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.

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.