It might be hard to believe, but one of my favorite times of the year is February. It’s not because of Michigan’s winter weather. Nor is it because I’m a hopeless romantic who just loves Valentine’s Day. It’s because February is the time of year my colleagues from all over the world come to Michigan to gather for the firm’s annual meeting.

Miller Canfield is proud to announce that Bill Danhof, the resident director of the firm's Lansing office, has been named by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as a Leader in the Law. Recognized for his outstanding legal skills and impact on the profession, Bill joined the firm in 1974 after he graduated from the University of Michigan Law School. He has since then been instrumental in making the firm's Public Finance Group, the largest in Michigan and one of the largest in the Midwest, a premier provider of municipal and public finance legal services.

He established Miller Canfield's presence in Lansing when he agreed to open the firm's office near the Capitol in 1980, and has become the attorney that lawmakers call to accomplish the "undoable."

Bill started building political connections when he was just a teenager whose first job was cutting Gov. George Romney's lawn. He earned $1.10 an hour, and he started honing his diplomatic skills when he had to negotiate his own pay raises. Since then, he's built a network of colleagues,  contacts and friends that reads like a "Who's Who" of state and national politics.

Throughout his career,  he has been a pioneer in drafting legislation that has changed the way the state and its municipalities finance large capital projects. Each of the projects he has worked on have required Bill to not only craft solutions that will work, but to also make sure those solutions can achieve consensus among diverse groups of stakeholders who often have competing motivations, and philosophical and political approaches. His greatest strength as a leader is the ability to get people to believe that what he suggests is not only possible, but is also the reasonable approach.

Leaders in the Law honorees will be recognized at a luncheon on March 23 and will be profiled in an upcoming special section in Michigan Lawyers Weekly.

Congratulations on your inclusion in Leaders in the Law Class of 2017, Bill!