(Photo: The Nice LifePic/Shutterstock.com) (Photo: The Nice LifePic/Shutterstock.com)

Barnes & Thornburg has further bulked up its Georgia government relations team with Misty Holcomb, an experienced entertainment and health care lobbyist. The firm has also added a team handling tax-credit financing to its Atlanta office.

The tax team, including partner Sean Honeywill and three associates, Devin Schoonmaker, Brian Saling and Abraham Llama, joined from local tax boutique Kowan & Cordon.

The hires give Barnes & Thornburg 30 lawyers and three lobbyists in its Atlanta office. It hired lobbyists Zachary Johnson last year and W. Murphy Talmadge the prior year from McGuireWoods Consulting.

Holcomb, who joined as a director of state government affairs, also from McGuireWoods Consulting, adds to Barnes & Thornburg's entertainment law and advocacy expertise in Atlanta. She joins entertainment law partner Stephen Weizenecker, a member of Gov. Brian Kemp's Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Commission.

Holcomb focuses her entertainment advocacy on film and videogame production and Georgia's entertainment tax incentive, introduced in 2008. The incentive has made Georgia a top production location worldwide for film and video and, more recently, a hub for the video game and esports industries, according to the Georgia Film, Music & Digital Entertainment Office.

She is also an actor with People Store Talent Agency and performs with Sketchworks Theatre.

Honeywill's team focuses on federal and state tax credit financing in areas such as affordable housing, historic rehabilitation, renewable energy and opportunity zones, as well as the transfer and monetization of tax credits. They also handle tax aspects of corporate transactions for developers, investors, lenders and syndicators.

David Gotlieb, who chairs Barnes & Thornburg's corporate department, said the tax group will be able to take advantage of the firm's national platform in that area. "As Atlanta's and the region's economy continues to boom," he said in a statement, clients need advice on tax credit financing to "navigate the increasingly complex federal and state tax considerations that are associated with economic development."

McGuireWoods Consulting, meanwhile, has hired Jennifer Winkler Larosa as a vice president for its extensive Georgia government relations team, which now includes 10 Atlanta-based lobbyists. Larosa was the senior government and external affairs officer for the Atlanta Transit Authority and has also worked as the director of government affairs for the American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia.

Taylor English Duma has hired James Balli from Marietta boutique Sams, Larkin & Huff as a partner in its litigation practice and a member of its government affairs arm, Taylor English Decisions. Balli specializes in obtaining development entitlements from local governments, ranging from permitting to full zoning approval, for clients that have included the Atlanta Braves and related entities in the entitlement of SunTrust Park and Battery Atlanta. On the litigation side, Balli represents several state government entities and is city attorney for the city of Blue Ridge. He also handles business litigation and disputes over insurance coverage claims, land acquisitions and contracts.

W. Collins Brown has joined Smith, Gambrell & Russell's Atlanta headquarters as a tax partner from James-Bates-Brannan-Groover. Brown focuses on wealth and estate planning for businesses and individuals.

Drew Eckl & Farnham has hired Elissa Haynes as a partner from Goodman McGuffey for its litigation and appellate practice. Haynes has served as lead counsel in trial and on appeal, defending matters involving general liability, negligent security and premises liability, personal injuries, wrongful death and religious institution liability.

She is currently treasurer of the State Bar of Georgia's Young Lawyers Division and chair of the Georgia Defense Lawyers Association's amicus curiae committee. She is also a graduate of the 2016 YLD Leadership Academy.

Dane Steffenson has left the U.S. Department of Labor, where he was a senior trial attorney, to become special counsel at Littler Mendelson. The 17-year veteran of the DOL will focus on ERISA, OSHA and wage and hour litigation at the national labor and employment firm. At the DOL, Steffenson was lead counsel on hundreds of employment law cases, including more than 25 trials, and won the DOL's top national award for litigation excellence.

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has hired Chris Caiaccio as counsel and Leah Farmer as an associate to its labor and employment practice. Caiaccio, who handles all aspects of labor and employment law, joined from national labor and employment firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart. Farmer joined from the Chicago office of Littler.

Personal injury firm Harris Lowry Manton has hired Joshua Dorminy as an associate in its Savannah office. Dorminy joined from civil litigation defense firm Boyd & Jenerette.

Bloom Parham has promoted four lawyers to partner: business litigators Troy Covington and Adam Nugent; Shannan Oliver, who handles employment and business litigation; and Ryan Pumpian, who handles intellectual property disputes, effective Jan. 1.

Atlanta-based litigation firm Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial has elected Emily Quan as a partner, effective Jan. 1, and promoted Colby Balkenbush, Aaron Cohn and Kyle Jackson to members of the firm.

Business law boutique O'Daniel McDonald has promoted Matthew Johnson to partner, effective Jan. 1. Johnson is a civil litigator, handling insurance defense and business disputes.

Laurie Speed of Speed & King has been accepted into the American Board of Trial Advocates. For membership in the invitation-only group, which is made up of more than 7,600 lawyers and judges nationally, a lawyer must have tried at least 10 civil jury trials to conclusion.

Caroline Abney has been reelected to the 2020 board for the Association of Law Firm Diversity Professionals, a national nonprofit. Abney is the director of human resources & diversity and inclusion at King & Spalding.