KICKHAM HANLEY LITIGATORS ARE A BREED APART
We focus our practice on complex commercial litigation matters in the state and federal trial courts in Michigan and other states. We also have an active appellate practice, and routinely argue cases in the federal and state appellate courts. We understand that when our clients end up in court, their goal is to emerge victorious and to achieve that result they need lawyers with a ferocious desire to win.
Our litigators have the academic and professional credentials demanded by large corporate firms. We have crafted a unique, high-level litigation practice that caters to a specialized class of clients who need and demand aggressive, intelligent, creative attorneys.
We tend to represent small businesses and entrepreneurs who have significant disputes with well-financed adversaries. We understand as well as any firm the seriousness of “bet the company” cases and the need to devote every proper effort necessary to vindicate our clients’ rights in such matters. We have the resources and tenacity to withstand attempts to wear down our clients with “scorched-earth” litigation tactics. We also understand that the ferocious defense or prosecution of our client’s rights can still be accomplished with courtesy and civility toward our opponents and their clients.
At KH, we understand that a lawyer’s contribution to the resolution of a legal problem cannot necessarily be measured in billable hours. We handle the kind of cases where creativity and critical thinking often make the difference between victory and defeat. We lay awake at night thinking about our cases and are obsessive about being fully prepared. We also bring youthful vigor and boundless energy to bear on our clients’ problems.
AT KICKHAM HANLEY, WE’RE NOT JUST YOUR ATTORNEYS, WE’RE OFTEN YOUR PARTNERS
Most lawyers measure the value of their services merely by adding up the number of hours they devote to your legal problem. We think differently: We believe that results drive value.
Like many of our clients, we are entrepreneurs willing to take acceptable risks. As a result, a substantial part of our litigation practice is devoted to pursuing monetarily-significant cases for commercial clients on a contingent fee basis.
Because we share the risks and rewards with our clients, we are vested financially in a successful outcome, and thus we have the incentive to achieve the best result possible. In short, we are obsessed with outstanding results, not preoccupied with billable hours.
This obsession has translated into numerous substantial verdicts and multimillion-dollar settlements for our clients.
WE ARE RECOGNIZED EXPERTS IN CLASS ACTION LITIGATION
Our current practice is devoted to curbing the government’s abuse of its financial power, with a particular emphasis on pursuing class action litigation aimed at recovering monies unlawfully extracted by Michigan local governments from their citizens. In Michigan, there are legal restrictions on the taxes and fees local governments can impose, but we keep busy because those cash-strapped governmental units are endlessly creative in their efforts to evade those limitations. Our firm literally is the only counterweight to the abuse of this awesome financial power.
We actively seek out and challenge a wide variety of financial shenanigans. In recent years, we have focused our challenges on the egregiously high water and sewer rates imposed by many municipalities in Southeast Michigan. But that is not all we do. We despise all types of governmental abuse of the citizenry and we continue to ferret out and expose the unfair ways in which local governments in Michigan abuse their citizens.
The governments we sue always fight long and hard, sometimes inexplicably. These cases aren’t easy. While we ultimately don’t win every case, we succeed with enough regularity to more than justify the continuation of our efforts. Since 2012, our firm has returned over $100 million in refunds and benefits to over 160,000 Michigan citizens who have been overcharged by their local governments. To quote a famous actor: “You want us on that wall.”