WHO WE ARE

With a combined 60 years of providing advice and counsel to companies, there is no major area of the law impacting businesses we don’t have experience in. We examine your business from different perspectives through the lens of our broad experience.

Our passion is to provide business owners with resources traditionally only available to large companies. We are dedicated to providing a variety of sophisticated perspectives and ideas to support businesses and their Boards, CEOs, leadership and/or owners which contribute directly to the success of the company. MADE Law exists to share this passion and dedication. We are with you every step of the way.

KRISTINA MARITCZAK

Kristina founded MADE Law f/k/a/ Maritczak Legal Group (or “MLG”) in 2011 to provide general counsel services for growth-oriented companies. In serving as “outsourced” general counsel, she provides guidance on a wide variety of issues businesses face.

Through Kristina’s analytical and candid approach, she has helped her clients identify major risk areas and prioritize areas of focus in which policies and procedures have been developed and implemented within the company’s operations. Traditionally, companies have looked at compliance as hindering operations and negatively impacting the bottom line, but Kristina has a unique approach in understanding the company’s operations and implementing new compliant strategies while taking her client’s business to another level and becoming more competitive in the marketplace.

Kristina has worked with every type of manager to implement change. She has started new departments, and hired and trained employees in new roles. Kristina has helped companies grow regionally and nationally. She has helped companies relocate to assist with growth which has had positive impacts on their valuations. You may learn more about Kristina in her Biography accessible here. Also, her Representative Matters are listed under Services.

Kristina’s 25 years of legal experience has provided her with the ability to focus on risk management, regulatory compliance, human resources/employment matters, litigation and fraud, employment and whistleblower investigations on behalf of employers.

From 2012-2014, Kristina served, at her client’s request, exclusively as their General Counsel & Chief Risk Officer. Her client was a regional closely-held financial services company which Kristina helped grow nationally and prepare for sale. Kristina lead the Legal and Risk Management departments, while focusing heavily on implementing a new regulatory compliance program responsive to Dodd-Frank and CFPB interpretive guidelines. The method in which she employed changes due to new complex regulatory requirements, lead the company to be more competitive by attracting top sales leaders in the industry, avoiding regulatory penalties and enforcement actions, and engaging in best practices which increased the value of the company.

From 2004-2011, Kristina served as First Vice President & Associate General Counsel of Flagstar Bank, a publicly traded bank with national operations where he managed litigation, fraud investigations, employment and regulatory compliance matters.

From 2000-2004, Kristina worked at the (then) largest law firm in Detroit, Michigan, Miller Canfield. During her tenure at Miller Canfield, Kristina worked with the Labor and Employment Group, Commercial Litigation Group and helped start the White-Collar Crime and Criminal Defense Group. In this context, she handled corporate fraud investigations, employment investigations, commercial litigation, employment litigation, all types of employment matters and white-collar crime matters. Her personal clients included the National Football League Management Counsel, Northwestern University as well as Aretha Franklin.

From 1995 – 2000, Kristina worked as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Oakland County, Michigan, after receiving her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1995. She conducted numerous trials and had a conviction rate above 95%.

In 1999, Kristina served as a consultant to the Ukrainian government on the democratization of its criminal justice system. Subsequently she was selected by the Council for the United States and Italy to be a delegate representing the United States at international leadership seminars.

Kristina has served on a number of non-profit Boards of Directors, and currently serves on the Board of Business Impact Northwest, a non-profit and CDFI which assists people in underserved communities in starting and growing their businesses. Kristina is also privileged to have been selected to be a part of Ladder Down, a year-long program for women in the law.

Kristina is also founder and principal of Align, LLC which serves as a business consulting firm that helps growing businesses with a focus on helping woman-owned businesses. She also started and is Managing Broker of Align Real Estate LLC which creates strategic investment opportunities, spearheads purchases and sales, and finds properties to lease for clients, as well as helps commercial landlords find tenants and manage properties.

