Foley Expands Litigation Powerhouse in Detroit With Addition of Three Seasoned Litigators

Foley & Lardner LLP announced today that Norman Ankers, Jennifer Zbytowski Belveal and Jason Conti have joined the firm’s Litigation Department as partners in the Detroit office. Prior to joining Foley, Ankers, Belveal and Conti were at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. Collectively, the group brings more than 75 years of experience representing major corporations and business owners throughout Michigan and nationally, and seeks to expand their respective practices to better serve clients through Foley’s national platform.

“Norm, Jennifer and Jason are proven trial lawyers who expand our capability to represent Foley’s clients in bet-the-company litigation, both in the Midwest and nationally,” said Michael Gay, chair of Foley’s Litigation Department.

• Norman Ankers is a trial lawyer with more than three decades of experience in high-stakes litigation before juries, judges and arbitrators throughout the United States. He has experience in the areas of business torts, shareholder and partnership litigation and class action defense. He had secured multiple monumental verdicts, and has regularly obtained dismissals of multimillion dollar claims. Ankers was the department chair of Honigman’s Litigation Group until 2016, a position he assumed in 2002.


• Jennifer Zbytowski Belveal is an accomplished trial lawyer with more than twenty years of experience who addresses complex problems in both civil and criminal/regulatory areas. She has successfully handled more than fifty trials, arbitrations and preliminary examinations, although she is equally skilled in avoiding public proceedings and criminal prosecutions. Belveal’s civil practice focuses on contracts, commercial torts, real estate, fraud and ownership disputes. In her white collar crime/regulatory practice, she advises high-profile companies and individuals regarding federal and state compliance and proceedings involving financial transactions, securities, health care, public corruption, environmental laws and data privacy and security. She regularly leads internal investigations and responds to grand jury subpoenas. Prior to joining Foley, she was the chair of Honigman’s White Collar Crime and Investigations Practice Group and served as assistant general counsel.


• Jason Conti is a recognized trial and appellate attorney with twenty years of experience handling complex commercial and partnership disputes, property tax appeal litigation, real estate litigation, and intellectual property, trade secrets and computer software litigation. Conti has successfully represented publicly and privately-owned corporations, real estate developers, property owners, national retailers, software developers, media clients and taxpayers in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Conti has obtained numerous verdicts, published court decisions, settlements and dismissals in favor of his clients, including over $50 million in property tax refunds for his property owner clients.

“We are excited that Norm, Jennifer and Jason have joined us in Detroit. Their combined litigation experience across a wide array of industries, including health care and technology, will help us serve our clients’ needs as the business landscape in Detroit continues to evolve,” said Daljit Doogal, managing partner of Foley’s Detroit office.