Courtney F. Kissel

Courtney Kissel’s practice primarily focuses on government policy, including state constitutional law, election law, insurance law, Indian law, public finance, and public utility law.  Ms. Kissel is also significantly involved in Dykema’s appellate practice.

In her government policy practice, Ms. Kissel has represented a number of universities in relation to a variety of constitutional issues, including issues related to university funding, constitutional autonomy, and academic freedom. Ms. Kissel has also represented a variety of clients in analyzing issues under the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act, including applicability and compliance issues.  Ms. Kissel has also been hired to advise state executive officials on a variety of issues.  In Michigan, Ms. Kissel has been appointed as a Special Assistant Attorney General on a number of regulatory issues.  And, in addition, the State of Wisconsin and the State of Indiana both hired Ms. Kissel to advise their respective Governors on various issues related to tribal gaming and the complicated jurisdictional issues that relate to tribal sovereignty for state governments.  Finally, Ms. Kissel has represented a number of energy companies, including electric cooperatives and independent transmission companies, on a wide range of regulatory and compliance issues.  Ms. Kissel has handled everything from routine regulatory filings with the Michigan Public Service Commission to managing complex cross-jurisdictional discovery dockets for an electric transmission company that sought numerous local, state, and federal approvals of a merger transaction, which included coordination of multiple outside legal counsel, in-house legal counsel, in-house technical specialists, and regulators.