Admitted: Michigan Bar and U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, 1974; to the Michigan Supreme Court, 1974; to the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Circuits; and to the United States Supreme Court, 1980.
Education: Wayne State University (B.S. Psychology, 1969); Detroit College of Law (J.D., 1974).
Affiliations: Attorney Discipline Board Hearing Panelist and Chairman; Fellowship, American Board of Criminal Lawyers by invitation; Elected to Board of Governors, 1994; President 2006; Fellowship by invitation, American College of Trial Lawyers in 2006; Board of Directors for both the American Trial Lawyers Association and the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan; Member, Federal Bar Association; American Trial Lawyers Association; Arab American Bar Association; Michigan Trial Lawyers Association; and National Association Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Frequent Lecturer: University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, University of Detroit Mercy and Cooley Law Schools; CDAM Trial College, CDAM Advanced Litigation Seminars, and Federal Bar Association Seminars. Recently lectured at Yorke University, Osgoode Hall, in Toronto, Ontario on the issue of electronic evidence as it has evolved in the United States.
Concentration: Criminal Defense of the accused in both Federal and State Courts in Michigan and throughout the United States, including forfeitures and appeals. Major concentration has been in white-collar and complex criminal litigation. Mr. Thomas has been an AV-I Rated Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell, the organizations highest rating, since 1985. He has been consistently named in the Best Lawyers of America, in both white-collar and criminal defense categories. He has also been listed as a Michigan Super-Lawyer in both white-collar and criminal defense cases as well. Detroit Business Magazine has listed him in The Best Lawyers of Metropolitan Detroit for white-collar and criminal defense, and the American Trial Lawyer’s Association has recently named him one of the top 100 Trial Lawyers in the State of Michigan.
Awards: In 2005 Mr. Thomas was awarded the Justice for All award for his work in the Detroit Terrorist Trial by the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan. Additionally, in 2005, he was awarded the Defender of Justice Award by the National Lawyers Guild. In 2006, the Federal Bar Association awarded him the most prestigious Gilman Award, recognizing him as the outstanding criminal practitioner for that year in the Eastern District of Michigan. In 2008 he was honored as the Arab American Professional of the Year by the Arab American Chamber of Commerce for his representation of the accused in State and Federal matters.
In 2006, Mr. Thomas joined the prestigious law firm of Plunkett Cooney in an of counsel capacity, where he continues to specialize in the litigation of complex criminal matters. He was recently featured in a Channel 7, WXYZ TV, report featuring electronic discovery in complex criminal cases.
