Born: 1965
Education: Wayne State University Law School (1987); Northern Michigan University (1991)
Admitted to Bar: 1991
Experience: Staff attorney, UAW-GM Legal Services Plan; associate, Law Offices of Edward G. Youmans; sole practitioner, Detroit; law clerk, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Pamela Harwood; law clerk, Attorney General’s Office, Workers’ Compensation Division; law clerk, Office of General Counsel, Chrysler
Legal affiliations: Ingham County Bar Association; Lansing Black Lawyer’s Association
Lansing attorney Laurin C. Roberts Thomas knew from an early age she wanted to pursue a career in law. She steadfastly pursued her dream and became a lawyer.
Or, rather, Lawyer of the Year.
Mary McLeod Bethune, one of Thomas' role models, once said, "Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible."
With devotion, determination and dedication, Thomas lives these words. She has worked to serve the African American community both in her past role as president of the Lansing Black Lawyer's Association, and currently as an active LBLA member where she serves as secretary and co-chairperson of its Scholarship Committee.
Working as a staff attorney for the UAW-GM Legal Services Plan, she concentrates her practice on consumer law, insurance, estate planning, elder law, immigration, collections, and probate and family matters.
And just as her father was the first African American firefighter in Lansing, Thomas appears to be following in her father's footsteps, putting out legal fires of "epic" proportion.
Thomas represented the decedent's natural children in Comerica Bank, et al. v. Bennett, where the Court of Appeals decided that a decedent's stepchildren were not entitled to a share of the decedent's estate even though they were named in his will.
The decedent's natural children argued that the stepchildren's interest was rendered void under the Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC) because the decedent remarried after executing his will. Under the circumstances, they claimed, the surviving spouse was entitled to the remainder of the estate after the devise to the natural children.
The significance? Thomas told Lawyers Weekly there is little case law on EPIC — and nothing about omitted spouses.
Thomas noted she was puzzled by the probate court's ruling.
"I was surprised by the trial court decision because it was so contrary to the statute," she told Lawyers Weekly. "The statute clearly spells out the distribution in an omitted spouse situation."
She suggested that estate planners instruct their clients to regularly review their wills.
"Practitioners need to know that this sort of result can be avoided with planning," she counseled. "Attorneys should tell their clients that if they don't update their wills and they remarry, there is a possibility that their new spouse can end up with nothing because the spouse can only elect to take what is not left to direct descendents of the decedent."
Q. You represented the decedent's natural children in Comerica Bank v. Bennett, what was the significance of the ruling in that case?
A. The Bennett case was one of first impression under EPIC. It clarified the law with relation to omitted spouses and what they can claim from a probate estate.
Q. Have there been any other big cases you have handled this year? If so, which one would you consider to be your biggest accomplishment personally and professionally (which one will have the biggest legal impact)?
A. Resolving any case successfully is a major accomplishment and almost all of my cases are big cases.
Q. What do you attribute all of your success to this year?
A. Having a supportive family, a great group of coworkers and support staff who take very good care of me.
Q. How do you top this year? Any big cases on the horizon?
A. All cases are potentially big cases because you never know what is going to happen. I didn't view Bennett as a big case because the law was so clear to me. Look what happened.
Q. What area of law fascinates you most?
A. I don't know about "fascination," but I truly enjoy estate planning. I enjoy the one-on-one contact with my clients.
Q. Other than handling big cases, what else do you do to stay involved in the legal community?
A. I am currently in my second term on the Representative Assembly of the State Bar, where I sit on the Rules and Calendar Committee. I am also a founding member of the Consumer Law Section where I have served as chair and am currently the secretary.
Recently, I was appointed to serve on the State Bar's Law and the Media Committee.
Q. You are also active with the Lansing Black Lawyer's Association. What is your role in this organization?
A. The LBLA is an organization formed 22 years ago to promote greater access for African Americans to the legal system, to better serve the legal needs of the African American community and as a means of bringing local African America attorneys and law students together to socialize and network.
I am the immediate past-president of the organization. I was president for two years, and have chaired the Scholarship Committee, along with Shauna Dunnings, for the past six years.
Q. Who were your role models growing up?
A. My mother, Barbara Roberts Mason, who has given so much of herself and done so much politically, socially, and is just phenomenal, and my father, Roger R. Roberts, who was the first Black fireman in Lansing.
I had very few African American teachers growing up, but those I had were wonderful mentors for me, namely, Doris Hawkins and Verna Holly.
From a historical perspective, I have always idolized Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Mary McLeod Bethune.
Q. Who are your legal mentors?
A. When I first started practicing law, I worked with a wonderful attorney who really took me under his wing — Rene A. Cooper. He was an attorney in the firm I clerked when I first started practicing. He left the firm and, when I passed the bar, he invited me to practice with him. He provided the office space and supplies, and basically fed me clients for my first year out of practice.
Rene didn't want to do any civil law, he only wanted to do criminal law. I really didn't want to do criminal, so he gave me all of his civil cases.
Q. Have there been any obstacles that you have faced in regard to pursuing a career in law?
A. I have been fortunate to work with some very helpful people in my career, and I can't think of any obstacles that are peculiar to me.
I've had the standard obstacles most of us faced — surviving law school, paying for it, the bar exam, finding employment, learning to deal with the various judges and courts with no real training.
Subscribers Only
