AT AKEEL & VALENTINE, PLC, WE BELIEVE JUSTICE IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR
At Akeel & Valentine, PLC, justice is worth fighting for
Biography
When powerful institutions cause harm, people call Shereef Akeel. For three decades he has taken on Fortune 500 companies, national banks, government agencies, and defense contractors, and he has won multiple multimillion-dollar verdicts doing it. In 2026, Michigan Lawyers Weekly inducted him into its Hall of Fame, an honor reserved for Michigan lawyers whose careers have shaped the profession.
His most recent victory made history. He was part of the trial team in Al Shimari v. CACI, where a federal jury in Virginia awarded $42 million to three Abu Ghraib torture survivors. It was the first time Abu Ghraib survivors had ever won a verdict before a U.S. jury.
Recognized Among the Nation's Elite
- Michigan Lawyers Weekly Hall of Fame, Class of 2026
- Forbes Top 200 Lawyers in America (2024)
- Michigan Super Lawyer every year since 2006
- Tier One civil rights lawyer, U.S. News & World Report
- Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America, American Trial Lawyers Association
- Lawyer of the Year, Michigan Lawyers Weekly
A Voice for the Voiceless
Akeel represents people who were wrongfully convicted and spent years, sometimes decades, in prison for crimes they did not commit. He fights to hold accountable the officials and systems that took their freedom, and to win compensation that can help rebuild their lives.
A Trial Lawyer with a CPA's Mind
Akeel holds a JD, an MBA, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Few trial lawyers have that combination. He can read a balance sheet as fluently as a deposition transcript, which helps him expose fraud and value a case precisely.
Practice Areas
- Employment law: discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and class actions
- Whistleblower protection: False Claims Act (qui tam) cases, and retaliation claims for employees punished for speaking up
- Business litigation: high-stakes commercial disputes, partnership conflicts, and fraud claims
- Civil rights and wrongful conviction: police misconduct, exoneree compensation, and constitutional violations
- Catastrophic injury: cases involving defective products and corporate negligence
Cases That Changed the Rules
- Corporate America: He showed that a Fortune 500 company's forced-ranking evaluation system disproportionately harmed minority employees. The company abandoned it.
- Banking: He sued a national bank over discriminatory account targeting, and the practice stopped.
- Retail: He challenged a national retailer's cross-gender searches of customers, and the company now requires same-gender searches.
- Public safety: After a defective pool drain killed a child, his lawsuit helped drive national pool-safety reforms.
- Government overreach: He ended a nationwide federal practice of questioning travelers about their religion and challenged the federal no-fly list.
The Bottom Line
Clients get a lawyer who has beaten some of the most powerful defendants in the world and who understands the money as well as the law. Akeel brings the same intensity to every case, whether it involves a fired whistleblower, a cheated business partner, or an innocent person robbed of their freedom.
Education
University of Michigan (B.A., Economics) · Wayne State University (MBA) · Detroit College of Law/MSU (JD) · Certified Public Accountant
Education
- Michigan State University, Detroit College of Law, East Lansing, Michigan
- J.D. - 08/1996
- Honors: cum laude
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- B.A. - 1987
- Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
- M.B.A. - 1992
Classes & Seminars
- Speaker, Labor and Employment Law Section, Michigan State Bar
- Speaker, Labor and Employment Law Institute, ICLE
- Speaker, Annual Conference (Civil Rights Laws, Locally and Nationally), The Michigan Association of Justice
- Lecturer, 34th Annual Labor & Employment law Institute, Lecturer, Managing Religious and Cultural Differences in the Work Place, Institute Continued Legal Education, Law, 2009
- Lecturer, How to Negotiate Settlement Agreements Without a Mediator: All the Skills You Long Ago Forgot!, The Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Legal, 2008
- Lecturer, Mediation Best Practices, State Bar of Michigan, 2008
Representative Clients
- Abu Gharib Torture Victims
- Blackwater Shooting Victims
Past Positions
- Melamed, Dailey & Akeel, Partner/Founder, 1996 to 2004
- Michigan Basic Property Insurance, Account Supervisor, 1991 to 1995
Professional Associations
- State Bar of Michigan, Member, 1996
- American Association of Justice, Member
- Michigan Association of Justice , Member
Certified Legal Specialties
- Certified Public Accountant, State of Michigan, 1991
Current Employment Position
- Partner
Practice Areas
- Employment Law/Discrimination 50%
- Personal Injury/Civil Rights 50%
Bar Admissions
- Michigan, 1996
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan, 1996
- U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan, 1996
- U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 2005
- U.S. Supreme Court, 2007
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 2025
Honors
- Forbes America’s top 200 lawyers
- Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the American Trial Lawyers Association. (ATLA)
- Super Lawyer in Civil Rights
- President's Award - Center for Constitutional Rights
- Defender of Freedom Award - ACLU
- ADC - Guardian of Justice
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Law and Politics Magazine, Michigan Super Lawyer
- Michigan Lawyers Weekly, Lawyer of the Year
- Guardian of Civil Rights - ADC