Warner Norcross & Judd creates formula for a Midland office

Warner Norcross & Judd creates formula for a Midland office

Midland is the home of The Dow Chemical Company, which was founded in 1897, and the many businesses that serve the global brand and its employees. Photo via cloudgehshan.com

Law firm Warner Norcross & Judd announced recently that it will open a new office in Midland this March to serve clients in the region.

The firm currently represents several clients in the Midland area: Chemical Bank, The Dow Chemical Co., Dow Corning Corp. and the Midland Cogeneration Venture, as well as numerous mid-size companies and estate-planning clients.

The office will be Warner Norcross & Judd's seventh office in the state and be temporarily located at 222 N. Saginaw Road in Midland — with a move to downtown Midland's East End development planned for 2014.


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Attorney Jeff Ott will serve as partner-in-charge of the new office.

Midland County Chief Trial Court and Circuit Judge Jonathan E. Lauderbach plans to step down from the bench to join the firm.

“We are very pleased to once again expand the footprint of our firm by establishing an office in Midland,” said Douglas E. Wagner, managing partner of Warner Norcross. “With the growing number of clients we represent in the Great Lakes Bay Region, it was a natural for us to choose Midland as the location for our seventh Michigan office.

“Additionally, we are pleased to have two attorneys with deep roots in the community who will launch the new office," Wagner said. "Jeff Ott has been the client service manager for Chemical Bank for many years. He grew up in Midland and is well known and respected there.

"We are also excited to welcome Jon Lauderbach to our ranks. Jon is well known in the Great Lakes Bay Region, where he has enjoyed a successful and distinguished legal career as both a judge and practicing attorney. We are extremely pleased that he will be joining Warner Norcross.”

Ott has more than 20 years of experience practicing law. He serves business and financial institutions, providing assistance on mergers and acquisitions, compliance with securities law and general corporate and business matters.

Lauderbach spent a dozen years in private practice, where he concentrated on bankruptcy and commercial litigation, before being elected to the bench in 2006 as the youngest circuit court judge in Midland County’s history.