John Halan is an IP litigator who has extensive knowledge in patent, trade secret, and related commercial litigation. John M. Halan has been practicing with the intellectual property law firm of Brooks Kushman P.C. since 1990, where he has been a shareholder for many years and is the head of the firm`s trade secrets group. As a litigator, he specializes in high-stakes intellectual property litigation, including patent, trade secret, and related commercial litigation. He has tried many cases as lead or team trial counsel and has also successfully argued cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He also has considerable experience handling various matters before the PTAB, including inter partes reviews and appeals. In addition to litigation, John has negotiated and prepared numerous intellectual property and commercial agreements, including patent and technology license agreements. He has also prepared many infringement and validity patent opinions and has been called upon to act as a patent dispute mediator. As a licensed professional engineer, prior to attending law school and joining Brooks Kushman, John managed a number of industrial construction projects from initial design through to completion.

Fatima is dedicated to providing her clients with exceptional trademark and copyright protection. Her practice focuses on trademark and copyright clearance, prosecution, and enforcement. She works with clients in a variety of industries, including technology, entertainment, consumer products, sports, and hospitality. She regularly performs trademark clearance searches, prepares trademark applications, drafts identifications of goods and services, and responds to office actions. She also prepares cease and desist letters and files opposition proceedings for enforcement of existing trademark rights. Fatima first joined Brooks Kushman as a Summer Associate through the Wolverine Bar Association, while also serving as a judicial intern for the Honorable Avern Cohn in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Fatima holds a dual Juris Doctor and MBA from Michigan State University, cum laude, where she was the Senior Productions Editor for the Michigan State Law Review and a member of the Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Moot Court Competition. Fatima also attended the University of Michigan Dearborn to earn her Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and minor in Political Science. Outside of work, Fatima enjoys exploring new middle eastern recipes, gardening, and travelling.

Brad is a partner and member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Team, concentrating in commercial litigation in state and federal courts. He focuses his practice on commercial contract disputes, creditor’s rights and collections, landlord/tenant matters, construction lien litigation and other real estate disputes.

Melvin J. Babi serves as managing partner of Babi Legal Group, P.L.L.C., a respected general practice law firm in Birmingham, Michigan. In his private practice, Melvin advises consumers and small businesses in areas including business law, bankruptcy, debt-resolution, real estate law, corporate law, and criminal and civil litigation. Melvin also consults for various business clients providing expert advice on a broad range of legal, business, and compliance matters. As a business consultant Melvin oversees legal issues and best-practices for all departments, including consulting services, marketing, sales, finance, human resources, corporate governance, and business policy. Melvin's business consulting practice involves navigating through the complex legal landscape to achieve highly favorable outcomes. A trusted advisor and skillful advocate, he is known for impeccable ethics and astute handling of time-sensitive, business-critical, and confidential Information.

Personable but tough, Chris Chesney honed his legal litigation craft through years of special investigations litigation serving corporate clients. Chris prides himself on thinking outside of the box to create novel and winning arguments. Before Chris cut his teeth in the courts, he developed practical skills at the Michigan House of Representatives, advised business owners in South Africa, and conducted grassroots research in Scotland. Not every litigator understands what it’s like working on 70-foot-high scaffolding in a Houston oil refinery. Chris currently serves as an officer and Governing Council member for the State Bar of Michigan’s Litigation Section, serving as Treasurer for the 2,400-member section. He also presents at industry symposiums to continue his rise as a next-generation litigator. At Cronkhite Counsel, Chris serves as trial counsel using years of investigative work and real-world experience to outwork and outmaneuver opponents.

