Brett M. Gelbord
Member
Brett Gelbord is an accomplished business attorney seated in Dykema’s Labor & Employment Group focused on providing practical and efficient guidance to employers on all manner of workforce-related issues. Brett provides both day-to-day employment counseling and he also represents employers in administrative proceedings and lawsuits at both the state and federal level on issues ranging from claims of employment discrimination and wrongful termination to the enforcement of non-competition agreements and the protection of trade secrets.
Serving as outside employment counsel for several large employers, Brett partners with his clients’ HR teams to seamlessly provide legal advice on all manner of employment-related issues. Brett has represented clients in a variety of industries, with a particular focus on the cannabis, automotive, and technology sectors. His experience in the cannabis sector is multifaceted, leveraging both his employment law experience and his commercial litigation skills to provide clients with well-rounded guidance. In addition to providing employment counsel to clients in the highly-regulated cannabis industry, Brett has secured millions of dollars in judgments on behalf of his clients, and he has successfully defended his clients against multi-million dollar claims. He is also a thought leader in the cannabis space, having authored several articles and spoken on the industry’s trajectory as part of a panel organized by S&P Global, as well as regularly serving as a host of Dykema’s cannabis podcast, A Higher Law. And, as a founding member of the Psychedelic Bar Association, Brett is working with attorneys across the nation to shape policy and legislation in the quickly emerging psychedelics industry.
Brett also has extensive experience with automotive supply chain disputes; he has acted as both a counselor and an advocate on matters ranging from payment disputes to complex quality, warranty, and indemnification claims. Brett worked to secure dismissal at the summary disposition stage of a major automotive supply chain indemnification claim against his client representing an exposure exceeding $10 million dollars, and he has shepherded numerous supply chain disputes through to negotiated resolutions both before and after the initiation of litigation.
Beyond the automotive industry, Brett’s commercial dispute resolution experience extends to all manner of breach of contract actions, including disputes arising out of asset purchase agreements, manufacturing and supply agreements, intellectual property licensing agreements, and commercial finance and retail banking agreements. Brett has also litigated complex real property disputes in state and federal court, and he has guided closely held companies through contentious business divorces.
In his pro bono practice he has co-first chaired two federal civil rights jury trials, represented minority shareholders in a non-profit governance dispute, represented the American College of Tax Counsel as amicus curiae on a motion to dismiss a complex tax controversy, and resolved a serious property tax issue on behalf of a non-profit organization in the City of Detroit.
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- University of Michigan Law School, J.D., 2009
- Queens College, City University of New York, B.A., high honors, 2003
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Bar Admissions
- Michigan
- New York
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Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
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Named a Nationwide Leading Lawyer in Psychedelics Law by Chambers USA, 2024
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Recognized in the Top 200 Global Psychedelic Lawyers and Policy & Regulatory Experts Guide, 2024
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Named to Best Lawyers' "Ones to Watch" list for Commercial Litigation, 2021-2023
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Psychedelic Bar Association, Founding Member
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Member, Board of Directors of the Court Historical Society for the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
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American Bar Association, Business Law Section
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Federal Bar Association, Eastern District of Michigan Chapter
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International Cannabis Association, Member
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Member, Law360 Cannabis Editorial Advisory Board, 2024
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Class XXXVIII, Leadership Detroit
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EcoWorks, Board of Directors, Chairman, 2018-2022
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Legal Committee of the Historic Indian Village Association, Former Chair
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Law Clerk, Hon. Nancy G. Edmunds, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit
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