About Kitch Attorneys & Counselors · Detroit
Kitch Attorneys & Counselors, PC is a full-service law firm founded in 1969 by Richard Kitch and Richard F. Suhrheinrich. Originally focused on medical malpractice defense, it has evolved into a multidisciplinary firm serving clients across Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois. The firm emphasizes client partnerships, real-world legal experience for attorneys-in-training, and has grown organically through strong practice leadership rather than mergers. It maintains offices in Detroit, Chicago, Toledo, Lansing, and Mt. Clemens, with its headquarters in Detroit’s One Woodward building. The firm is recognized for its impact on Michigan law, particularly in tort reform, product liability, and employment law, and has handled thousands of high-exposure cases, including birth trauma litigation for national insurers.
Kitch Attorneys & Counselors, PC is a full-service law firm with roots in medical malpractice defense, now offering diverse legal services including government regulation, estate planning, corporate law, criminal investigations, commercial real estate, and employment law. Co-founded in 1969 by Richard Kitch and Richard F. Suhrheinrich — the latter now a Senior Federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge — the firm has grown from four attorneys to over 100 across five offices. It is known for its commitment to client partnerships, real-world training for law students, and its role in shaping Michigan law through landmark court decisions. The firm relocated its Detroit headquarters in 2005 to One Woodward Avenue, a building designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, and continues to serve as National Trial Coordinating Counsel for major insurers in birth trauma cases. It was recognized in 2006 for having the highest percentage of women attorneys and partners among top Michigan firms. The firm’s leadership includes CEO Mark Wisniewski, and co-founder Richard Kitch remains active, having practiced in Detroit for his entire career.
- In business
- since 1969
- Owner
- Richard Kitch and Richard F. Suhrheinrich (co-founders)
- Serves
- Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois
About
The Kitch firm embraces its role as a community leader and has attracted a diverse pool of attorneys and staff, seeking only the most talented individuals to serve our clients. We recognize, celebrate, and have been recognized for our commitment to diversity and equal opportunity in the work place.
History
The firm was co-founded in 1969 by Richard Kitch and Richard F. Suhrheinrich, both experienced litigators, especially in malpractice and products liability cases. While many firms have grown primarily through mergers and acquisitions, the Kitch firm has experienced all of its growth to date through its focus on strong client partnerships, leadership in the practice of law, and successful business practices. The firm has grown from four attorneys in 1969 to 19 attorneys in 1980 to over 100 attorneys and five offices in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois in 2023. Although the Kitch firm began as a medical malpractice defense firm, and continues to be recognized as one of the premier medical malpractice defense firms in the industry, it is today a full-service firm. The Kitch firm expanded to meet the other legal needs of its healthcare clients as those clients grew during the ’80s and ’90s, and then expanded further to provide the same services to non-healthcare clients. The firm now covers such diverse areas as government regulation and litigation, estate planning, corporate, criminal investigations and prosecutions, commercial real estate, commercial litigation and employment law.
Notable Achievements
The firm has been the successful advocate in many court decisions that have had a significant impact on Michigan law and business in such diverse areas as comparative negligence, tort reform, governmental immunity, successor liability, reliability of expert testimony, product liability and employment law. Recent successes include upholding the constitutionality of tort liability damage caps, and the overruling of a 20-year precedent which had allowed cases to be brought outside the statute of limitations in employment discrimination cases. In 2005, the firm was selected to serve as National Trial Coordinating Counsel for two national insurance companies and one national healthcare system for birth trauma cases. The firm has specialty teams focused exclusively on the defense of these high exposure cases, and has handled over 4,000 cases since the firm’s specialization began in the ’80s. Now, the nation’s largest insurers use the Kitch firm to monitor and coordinate the defense of birth trauma cases across the country. The firm provides coordination of claims and shares its extensive experience and resources. In 2006, the Kitch firm was recognized by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as the firm with the highest percentage of women attorneys (41%), in a survey of the top 20 southeastern Michigan firms. It also received the top ranking for the highest percentage of women who were Partners within the firm (27%). Co-founder Richard Kitch continues to stay active in the firm, and marked his 50th year in the practice of law in 2005. Mr. Kitch was born and raised in Detroit, and has practiced law in the city of Detroit for his entire career.