About Jeffrey R. Portko, Esq.
Attorney & Counselor at Law
Attorney Jeffrey R. Portko - A Proud Polish-American
Jeff Co-Founded Grand Rapids' Dozynki (Polish Harvest Festival) Festiwal Polski, a long-standing tradition in West Michigan's Polish-American Community and has served as both President of the Polish Heritage Society, Inc., the Pulaski Days Patriotic Committee, Inc. and Grand Rapids Sister Cities International, Inc, all non-profit entities. 
He initated the Sister City relationship between Grand Rapids and Bielsko-Biala, Poland in 1991, started a Polish & American Sister City Group and was awarded very high honors by the then President of Poland, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Lech Walesa.
A former high school amateur boxer, he later served as fund-raising Chairman for the Ketchel Historical Memorial Marker and the non-profit Michigan Golden Gloves Amateur Boxing Association, Inc. HQ here in Grand Rapids.
Jeff is proud to support
The Polka Pops, the radio home of Grand
Rapids' Polish-American Community.
Read Jeff's essay about Polish-American Revolutionary War Hero,
US Brig. General Casimir Pulaski. click here
Take a moment to read Jeff's essay about Grand Rapids' own Polish-American World Boxing
Champion, "The Polish Assassin": Middleweight Stanley Ketchel. click here 
Jeff Portko is a 1980 Graduate of Wayne State University Law School, in Detroit from which he earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence with honors and has practiced as a family lawyer in Grand Rapids since 1981. He is admitted to the Michigan Supreme Court, all local courts statewide and the US Federal District Courts for Michigan, and the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cinncinnati, Ohio. He was previously elected as a Township Trustee, and has been appointed and served on various citizen boards for the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County for many years, including the Grand Rapids Assessor's Board of Review, which handles Property Tax Assessment Appeal hearings.
In court, Jeff takes off the boxing gloves and pull no punches as he fights for your rights! His affectionate 15 year-old little white dog (the maltese terrier pictured with Jeff below) is appropriately named "CHAMP"!
He is also known for portraying old Bishops St. Nicholas and St. Patrick for various parades and other ethnic functions, teaching their valued traditions in schools, churches and senior societies.
He has also taught as an adjunct Professor of Civil Law and Procedure for his alma mater, Grand Valley State University, from which he earned his B.A. in Economics with High Honors in 1976.
Jeff has studied at Hillsdale College and been honored by the Government of the Republic of Poland, The White House and The National Polish Center of Polish Culture in Washington, D.C. which he served for several years on it's Board of Directors and as Legal Counsel.
He loves the beach, to travel, read & has worked in Washington, D.C. as a fundraiser for the Washington National Opera. He is a member of the Michigan Bar Association, the ABA, The Federalist Society and the National Advocates Legal Society, Inc.
Jeff Portko has also partnered with some investors to acquire land for beach front development with rain forest preservation on Amatique Bay on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala in an eco-friendly business venture called Bahia Vista LLC. See more at <www.mayanation.com> where the beach sand is white, the water is teal blue, the people are friendly and the great coral reef zone and many ancient Mayan temples and ruins are not far away.
Guatemala is like visiting Hawaii without having to travel so far away. It welcomes foreign investment and our vital help.
While the cost of living in Guatemala is 1/10th of what it is here in the USA, the locals suffer from poverty and lack of jobs.
However given the rise of dignified indigenous culture and eco-sensitive development in Belize, Costa Rica and Panama, he thinks Guatemala is next and no nation has more real Mayans, nor links to ancient Mayan culture than does surprising Guatemala. 