Our People
We have assembled a highly skilled management team, which collectively has over 50 years of litigation and transactional experience as attorneys and over a billion dollars in transactional experience as business advisors, consultants and principals.
Please click on a name to reveal their description.
Puneet Mohey, J.D., President/Director
Mr. Mohey is admitted to the Michigan State Bar. He earned his bachelor's degree in Economics (high distinction) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Minnesota Law School. Mr. Mohey interned with Hon. Patrick J. Duggan and Hon. Julian A. Cook, Jr. of United Stated District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Before founding Lexadigm, Mr. Mohey practiced law at one of the largest Michigan law firms, Warner Norcross & Judd, LLP, where he concentrated in commercial litigation, corporate law, bankruptcy, and real estate matters. Mr. Mohey, who grew up in India, brings his first-hand cultural and management experience in handling Lexadigm's Indian operations.
Deepak Batra, Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Batra graduated from the University of Michigan, earning his bachelor's degree in the fields of Economics & Management (high distinction). He was appointed as a member of the Emerging Leaders program while earning his degree. He has over 15 years of business management experience and has worked with a vast number of companies in an effort to further solidify their balance sheets and optimize their organizational effectiveness. He has served on the board of the Network of Indian Professionals – Michigan chapter for two consecutive terms improving the non-profit organization's bottom line during each term. Before joining Lexadigm, Mr. Batra served as Vice President for the largest privately owned computer hardware service company in Michigan. He utilizes his prior experience and current passion for perfection to expand Lexadigm's portfolio of services while providing our clients with an exceptional overall experience.
Edward S. Adams, J.D., M.B.A, Director & Corporate Counsel
Mr. Adams is a graduate of Knox College, the University of Chicago School of Law and the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Professor Adams is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of corporate finance and corporate law, securities, bankruptcy, and entrepreneurship. Professor Adams holds an endowed chair in finance and law at the University of Minnesota Law School and teaches courses at both the Law School and in the graduate MBA program at the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota. Following his graduate cum laude from the University of Chicago Law School where he served as Managing Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review, among the most prestigious legal publications in the country, Professor Adams clerked for the Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and worked in the Chicago office of renowned national law firm Latham and Watkins and as Of Counsel at Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of fifteen books and over thirty articles on business-related issues, the two-time recipient of the University of Minnesota Law School's Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year Award, a 1997 M.B.A. with highest honors graduate of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, a 1998 Vance K. Opperman Research Scholar at the University of Minnesota Law School and a co-holder of the 1999 Julius E. Davis Chair in Law at the University of Minnesota Law School.
In the late 1990s, Professor Adams co-founded a business consulting and advisory practice which through acquisition and organic growth grew from two to over two hundred employees with $30 million in annual revenue in less than six years. As an attorney, business advisor and consultant, and principal, Professor Adams has over $1 billion of transactional experience in public and private offerings of equity and debt, mergers and acquisitions of public and closely held corporations, loan restructurings, receivables financing, structured finance, commercial transactions, and bankruptcy liquidations and reorganizations. Professor Adams has served on numerous private and public company boards of directors and acted as Chairman of the Noteholders Committee of one of the largest steel industry bankruptcy reorganizations in American history as well as a legal adviser to a group which sought to acquire one of America's largest textile manufacturers.
James R. Sankovitz, J.D., Secretary and General Counsel
Mr. Sankovitz received his B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame and his juris doctorate cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, after which he worked in the corporate finance department of the prominent firm of Briggs and Morgan, P.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Sankovitz worked as an event-driven institutional arbitrage trader with EBF & Associates, LP—an established, nationally-recognized hedge fund headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota—where he helped develop the firm's event-driven arbitrage strategy. Jim currently serves on the boards of directors of a nationally-chartered bank with over $100 million in assets and its holding company.
Mr. Sankovitz serves, and has served, in similar capacities with other privately-held corporations. He has considerable experience with securities law, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital structuring, due diligence and securities law compliance. Mr. Sankovitz provides legal, business and market analysis of banking opportunities, present early-stage private and public corporation opportunities to investors, and draft associated legal documents pertaining to private and public offerings. Mr. Sankovitz has assisted companies, both as an attorney and as a consultant, in pursuing capital-raising transactions (including private placements, mergers, tender offers, bond offerings, bridge financings and bank financings); structuring complex transactions; completing mergers, acquisitions and similar transactions; developing strategic business plans; exploring licensing opportunities; evaluating cash needs and resources; assessing alternative contract arrangements; and addressing securities law compliance and general corporate matters.
