Media Contact: Barbara Fornasiero, EAFocus Communications; barbara@eafocus.com; 248.260.8466
Troy, Mich.—February 16, 2026—Intellectual property specialty law firm Fishman Stewart PLLC, is pleased to mark its 30th anniversary year in 2026, celebrating three decades of helping innovators protect and grow the value of their ideas. Since 1996, the firm has been a premier provider of intellectual property services to clients around the globe and enters its third decade with a deep understanding of the IP implications of artificial intelligence, name, image, and likeness rights, and other emerging technologies, protecting clients from new avenues for IP theft and misappropriation.
While Fishman Stewart is pleased to be transitioning into a new decade of service, it appreciates that the past is a steppingstone, not a milestone, according to founder Michael Stewart.
“Technological, economic, and legal shifts over the past three decades have dramatically impacted the importance of protecting one’s creativity. Today, intangible assets represent over 80% of company valuation, making IP protection a core business priority,” Stewart said. “New forms of IP include digital assets such as domain names, blockchains, and AI models, which challenge traditional IP frameworks. As a result, IP law has been transformed from a largely technical, registration-focused practice into a dynamic, globally integrated discipline central to enterprise strategy, innovation management, and risk governance.”
With more than 30 staff members, including 23 attorneys, the firm is one of Michigan’s largest IP law firms, serving clients from entrepreneurs and the middle market to FORTUNE 500 companies that include popular household brand names. Industries served include software/technology, biopharma and other science-driven industries, medical devices, consumer products, manufacturing and engineering/automotive, entertainment and sports.
The firm and its attorneys have earned consistent recognition for excellence in intellectual property law, including honors from Fortune, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and Managing IP, as well as frequent invitations to speak nationally and internationally on emerging IP issues.
The firm’s weekly FishTank® newsletter with firm mascot Sir Finnegan, known affectionately as “Finny,” engages with thousands of readers each week, celebrating the role that pop culture has had in driving the creative process. Recent topics have ranged from the copyright implications of generative AI and landmark trademark decisions to NIL developments in collegiate athletics, pop culture-driven brand disputes, and high-profile patent litigation shaping emerging industries.
Originally founded in 1996 as Rader, Fishman & Grauer PLLC by R. Terrance Rader, Michael D. Fishman, Richard D. Grauer, Joseph V. Coppola, and Michael B. Stewart, the firm announced a change in leadership in 2014, ultimately becoming Fishman Stewart under the direction of Michael Fishman and Michael Stewart. With the name change, Fishman and Stewart leaned into the fish theme, appreciating immediately that it was better to have the nickname “fish stew” rather than “stewed fish”.
“As Fishman Stewart transitions to its next thirty years of service, it is always preferred to be a fish in a sea of possibilities,” founder Michael Fishman shared. “Like a fish leaping from water, innovators break free from their limits – and even the quietest fish makes waves.”
About Fishman Stewart PLLC
Fishman Stewart helps turn client creativity into valuable intellectual capital. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has obtained tens of thousands of patents and trademark registrations and represented clients in hundreds of cases in Federal Court. As strategic advisers to CEOs and senior executives, Fishman Stewart attorneys develop IP management strategies for U.S. and foreign-based companies to safeguard their business assets throughout the world. To discover how Fishman Stewart leverages intellectual property to effectively increase enterprise value, visit fishstewip.com.
