By Sue Moore
“Families will continue to be well-served by our growing law practice,” said Brett Grossman in announcing his new partners, Andrew Horne and Annelore Cannizzaro. “Our practice areas complement each other as we look out for our clients’ best interests.”
“The practice of law has changed since I graduated from Wayne State University law school,” Grossman said. “People want quick responses from their attorneys. It’s more of a nuts and bolts situation now with less formality. We have found that members of this community are loyal clients as they’ve gotten to know us both personally and professionally.”
The three attorneys were from other cities before they settled into Vicksburg. They joined service clubs, took responsibility for helping others less fortunate and placed their children in the local school system. “We kind of married into Vicksburg,” said Grossman. He met his wife, Katie, at Wayne State when she was in medical school and decided to settle in her home town. Similarly, Horne’s wife, Tiffany, is from Three Rivers. She wanted to return from Florida where they were both teachers. Cannizzaro went to Michigan State University for undergraduate study and then veterinary school before settling down with husband Charlie in Vicksburg.
All three of the partners have ties to MSU although Horne doesn’t wear it on his sleeve quite like the other two. He graduated from Michigan State’s law school but did his undergrad work at Saginaw Valley State University. Grossman is a Lansing area native with a bachelor’s degree from MSU. What each acknowledges is their love of this small-town community and not having to practice in a large law firm in a big city.
“Our practice is growing,” Grossman said. After large firm life, he hung out his shingle on N. Main Street in downtown Vicksburg in 2008, then moved to a remodeled building at 610 Spruce Street for much larger quarters, anticipating the eventual need to take on partners.
The support from the two other attorneys she is joining was a big factor in Cannizzaro’s decision to leave her solo practice in Kalamazoo. “I can bounce around ideas with someone close by,” she said. “I actually started my professional career as a veterinarian, first at Denney Veterinary Service in Vicksburg, then at the Sprinkle Road Veterinary Clinic in Kalamazoo, and then I decided to do something different.
“I like variety so I went back to school at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, which is now part of Western Michigan University.” Her practice centers on probate law, with a focus on estate administration, guardianships, conservatorships, and assisting clients with mental illness or developmental disabilities. “I look out for people’s best interests,” she said.
Horne loves researching a project and has jumped headlong into municipal government issues and real estate law. He works closely with the village of Vicksburg’s planning commission on ordinance writing and researching. A big challenge recently was the work he did for the village on The Mill Planned Unit Development (PUD).
Grossman’s work now concentrates in real estate and agricultural law in conjunction with estate and trust planning and administration for area residents.
“We’re looking forward to continued growth in Vicksburg,” they all say in one way or another, about working together.