Thompson Hine LLP is pleased to announce that Marla R. Butler, a partner in the Business Litigation group and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Firmwide Chair, has been named partner in charge of its Atlanta office. She succeeds Tim McDonald, who is transitioning to a position on the Firm’s Executive Committee and will continue his counseling and litigation practice in the firm’s Labor & Employment group.
“We thank Tim for a terrific job leading the Atlanta office for the past six years, and we look forward to his contributions in a new role,” noted Deborah Z. Read, Thompson Hine’s managing partner. Read applauded Butler’s skill, “Marla is a dynamic leader, and we will see strong contributions from her as she takes up the lead of the office. She has demonstrated a results-oriented approach in her management of our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives, and we welcome the re-deployment of her leadership skills in the Atlanta office.”
For more than 20 years, Butler has litigated and led high-stakes commercial litigations, arbitrations and trials. She conducts critical early case evaluations and assessments to help clients in the technology, medical, semiconductor, power, networking and other high-tech industries proactively take on commercial threats, monetize their patent assets and defend against lawsuits that threaten their businesses. Butler draws upon her understanding of complex technology concepts to help simplify them for judges and juries. She is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society composed of less than 0.5% of American lawyers. Fellows are selected based on effectiveness and accomplishment in litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels, and superior ethical reputation.
Butler has been recognized as a Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation (2020-2022); named by IAM 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners as a “Recommended Individual for Litigation and Licensing” in Minnesota and New York; named one of the “Top 250 Women in IP” by Managing Intellectual Property; recognized by Law360 as a “Minority Powerbroker”; and selected to the Minnesota Super Lawyers® list (2018), the New York Super Lawyers list (2013–2017) and the New York Super Lawyers list of “Top Women Attorneys in New York Metro” (2015–2017). She was also selected for inclusion in Lawyers of Color’s Nation’s Best in 2020.
Viewed as a leader in the Atlanta area and in professional litigation circles, Butler frequently provides pro bono representation. In one of her most significant recent matters, she worked with Lambda Legal to represent an incarcerated transgender woman who was denied medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria, obtaining a ruling believed to be the first to find that freeze-frame policies (blanket bans on providing hormone treatment to transgender individuals who were not receiving such treatment prior to incarceration) are unconstitutional.
Active in the community, Butler is currently on the board of The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, and she formerly served on the Lambda Legal board.
“I am honored to serve as the partner in charge of the Atlanta office and to play a more active role in the firm’s leadership, including supporting efforts to develop and mentor talented associates, increase Thompson Hine’s footprint in Atlanta, and advance innovative strategies for the delivery of legal services,” said Butler. Butler earned her J.D., cum laude, from Florida State University and her B.A. from Cleveland State University.