Fieger Fieger Kenney, Johnson & Giroux

The firm's mission is firmly rooted in history

Established in 1950 by Bernard J. Fieger and his partner, George Lee, Fieger & Lee was the second interracial law firm in the state of Michigan after Goodman, Eden, Millender and Crocket. Fieger and Lee set up shop in the old Lawyer's Building in downtown Detroit. Bernie Fieger had been raised in a modest home in Brooklyn, and the GI Bill had made it possible for him to attend Harvard Law School, where he met his classmate, Walter Oberer, and Oberer's sister, June. After three months, Bernie made June his bride and moved to Michigan, her home state. They raised three children while Bernie worked hard to build his general practice law firm.

"He really took anything that walked in the office and created his own firm. He could have gone to work in a silk-stocking Wall Street firm but instead, he hung out his own shingle and made money. It was a hard thing to do," Geoffrey Fieger said.

In the early 1960s, Bernard partnered with Roger Craig, a state Senator from Dearborn who represented labor unions. The pair came to specialize in labor law, and moved Craig & Fieger to the Southfield location where the firm remains to this day. "They built the office in a converted home. From there, we expanded down 10 Mile," Fieger said.

Craig became the first Corporation Counsel for the City of Detroit, appointed by Mayor Coleman Young who had been his roommate in Lansing when they both served in the Senate.