By MARK MILLER
Bluffton native Charles “Chuck” Barbieri was recently recognized by the Ingham County Bar Association with its Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring his achievements of a nearly 45-year legal career. Barbieri recently retired from full-time practice as a partner with the Foster Swift Collins & Smith in Lansing, Michigan.
“It’s all very flattering of course,” he told the News-Banner Monday afternoon. “You wonder sometimes whether you’re having any impact, so it is very nice to find out that something you’ve enjoyed doing gets recognized.”
A member of the Bluffton High School class of 1973, he earned a bachelors degree from DePauw University in 1977 with magna cum laude honors and his law degree from Indiana University in 1980 with cum laude recognition. He had clerked for the law firm in Lansing during the summer of ’79 as part of his studies and was subsequently offered a position there upon graduation.
Barbieri developed a specialty in two areas of the law: environmental and First Amendment and media law, “both really more by accident than intent,” he said.
“There was a major change in environmental statutes and regulations right at the end of the Carter administration” which coincided with his graduation, that essentially created a new area for legal representation. “Up until then, law schools didn’t have any classes in environmental law, but now they all do. So I kind of learned on the job. It was very interesting and exciting.”
Additionally, “I was fortunate that our law firm was already representing the local paper — the Lansing State Journal — when I arrived here,” he added. During this career he has represented other major newspapers including the Detroit Free Press and the New York Times.
In his retirement, Barbieri continues to represent a few clients in the environmental field.
“I seem to have developed a specialty in the waste water field, so there are a couple of municipalities I continue to work with,” he said.
Barbieri and his wife Lorie split their time between a home in Colorado where his daughter and her family reside and their home in Lansing. “I really enjoy my mornings there when I can have a leisurely cup of coffee and spend some time with our granddaughter,” he said.
He conceded to likely getting some “writing and editing genes” from his late father, long-time News-Banner editor Jim Barbieri and his mother Barb, who still writes for the newspaper. He served as an editor for the Indiana Law Review during his time in Bloomington, a result, he believes, of a law review article he wrote which was then published about a legal case involving the Indiana & Michigan Power Company, which supplies wholesale power to the City of Bluffton Utilities.
“I actually got the idea for the review from reading dad’s stories in the News-Banner,” he said.
Barbieri has received other awards during his career, including an Outstanding Lawyer of the Year in Lansing honor. He has also been involved in professional and community affairs, including serving as the president of the bar association and for Michigan State University’s “Inns of Court” organization in which local attorneys help mentor the law school students. He also “had the privilege of being a local scoutmaster.” He has also served on the DePauw University’s Alumni Board.
“I’ve been very fortunate, really very lucky,” he said. The award was made Thursday, Nov. 14 in Lansing.
miller@news-banner.com