JIM DEFEBAUGH

Jim has been an in-house business lawyer for 37 years, serving both as general counsel/chief legal officer and as a member of executive leadership teams for the last 17 of these years. He has worked closely with, and developed positive, trusted relationships with, Boards, CEOs, and other leaders of publicly traded companies and non-profit organizations. Jim’s experience in personally handling and managing all things corporate and commercial runs the full gamut from reviewing and negotiating modest business contracts to having primary responsibility for M&A transactions with valuations in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Although his experience is very broad and sophisticated, Jim’s approach is practical, down-to-earth, and is singularly driven by the business objective at hand. While many business lawyers are competent in identifying concerns and raising objections, Jim excels at navigating around legal, regulatory and other potential roadblocks to help achieve desired business goals. He is known for “getting to yes.” Jim’s experience can be found in his Biography. His Representative Matters can be accessed under Services.

Jim Defebaugh joined MADE law this year after serving as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of TrueBlue, Inc (NYSE: TBI: f/k/a Labor Ready, Inc. for the last 15 years. Prior to joining TrueBlue in 2005, Jim was Chief Legal Officer of Kmart Holding Corporation after holding various other positions during his 22-year tenure including Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of Sears Holdings Corporation in 2005. Jim has served on the Board of Trustees for Annie Wright Schools, one of IB schools in the U.S., for the last six years, currently serving as Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of the Governance Committee, and member of the Executive Committee. Jim has also served on the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Glass located in Tacoma, Washington from 2012-2017, most recently as Secretary, Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Executive Committee.

Jim is admitted to practice law in the states of Washington and Michigan. Over the course of his career, he has had extensive business and legal experience, including the following:

-Business Strategy & Leadership – Reporting jointly to the CEO and Board of Directors of publicly traded companies, Jim has served on executive teams having joint responsibility for the development and execution of business strategy for multi-billion and multi-million dollar businesses.

-Legal – Management of all legal affairs, including:

handling of corporate and board governance matters; drafting/review of SEC filings; management of compliance, enterprise risk and business continuity programs; drafting, review and negotiation of agreements and related documents in connection with mergers and acquisitions, commercial financing, and other significant transactions;
management of legal proceedings, including litigation, arbitration/mediation, and governmental regulatory actions and audits;
provision of preventative and remedial legal advice, training and auditing and the drafting, communication and enforcement of policies and procedures in an effort to ensure compliance with employment and all other laws applicable to the business;
drafting, review and/or negotiation of vendor, supplier, information technology and a wide variety of other commercial contracts and legal documents;
management and protection of intellectual property rights;
creation, communication and enforcement of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics; and
maintenance of corporate entities, including state registrations and related legal filings, the election of directors and officers, holding of all corporate meetings and taking of minutes.

-Audit: Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance process and oversight, including the review and assessment of key controls for information technology and business processes, risk-based corporate headquarters department audits and branch audits, and provision of miscellaneous audit and related services.

-Real Estate/Facilities: Real estate management services for retail store and branch operations internationally and domestically including facilities acquisition, lease review and negotiation, compliance with rent and other lease obligations, tenant repairs/improvements, utilities issues and zoning disputes and facilities management services for corporate headquarters.

-Public & Community Relations/Government Relations: Public and community relations and related communications; investor relations events and communications; corporate headquarters employee communications; other public and employee communications; relationships, communications and lobbying with politicians and other federal, state and local government officials.

COURTNEY FARMER

Courtney is a recent graduate of the University of Washington Tacoma, Milgard School of Business. She is a SHRM Certified Professional. When working with Courtney you will find meticulous attention to detail. She is very attentive to the needs of the client and listens intently to the client’s perspectives and works with you to meet your goals. With her combined specialties in technology, business operations and all aspects of Human Resources matters, she has a unique ability to implement compliant practices seamlessly into business operations. She also works effectively with management to audit and review practices and identify areas of risk. You can learn more about Courtney’s accomplishments by accessing her Biography.

PARTNERS

We partner with a number of companies to better serve our clients:

Align Real Estate (www.align-realestate.com) – a real estate company specializing in representing companies/investors in commercial real estate transactions and providing strategic financial advice.