From carbon paper to artificial intelligence. From the first computer system in the city to not knowing how to pronounce the firm's own name in a new market. The tools have always changed. The firm has always kept up.
2013. Detroit files for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The city was $18 billion in debt. Creditors wanted to be paid. And they had their eye on the Detroit Institute of Arts.
1926. Dykema's first automotive work was repossessing cars. One hundred years later, we're litigating the ones that drive themselves. What happened in between is the story of a law firm and an industry that grew up together — through oil shocks and emissions standards, through product liability explosions and supply chain crises, through the collapse of old models and the rise of new ones.
Before email. Before Zoom. Before cloud storage. Deals got done with midnight FedEx runs, phone calls to well-placed friends, and the occasional game of cards when negotiations stalled.
Appellate pioneers. Circuit Court judges. A U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce. Managing partners. Mentors who demanded excellence with red pens, high expectations, and unwavering support. Dykema women have, and continue to, shatter ceilings and open doors for the next generation.
2012. Dykema was still the new kid on the block in Dallas. Few people knew us, and even fewer knew how to pronounce our name. So we threw a series of parties at some of the most iconic—and unusual—locations in Dallas.
Elliott Hall’s father worked the foundry line at Ford’s Highland Park Plant. Every day for 42 years, he put on his overalls, grabbed his lunch bucket, and reported for duty. Years later, his son became Ford’s first Black vice president.
Detroit's Renaissance Center rises on the riverfront—and Dykema rises with it. After nearly three years of planning, we became one of the first tenants of what was then called "Detroit of the future."
When U.S. District Judge Damon Keith ruled against warrantless surveillance, the government sued him personally. Keith called Dykema partner William Gossett. Gossett took the case pro bono and won 9-0 at the Supreme Court.