W. Vincent Rakestraw, J.D., Director of Legal Services
Mr. Rakestraw graduated from Ohio University in 1963 (BSJ) and from Capital University Law School in 1968 (JD). He was appointed as an Assistant Attorney General of the State of Ohio in 1968. He became the Legislative Director for United States Senator William B. Saxbe and served from 1969 to 1973. He was appointed Assistant Attorney General of the United States by President Nixon and confirmed by the United States Senate in 1973 and served until 1975. He was appointed to the Department of State as a Reserve Foreign Service Officer by President Ford and served as Counsel to the American Ambassador in India from 1975 to 1978. In 1978 he returned to the United States and joined the law firm of Chester, Willcox and Saxbe. He has practiced law since 1986 and is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Ohio, Florida and the District of Columbia, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States.
Daniel J. Lehman, J.D., Director of Legal Services
Mr. Lehman is a graduate of Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota Law School. In law school he served as a managing editor of Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice and as a director for the Civil Practice Clinic. He is skilled in all facets of legal writing and has published scholarly work. Mr. Lehman has extensive experience as a trial attorney specializing in civil and commercial litigation. He has significant management and sales experience. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Lehman spent several very successful years as a production manager for a large southeastern construction equipment corporation.
Jay M. Schloff, J.D. and Registered Patent Attorney, Director of IP Services
Mr. Schloff is a registered U.S. patent attorney and admitted to the Michigan State Bar. Before joining Lexadigm, he served as the law clerk to a state trial court judge and as a field representative for a multinational legal publishing company. He is a practicing intellectual property law attorney whose professional experience includes preparation and prosecution of numerous utility patent applications and management of clients' applications for trademark registration. He has conducted post-graduate work in chemistry, biochemistry, and physics. Mr. Schloff earned his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and his B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan.
Robert J. Sayfie, J.D. and Registered Patent Attorney, Director of IP Services
Mr. Sayfie is a registered U.S. patent attorney and former engineer. He is a practicing intellectual property law attorney and has tried numerous cases as lead counsel to a jury. His patent prosecution experience includes preparing and prosecuting patent applications in the mechanical, materials science, and electrical arts. He has studied post-graduate materials science and engineering, and before attending law school, he worked for two years as a mechanical engineer. Mr. Sayfie earned his J.D. from the University of Detroit Law School. Mr. Sayfie was admitted to the Michigan State Bar in 1991, and became registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1994.
Johnathan R. Maddox, B.S. (Molecular Genetics), J.D. and Registered Patent Attorney, Director of IP Services
Mr. Maddox is a registered U.S. patent attorney and admitted to the Minnesota State Bar. Before joining Lexadigm, Mr. Maddox practiced law at a national, intellectual property law firm, Merchant & Gould P.C., in their Minneapolis offices. Mr. Maddox practiced intellectual property law with an emphasis on litigation. His practice focused on the protection of clients' intellectual property assets by devising and implementing creative solutions to complex litigation and prosecution matters. Mr. Maddox has litigation experience across all disciplines of intellectual property law including patent, trademark, copyright, false advertising, and trade secret. He has represented pharmaceutical companies in ANDA litigation arising under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Mr. Maddox has also litigated in the specific areas of technology related to lenticular graphics and printing, plastic injection molding, die cast metal manufacturing, filter technology, and architectural drafting and design. He has a thorough understanding of technology, law, and business, which allows him to provide clients with cost effective business solutions.
Mark A. Grobbel, J.D., Director of Business Development
Mr. Grobbel was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1983. He obtained his BBA in Accounting, cum laude, from Western Michigan University and earned his J.D. from Wayne State University School of Law. His first twelve years were spent practicing corporate and securities law in a law firm and in-house for a NYSE company.
Since 1995, he has held management positions at two national legal staffing companies with responsibility for the sales activities and results for specific regions, service offerings, and national clients. Having worked both in-house and in a law firm, Mr. Grobbel brings a unique perspective to the legal services industry and has counseled law firms and law departments nationwide with regard to optimum legal services delivery methods.