Lathrop Gage Elects Three to Executive Committee, Appoints New Division Leaders
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 12, 2015) – Lathrop Gage LLP announced today that Sue Charles (Environmental — Chicago), R. Cameron Garrison (Intellectual Property — Kansas City) and Tom Ryan (Environmental — Kansas City) have been elected to the firm’s Executive Committee.
In addition, the firm has named three new division chairs. Giulio DeConti (Boston) will chair the Intellectual Property Division; Jennifer Hannah (Overland Park) will chair the Litigation Division; and Robert Grossman (Kansas City) will chair the Business Division.
“Their unmatched dedication to the firm and its clients makes the new executive committee members and division chairs very deserving of their leadership positions,” said Mark Bluhm, CEO of Lathrop Gage LLP. “The firm’s new leadership looks forward to expanding our services to enhance our value to clients.”
The firm’s 11-member Executive Committee develops the firm’s business strategy, oversees the firm’s financial and operating objectives, and serves as a liaison to the firm’s offices and operating committees.
Lathrop Gage’s three division chairs are responsible for managing the operations of their respective practice groups to focus on the efficient and effective delivery of client services. Together, the divisions contain 22 practice teams that deliver a wide variety of legal services to help clients achieve their business objectives.
About the new Executive Committee members:
Sue Charles (Environmental – Chicago): Charles’ practice encompasses a broad range of environmental law, including due diligence and contract negotiation, regulatory compliance counseling and administrative appeals. The majority of her practice focuses on assisting corporate and private equity clients evaluate the impact of existing and proposed environmental laws on transactions and make an informed assessment and reasonable allocation of environmental risk. Charles’ regulatory compliance work focuses on litigation avoidance and the development of creative solutions to complex legal challenges. However, where litigation proves unavoidable, she has nearly 20 years of experience negotiating a resolution to or appealing notices of violation and defending environmental and enforcement actions.
R. Cameron Garrison (Intellectual Property – Kansas City): Garrison has significant experience first-chairing high-stakes patent, trademark, false advertising, copyright and trade secret litigation, as well as advising clients on all aspects of their intellectual property portfolios. Garrison’s engagements and clients span numerous industries, including consumer products, manufacturing, digital content distribution and life sciences. Garrison has received several community and industry honors including being selected to The Kansas City Business Journal’s 2013 Class of NextGen Leaders and recognized in 2015 with the Client Choice™ Award for Intellectual Property – Copyright in Missouri.
Tom Ryan (Environmental – Kansas City): Ryan has spent a considerable portion of his time on Superfund matters across the United States, and defends chemical exposure toxic tort litigation, including class actions. Additionally, he represents policyholders in environmental insurance coverage litigation in various states and has many years of experience in personal injury litigation, representing railroad and manufacturing companies in a wide variety of cases. Ryan was named one of the American Lawyer Media & Martindale-Hubbell™ Top Rated Lawyers in Energy, Environmental and Natural Resources in 2013. For many consecutive years, he has been recognized by Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America® and Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyers.
Members of the Lathrop Gage Executive Committee continuing their terms in 2015 include: Chairman Joel Voran
(Wealth Strategies — Kansas City), CEO Mark Bluhm (Corporate — Kansas City), Mike Abrams (Business Litigation — Kansas City), Bill Beck (Environmental — Kansas City), Robert Grossman (Tax and Employee Benefits — Kansas City), Jennifer Hannah (Business Litigation — Overland Park),Ben Keller (Wealth Strategies — St. Louis), and Phill Lorenzo (Product Liability, Toxic and Mass Tort — Denver).
About the new Division Chairs:
Giulio DeConti (Intellectual Property – Boston): DeConti has 30 years of experience practicing intellectual property law and specializes in intellectual property strategy, opinions and due diligence. His technical specialties include pharmaceuticals, biologics, genetic engineering and organic chemistry. His clients range from start-up biotech companies to international pharmaceutical companies.
Jennifer Hannah (Litigation – Overland Park): Hannah has extensive experience in litigating all phases of complex litigation disputes, including substantial jury trial practice, appellate practice, class-action litigation, and alternative dispute resolution. Her experience includes disputes arising from general business transactions, partnership disputes, shareholder litigation, claims involving fraud, trade secret and covenant not to compete claims, various employment related claims, real estate disputes, and a variety of breach of contract claims.
Robert Grossman (Business – Kansas City): Grossman practices in the field of general business law and is a nationally-recognized authority on employee stock ownership plans. He represents companies in a wide variety of industries, ranging from small and mid-sized privately-held businesses to large, professional service organizations and serves as counsel to some of the largest and best-known, employee-owned companies in the United States.
About Lathrop Gage:
Lathrop Gage has 320 attorneys nationwide serving clients in the areas of litigation, intellectual property and business. Chambers USA ranks Lathrop Gage’s corporate, environmental, media and entertainment, labor and employment, litigation and real estate practices among the best in their regions. For more information, visit www.lathropgage.com.