A sidebar with ... Irene Bruce Hathaway.

Byline: Thomas Franz

Irene Bruce Hathaway of Miller Canfield has spent her career on the defense side of litigation work.

Since she became an associate, she has also been a member of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel. Now, she has been named president of the MDTC.

Hathaway spoke with Michigan Lawyers Weekly to discuss her background with the MDTC and her career.

What's been your background with the MDTC?

I joined many years ago when I was a young associate. At one event, I was talking to our executive director and I was asking her how I could get more involved, and she suggested that I get more involved in committees, and I did that. After that, I worked my way up to the board and the executive committee, and then up the ranks of the executive committee to be president. It's been a long road.

How has the MDTC influenced your career?

Early on, I learned how to be a trial lawyer. The MDTC seminars teach you the tricks of the trade by having you watch individuals who are really good at it. I learned a lot that way, and I made a lot of friends in the defense bar who remain my friends today. It's really good to be able to talk to people outside of being involved in a deposition or litigation and being able to pick your friends' brains. I made a lot of friends through the MDTC.

What are your goals as president?

The MDTC is in really good shape. We just had a really good seminar up north that broke some records.

My plan is to find out how we can provide more services to our members. We do a lot of cool things and some of them [members] may not know about. I think there are things a lot of us don't think about that we could be doing for them too. I plan to meet with a lot of leaders of other firms and sit down with them and ask what we can do better, what can we do to help you and how can you help us to grow the organization.

Let's shift the focus to your career. What have you enjoyed most during your career in litigation?

I'm an old-fashioned trial lawyer and I love being a trial lawyer. Nobody has an opportunity to do much of that anymore, but I love putting the pieces of a puzzle together at atrial to present it the best way you can. I've had opportunities to try cases...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT