McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP Elects Seven New Partners

Jan. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- WASHINGTON  — McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA) announced the following seven lawyers have been named to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2011.  The newly elected partners come from the firm’s Washington, DC; Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles, CA; and San Francisco, CA offices.

"In this economy, we consider it more important than ever to focus on investing in talented and accomplished professionals," said Chairman Jeff Haidet.  "These seven new partners have demonstrated their exceptional skill at serving our clients and will be important parts of the firm's future success."

The new partners are as follows:

Tony Balloon is a member of the Corporate practice in the Atlanta office.  His practice is concentrated on general corporate counseling of both public and privately-held companies.  He focuses on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, with an emphasis on cross-border transactions, financial technology and payments.  Having returned to the Atlanta office in 2008 after nearly two years in the firm's Brussels office, Tony has significant experience with complex international acquisitions.

Summer Chandler is a member of the firm’s Bankruptcy, Creditors' Rights and Insolvency-Related Litigation team in the Atlanta office.  She focuses her practice on bankruptcy, workouts and debtor/creditor law and on general commercial litigation.  Ms. Chandler has extensive experience representing creditors, landlords, debtors, trustees, buyers of assets out of bankruptcy and other parties in interest in Chapter 11 reorganization proceedings and Chapter 7 liquidation proceedings, including prosecuting and defending bankruptcy litigation matters.  She also represents clients before state and federal courts in a variety of commercial litigation actions, including business torts, contract disputes,  and receivership actions.

Yong Choi's is a member of the Intellectual Property and Technology practice in Washington, DC where he focuses on patent issues related to electronic, electrical and mechanical fields.  He has extensive experience in patent prosecution and opinion letters for major corporations.  His areas of concentration include telecommunication devices and systems, photocopying and printing systems, semiconductor and liquid crystal display fabrication, e-commerce and database technologies, computer systems, networking devices and protocols, digital imaging, software and mechanical devices.

David Folds is a member of the Litigation practice in the Washington, D.C. office.  He represents financial institutions, commercial and retail landlords, franchisors, trade creditors, purchasers of assets, and other entities in all aspects of bankruptcy proceedings. David also represents companies and individuals in commercial litigation, such as lending matters, contractual claims, real estate matters and business torts.

Valerie Hayes is a member of the Intellectual Property and Technology practice in Washington, DC.  Her practice is focused on patent issues related to electronic, electrical and mechanical disciplines, including client counseling, the drafting of patent applications and prosecution of domestic and foreign patent applications.  She has also actively participated in the discovery phases of several patent litigation cases including document production and drafting of interrogatories, as well as reexamination proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office.

Michelle Jackson, a member of the firm’s Litigation practice in San Francisco, focuses her practice on toxic torts and asbestos defense litigation.  She manages the firm’s toxic tort practice and is experienced in all types of asbestos litigation, representing manufacturers, contractors and premises owners.

Ryan Landis is a member of the firm’s Litigation practice in Los Angeles.  He focuses on general civil litigation with an emphasis on product liability and toxic tort lawsuits, and he is experienced at handling and overseeing asbestos defense litigation in both northern and southern California.  Ryan also practices federal and state environmental litigation and regulatory consulting with an emphasis on environmental auditing, air quality management, and hazardous waste cleanup.

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About McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP: McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP is an international law firm with 475 attorneys and public policy advisors. The firm provides business solutions in the areas of complex litigation, corporate, environmental, energy, and climate change, finance, government contracts, health care, intellectual property and technology, international law, public policy and regulatory affairs and real estate. To learn more about the firm and its services, log on to http://www.mckennalong.com.