weekly’s 2024 Class of Influential Women of the Law. A recognition ceremony will be held on Sept. 27, at Petruzzello’s in Troy.
Each year, the Women of the Law program honors 35 women attorneys and judges for their excellent work on behalf of the justice system and for their clients, their commitment to their communities, and their service to the profession.
In addition to teaching professional responsibility at Cooley, Mitchell-Cichon served as director of Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project, which she currently serves as counsel. Before joining the academia profession, Mitchell-Cichon served as a public defender for two years in Stark County, Ohio. In this role, she practiced extensively in criminal and poverty law. She has litigated cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Ohio Supreme Court, the Michigan Supreme Court, and trial and appellate courts in both Ohio and Michigan, and worked on legislative reform to improve the criminal justice system.
In addition to Mitchell-Cichon, Cooley graduates Amanda Barfield Fopma (2012, Marion Hilligan Class) executive partner at Secrest Wardle in Grand Rapids; and Valerie Anne Kutz-Otway (2010, Augustus B. Woodward Class), managing attorney at Chalgian & Tripp Law Office in Saginaw will be recognized during a recognition ceremony on Sept. 27, at Petruzzello’s in Troy.