Fishman Stewart is pleased to announce that Michael Stewart, co-founding member and managing partner, has received the 2021 Soaring Eagle award from Vistage Michigan. The Soaring Eagle award is presented annually in recognition of a member’s overall success in the business community and also acknowledges the member’s contribution to supporting and encouraging fellow Vistage Michigan members throughout the year.
Vistage is the world’s largest membership-based leadership organization, serving more than 25,000 CEO business owners and key executives across 20 countries via local peer groups. Each local group meets monthly and invites speakers to discuss best practices on various topics relevant to business leaders in order to help them make better decisions and generate better results. The peer group holds each other accountable to continually learn, grow and improve their business. Stewart said his Vistage membership has been vital to his law firm leadership.
“I’m grateful to Vistage Michigan for selecting me for the Soaring Eagle award and for the energy, insights and camaraderie I gain from my local peer group,” Stewart said. “The traditional law firm model is quickly becoming unsustainable in the modern business world. Vistage peers have helped me shape my decision-making as a provider of professional legal services untethered to outdated law firm approaches.”
The Soaring Eagle award comes as Stewart and co-founding member Michael Fishman lead the firm’s 25th anniversary year. Fishman Stewart’s growth mindset prompted early and consistent adoption of technology tools and practice innovations that have resulted in an expansion of both its domestic and global client base as well the ability to attract top legal talent from throughout the country.
In his legal practice, Stewart has substantial experience managing, administering and conducting worldwide projects involving updating ownership records of large intellectual property portfolios and applies a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary approach to maximize the scope of intellectual property protection and beneficial usage. His litigation experience includes both trials and oral arguments before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is also admitted before the United States Supreme Court.
Stewart is a frequent author, speaker and lecturer on intellectual property protection and enforcement for organizations including the International Trademark Association (INTA), American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and Michigan Bar Association, as well as the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the National Science Foundation, and third-party organizations such as ARVO. He has also presented to engineering, business and law students at schools including the University of Michigan and Notre Dame University. He has been recognized by the State Bar of Michigan’s “A Lawyer Helps” program for giving back to the community.
Prior to practicing law, Stewart was an engineer for a major automotive OEM and a systems engineer for the Computer Aided Engineering Network for the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in English, all also from the University of Michigan.
Stewart has received numerous legal honors throughout his career, most recently being named to the 28th edition of The Best Lawyers in America© in Litigation–Intellectual Property; Litigation–Patent; Patent Law; and Trademark Law. He was also named a Michigan Super Lawyer in 2021 and has been a recipient of both the Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers awards multiple times, as well as being named a DBusiness Top Lawyer and an IP Star by Managing Intellectual Property Magazine.
About Vistage
Vistage is the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization for small and midsize business leaders. For more than 60 years, Vistage has helped CEOs, business owners and key executives reach a new level of success. Learn more at vistage.com.
