Marla Butler, Thompson Hine, Atlanta (Photo: John Disney/ALM) Marla Butler, Thompson Hine, Atlanta (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

Marla Butler has left Robins Kaplan, the national litigation firm where she'd spent her 21-year legal career to date, to return to Atlanta. She joined Thompson Hine this week as a partner.

Butler started out at Robins Kaplan in Atlanta in 1997, then moved to New York in 2010 to help the firm build an office there. “Professionally, those five years in New York were among the best of my career—helping to build something new and instill the Robins Kaplan culture,” Butler said.

But by 2015 she and her wife had three children, so they moved to a more family-friendly location, Minneapolis, where Robins Kaplan is headquartered. At the time, Butler said, Robins Kaplan was winding down its 12-lawyer Atlanta branch, as most of the partners were approaching retirement, so returning to its Atlanta office was not an option.

Over the next few years she and her wife missed Atlanta—and decided to return. “We have family and friends who are like family in Atlanta,” Butler said.

She chose Thompson Hine because she liked the people and the focus on diversity (including a woman leader, Deborah Read) at the Cleveland-based firm—and she sees room to help build the Atlanta office, which now has 30 lawyers.

Butler said she's broadened her patent litigation practice over the years into commercial litigation “with a heavy bent toward IP and tech,” adding that Thompson Hine has a good practice in those areas. “But I felt there would be room to come in and grow it more,” she said. She also already knew one Atlanta partner, J.A. Schneider, from working with him at Robins Kaplan.

Thompson Hine's Atlanta partner-in-charge, Tim McDonald, said Butler's litigation skills and leadership abilities make her a welcome addition. “Marla adds deep trial experience. She is one of those people who can pick up a file and try it next week,” he said. “And she's a leader. We are looking for leadership strength, not bench strength. She doesn't view herself as having a job title beyond what needs to get done.”

At Robins Kaplan, Butler chaired the firm's diversity committee from Atlanta, then served on the executive board and became both assistant managing partner and hiring partner for its New York office.

Butler said she represents large companies, including GE Healthcare, so she wanted to join a full-service firm for more opportunities to cross-sell work. Thompson Hine also does work for General Electric divisions, including GE Lighting in Cleveland, she said, which was a draw. While Butler handles patent litigation for GE Healthcare, which makes medical imaging devices, she said her two largest current matters are both breach of contract cases over a patent license and trade secrets.

Thompson Hines' investment in innovation through SmartPath, the firm's proprietary approach to legal project management, was another draw for Butler. “I remember as a fifth- or sixth-year associate, the client would ask for a budget and we'd all roll our eyes,” Butler said. “Boy, how the world has changed. My clients expect budgets, and they expect them to be kept. Thompson Hine is a great platform to provide my clients the budgeting and predictability that they expect—and to do it well.”

McDonald said demand is up 24.6 percent this year for Thompson Hine's Atlanta office, so the firm is looking for further expansion. Butler's arrival at Thompson Hine follows the addition of labor and employment partners John Wymer III and Bryan Stillwagon from Sherman & Howard in January.

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Johnna Goodmark has left the City of Atlanta's legal department to join Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs as a partner in the real estate practice. Goodmark joined the city's law department in 2015 as chief counsel for real estate and then became a deputy city attorney managing its infrastructure and real estate practice. Before that, she spent nine years as a real estate partner at women-owned business law boutique Tatum Hillman & Powell.

At the city, Goodmark led the law department's in-house team on several major real estate transactions, including the transfer of the Atlanta Streetcar to MARTA; the sales of Underground Atlanta, Turner Field and the Atlanta Civic Center; and the Bobby Jones Golf Course land swap with the state for property near Underground Atlanta. She also was the city's real estate counsel for the Gulch redevelopment project.

Family law firm Boyd Collar Nolen Tuggle & Roddenbery has added associates Caitlyn Kerr and Megan Pownall Wyss. Kerr joined from Rhodes Law Firm after earning a law degree from Georgia State University in 2014. Wyss came from LaScala Family Law and earned her J.D. in 2013 from Villanova University.

Drew Eckl & Farnham has promoted Robert Goldsmith, a workers' compensation practitioner, to partner. Goldsmith, who has tried hundreds of cases in Georgia, has been named defense counsel of the year by the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation. He also is a past-president of the University of Georgia Alumni Council and of the Dougherty Circuit Bar Association.

Hawkins Parnell & Young has elected to equity partner Edward Abbot, its partner-in-charge in New York, and Catherine Goldhaber, its partner-in-charge in Chicago. The national defense litigation firm is based in Atlanta.

Alston & Bird partner Mark Williamson is raising funds for the Alzheimer's Association on May 4 by competing in its annual Dancing Stars of Atlanta show at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

Williamson is a musician on the side who conducted and played trombone for the Atlanta Pops Christmas Gala fundraiser last fall—but he said the dance floor is not his comfort zone. “I felt a little better when they told me I just had to dance for 90 seconds and there would be no lifting involved,” he said. “I learned one thing right away—in a pro-am dance contest you want to be the amateur guy, because your partner has to do all the work, all those tricky spins and twirls.”

Professional dancer Natalie Pruitt of Rock Steady Ballroom is Williamson's partner for Dancing Stars. They will be performing East and West Coast Swing to the tunes of hard rocker Gary Hoey. To contribute to Williamson's $50,000 goal, consult the Dancing Stars of Atlanta website.