Barone Admitted to Practice Before the Federal District Court for Michigan’s Western District

The Barone Defense Firm is pleased to announce that Patrick Barone, the Firm’s founding member, has been admitted to practice before the Federal District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Mr. Barone has been admitted to practice before the Federal District Court for the Eastern District since 1993.

Mr. Barone was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 1991. He was admitted to the State Bar of Illinois in 1993.  However, being admitted to the state bar in one or more states does not authorize a lawyer to practice before any Federal Court.  This is because the rules applicable to Federal Courts differ from State Courts in several ways.  First, simply being admitted to a state bar is necessary but insufficient. Admission before a specific Federal Court requires that the attorney seeking admission prepare a petition to be filed with the Federal Court.  This petition must be supported by a sponsoring attorney who vouches for the attorney seeking admission.  The sponsoring attorney must already be a member of Federal Court where the petitioning lawyer is seeking admission.

A sponsoring attorney must be able to affirmatively state that they possess knowledge sufficient to affirm that the applicant is of good moral character and reputation and that the applicant is “well qualified” to become a member of the Bar of the Federal Court. For this admission, Mr. Barone’s sponsoring attorney was Karl Numinen, who enjoys an “of counsel” relationship with the Barone Defense Firm.  Mr. Numinen has been a member of the Bar for the Western District Court since 1992.

Jurisdiction for the Federal District Court for Michigan’s Western District includes the entire west side of Michigan, as well as all of Michigan’s upper peninsula. The “main” location for the Western District is Grand Rapids Michigan, and there are four divisions to the Western District, and these include Lansing, Traverse City, Marquette and Sault Sainte Marie.

As the Barone Defense Firm continues to expand its Federal criminal law practice, it made sense to be admitted to the Western District Court because the Firm has maintained an office in Grand Rapids for more than a decade, and Mr. Numinen’s main office is in Marquette.

The head of the Barone Defense Firm’s federal criminal law practice is Mr. Keith Corbett.  Mr. Corbett was employed as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for more than 30 years before joining the Barone Defense Firm.  During this tenure, Mr. Corbett distinguished himself as the “Rudy Giuliani of Michigan” because, like Giuliani in New York, Mr. Corbett successfully prosecuted the heads of Detroit’s LCN (la Cosa Nostra).  Few lawyers possess Mr. Corbett’s acumen for understanding and litigating complex financial crimes.  Armed with this knowledge, the Barone Defense Firm focuses the Federal Criminal Law practice on related crimes, such as Health Care and Prescription Fraud, Investor Fraud, Wire Fraud, RICO and other complex financial crimes.