Advocate Law Offices

The Advocate Law Offices was founded in 1985 by attorney J. R. Portko after the breakup of the law firm of Lawson, Marcus & Portko, a Grand Rapids partnership.

The Advocate Law Offices employs an office manager, Lynn, and a paralegal, Guadalupe, plus an intern and a legal secretary to handle almost all types of cases, legal issues, problems and litigation. Mr. Portko graduated from Grand Valley State University with a B.A. in Economics with high honors and Wayne State University Law School with honors and awards. He has been recognized by the city of Grand Rapids for his ten years of service to the city including as chairman of the GR Tax Assessor’s Board of Review, the International Relations Committee and as president of Grand Rapids Sister Cities, International. He initiated the official Sister-City relationship between Grand Rapids and Bielsko-Biala, Poland. 

Mr. Portko is a member of the Grand Rapids Bar Foundation, the Western Michigan Bar Association, and the Federalist Society and Action Institute.

Mr. Portko was awarded the Gold Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the president of Poland in 1997. He has worked for the Washington National Opera and the U.S. House of Representatives for the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. and has served as the president of the Polish Heritage Society, on the Board of Directors of the Polaski Days Patriotic Committee and as chief legal council to the National Polish Center in Washington. He has also served as trustee of Novi Township, Michigan, elected in 1978. He was awarded the honor for “Outstanding Community Service" by the U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1989 and proclaimed an honorary member of the Legion of Polish Veterans.

Admitted

• Michigan, 1980
• U.S. District Court, Western and Eastern Districts of Michigan, 1980
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1981

Education

• Wayne State University, J.D., 1980
• Grand Valley State College, B.A., 1976

Membership

• Grand Rapids Association
• Debtors Bar Association
• State Bar of Michigan
• National Advocates Society

Biography

• Appellate Law Clerk for Hon. John H. Hausner, Judge of Wayne County, 3rd Circuit Court, Detroit, Michigan, 1979-1980
• Law Clerk and Research Attorney, Becker & VanCleef, P.C., Southfield/Detroit, Michigan, 1980-1981
• Intern, Wayne State University Law School, 1979-1980
• Chairman, Grand Rapids City Assessor's Board of Review
• Fellow, Grand Rapids Foundation Acton Institute

Languages

• English
• German
• Polish

Born

• Grand Rapids, Michigan