DETROIT, Mich. – Butzel attorney and shareholder Mitchell (“Mitch”) Zajac will be a featured presenter during the 2025 EV Small Business Suppliers Forum on June 5, 2025 in Chattanooga. He will discuss the impact of tariffs on the EV market. The Forum is organized by the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), the Tennessee Automotive Manufacturers Association (TAMA), and the TriState Minority Supplier Development Council (TSMSDC).
Zajac has substantial experience in commercial litigation, transactional matters, and negotiating successful resolutions that have earned him an enviable reputation when it comes to achieving results that benefit clients. He counsels and represents professionals in a variety of sectors, large corporations, and entities of all sizes in automotive, intellectual property, regulatory and emissions compliance, to name a few.
He is a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Zajac counsels and represents clients in intellectual property (IP) matters such as complex trade secret, copyright, and patent litigation. His experience encompasses IP administrative proceedings, including patent inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, patent prosecution in the USPTO, and advising on patent portfolio development and management.
Before joining Butzel, Zajac was an engineer at a Detroit Three automaker. In this role, he was an advocate for progress and change in a variety of functions, including powertrain and engine systems design and development; design and development engineering, including customer sourcing, quality, and design; international program, supply chain, and manufacturing management, including responsibility for vehicle chief engineering, product planning and branding; two global manufacturing facilities, supply chain management and customs, vehicle safety certification, fuel economy and greenhouse gas certification, and emissions compliance; purchasing and supplier quality, including re-writing production part approval processes (PPAP), customer tooling quality and payment; vehicle safety and regulatory compliance, both safety, working directly with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and emissions, working directly with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), California Air Resources Board (CARB), and US Department of Justice (DOJ) with a focus on emissions.
Zajac is Chair of Cooley Law School’s Board of Directors. He joined Cooley’s Board of Directors in 2020 and was elected Vice-Chair in 2022. He also is a member of the WMU Alumni Association Board of Directors, and a member of the WMU Lee Honors College Dean’s Advisory Board. Additionally, Zajac is a member of the Michigan Chapter of the American Inns of Court and the Detroit Bar Association.
About Butzel
Butzel is one of the leading law firms in Michigan and the United States. It was founded in Detroit in 1854 and has provided trusted client service for 171 years. Butzel’s full-service law offices are located in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Troy and Southwest, Mich.; New York, NY; and, Washington, D.C., as well as global alliance offices. Butzel is an active member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 160 independent law firms. Learn more by visiting www.butzel.com or follow Butzel on X: https://x.com/butzel_long