Clyde Siebman, a member of East Texas-based Siebman, Burg, Phillips & Smith, has joined an invitation-only group of 100 of leading judges, attorneys and academics to address important issues that have an impact on patent law. Siebman, who is based in his firm's Sherman office, was one of only two private attorneys to participate in The Naples Roundtable's inaugural Leahy Institute of Advanced Patent Studies.

Honors

Charles J. Allen, associate in Meadows, Collier, Reed, Cousins, Crouch & Unger in Dallas, has been board-certified in estate planning and probate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

New Positions

Charles H. Wilson has joined Littler Mendelson in Houston as a shareholder. Wilson previously was vice chair and managing partner of Cozen O'Connor's Houston office. He has 20 years of experience representing national and international companies against harassment and discrimination claims, wage and hour matters, whistleblowing and retaliation, workplace injury cases, among other things.

Justin V. Sumner has been promoted to partner in Sumner, Schick & Pace in Dallas. Sumner joined the firm in 2006 and focuses his practice on civil and complex commercial litigation.

Jennifer Klein Ayers and Joshua Skora have been named partners in the Dallas office of K&L Gates. Ayers defends clients in complex intellectual property matters, including outsourcing, patent infringement, trademark, domain name and trade secret disputes. Skora has a health care practice that focuses on complex corporate and regulatory issues, including fraud and abuse, regulatory due diligence for transactions, as well as other matters.

Laura L. Stapleton has joined Meadows, Collier, Reed, Crouch & Unger in Dallas as senior counsel. Jeffrey M. Glassman and Jason A. Hendrix have joined the firm as associates. Stapleton's practice centers on tax planning, real estate, corporate and estate planning, as well as on probate. Glassman has a litigation practice focusing on income tax, estate and gift tax and white-collar and government regulatory matters. Hendrix practices in the areas of state, income tax and commercial litigation, among other matters.

Laura Brock, a trademark associate, and Ben Jones, a litigation associate, recently joined Harper Bates & Champion in Dallas. Formerly known as Griffith Bates Champion & Harper, the firm changed its name March 5 due to the departure of former partner Casey Griffith. The name change became effective March 5.

Elected

Ted M. Benn, a Dallas partner in Thompson & Knight's real estate and banking practice group, has been elected chair of the Downtown Dallas Inc. board of directors. The nonprofit organization acts as an advocate, champion and steward of downtown Dallas.

New Office

Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester has opened its seventh location nationwide in Dallas. Erwin A. Nepomuceno and David R. Reeder, partners in the firm, have relocated from the Los Angeles and San Diego offices, respectively, to lead the new office. Nepomuceno is leader of the Manning & Kass workers compensation team and co-leader of its veterans law team. Reeder has litigated and tried successfully a wide range of complex, multimillion dollar cases in the areas of construction defect, personal injury, insurance bad faith as well as other matters.