William Kohler Reappointed to East Michigan District Export Council
February, 2018 - Detroit, Michigan
Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that William J. Kohler, a senior counsel in the firm’s Detroit office, has been reappointed to the East Michigan District Export Council by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. Kohler was appointed to a four-year term that will expire on December 31, 2021.
The East Michigan District Export Council is a volunteer council of regional business leaders with experience in international business, established to advise Michigan firms on trade matters. The group works with the Commerce Department’s U.S. Commercial Service to promote the country’s export mission.
Kohler is a member of Dykema’s Corporate Finance Practice Group. He focuses much of his practice on the automotive industry, where, before he joined Dykema in 2016, he served as general counsel for domestic and international matters at several automotive companies. He has led some of the automotive industry’s larger and more complicated acquisitions and divestitures, negotiated specialized supply agreements, created important joint ventures, and established international operations and distribution networks. Kohler is also an authority on legal issues related to autonomous and connected vehicles. In 2017, he wrote “International Distribution Relationships: Commercial and Legal Perspectives” for Texas CEO Magazine, in which he described the roles of principles and distributors engaged in international commerce, certain applicable conventions and made recommendations for the legal terms of such agreements.
He earned both his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Michigan, where he served as Chief Editor of the Michigan Journal of Economics for two years, and an M.B.A. from Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business.
