Our Team

Jay Yasso, a partner with Hertz Schram and a former Sommers Schwartz shareholder, specializes in corporate/business transactions, Sports & Entertainment, professional negligence, product liability, and general civil litigation.  Yasso has litigated, mediated and facilitated numerous multi-million dollar settlements on behalf of his clients.  Yasso also sits as a mediator/case evaluator in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb Counties.

A former college basketball player, Mr. Yasso also represents clients in the entertainment industry, including record companies, recording artists, music and film producers, production companies, artist managers, agents, songwriters, music publishers and athletes.  Services provided to entertainment clients include counseling clients in the entertainment field, contract drafting and negotiation, litigation and networking.

Mr. Yasso is a member of the Arts, Communications, Entertainment and Sports Section (ACES) of the State Bar of Michigan, Sports Lawyers Association, International Association of Entertainment Lawyers, American Bar Association, and Michigan Trial Lawyers Association.  Mr. Yasso was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Lebanese American Camber of Commerce and Arabic American Chamber of Commerce.  He is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan, U.S. District Court of Northern Ohio, and Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Yasso has also been actively involved at St. Regis Parish where, as a member, was elected to sit on the Board of Directors of the School Finance Committee and on the school's Capital Campaign Committee. Mr. Yasso is also a member of the St. Regis Booster's Club and Dad's Club and has been a basketball coach, counselor and mentor for boys and girls participating in Catholic Youth Organization for the past 15 years.

Mr. Yasso graduated from Boston College in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, with distinction, received his Masters of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, in International Relations from Wayne State University in 1987 and a Juris Doctor degree, with distinction, from the University of Detroit School of Law in 1991.