R.J. serves as a strategic partner and counselor to his clients and their business needs across multiple industries, including automotive, finance, health care, leasing, property development, real estate development, staffing, technology, and telecom. He prioritizes developing an intimate understanding of his clients’ unique goals and challenges and applies his deep knowledge of the law to ensure proactive and results-based legal counsel. A formidable and accomplished advocate, R.J. also acts as lead trial counsel when legal disputes arise after exhausting preventive measures. Clients describe R.J. as an engaged litigator whose attention to detail, tenacity, and professionalism set him apart from other counsel. He obtains cost-effective results by quickly digging into the facts and leveraging the results in favor of his clients. R.J. previously served as chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s 2,300-member Litigation Section. Michigan Super Lawyers® has consistently recognized him as a Rising Star in Business Litigation, an award granted to only 2.5 percent of Michigan attorneys under 40. R.J.’s peers have elected him to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary society comprising one percent of each jurisdiction’s attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and welfare of their communities. He is a founding member of his community’s Rotary Club.

From his earliest days of legal practice, Steve Couch’s approach to advocacy has been marked by two consistent qualities: fearlessness and creativity. Within his first six months in private practice, he helped his clients hold a Massachusetts police department accountable in a wrongful death case before a jury that only needed ninety minutes to reach its verdict. While Steve’s litigation practice would evolve over time, this event set the tone for the rest of his career. Born and raised near Detroit, Steve grew up in a family of small business owners, giving him insights into the challenges that entrepreneurs face daily. He internalized these early lessons, which informed his approach to getting to know his clients as well as possible when working with them to address their legal needs. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he attended Boston University School of Law. While at Boston University, he devoted himself to honing his skills in trial and appellate advocacy through the school’s clinical litigation programs and its National First Amendment Moot Court team. Over the years, clients have entrusted Steve with significant matters in that required unconventional strategies and tenacious advocacy to achieve the necessary results. In one case, Steve successfully defended a national insurance carrier against a $45,000,000 claim, guiding the client to a zero-dollar settlement. Steve was also a pioneer of tapping into the wealth of third-party data collections as a litigation tactic for investigating opposing parties’ fraud, perjury and other misconduct. In recent years, Steve worked with a boutique law firm litigating on behalf of clients across the country. He has successfully represented individuals and companies in both trial and appellate courts from coast to coast. He is excited to bring that base of experience to Cronkhite Counsel.

Born into a family with ties to the intelligence community, Greg developed a strong sense of service early in life. This background also shaped Greg’s ability to identify patterns, uncover insights, and notice details that others overlook. Greg pursued his undergraduate studies at Virginia Tech, where he further sharpened his investigatory, analytical, and problem-solving skills through his role as an Associate in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI’s) Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (IC CAE). His work culminated in a formal written and oral briefing presented to a representative of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Greg is also a graduate of The Heritage Foundations Young Leaders Program, where he gained deep insights into the federal government’s inner workings and regulatory landscape, while also contributing to the collection and analysis of data assessing military capabilities of foreign nations. Greg later returned to his home state of Michigan to contribute to the startup phase of a company that leveraged artificial intelligence and autonomous systems initially designed for military and intelligence applications to the highly regulated field of autonomous passenger vehicles. It was during this time that he realized his skills in investigation, analysis, and problem-solving would be best utilized in service to his community through a career in law. While in law school, Greg received the CALI Award in his Business Organizations class, an honor given to the student with the highest grade in the course and was elected as Secretary of the Hellenic Bar Association of Michigan. He refined his investigatory and regulatory skills as a Compliance Extern at the University of Michigan Athletic Department amid a nationally notorious and closely scrutinized NCAA investigation, where he researched and enforced internal compliance with NCAA bylaws and HIPAA regulations, drafted legislative relief waivers, and conducted Title IX audits to ensure internal policies and procedures complied with federal legislation. After law school, Greg began his practice as an attorney serving corporate clients in matters of civil litigation including special investigations and fraud. Today, he channels his commitment to service into effective advocacy for clients in business and employment disputes. His background has shaped his approach as an aggressive, tenacious, and diligent trial attorney who leaves no stone unturned in pursuing his clients’ interests.