Williams Mullen Announces Election of Seven New Partners - Feb, 2019

Williams Mullen is pleased to announce the election of seven new partners. Jonathan Bliley (Corporate), Ryan Kenrick (Finance & Real Estate), Joseph Pope (Litigation), Forbes Thompson (Corporate), Ryan Trail (Environmental), Will Wozniak (Government Contracts) and Vanessa Yearick (Corporate) were elected partners at the firm’s January board meeting.

The new partners are based throughout the firm’s footprint with two in Richmond and one each in Columbia, S.C.; Norfolk, Va.; Tysons, Va.; Virginia Beach, Va.; and Washington. D.C.

Jonathan Bliley (Richmond) focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions and other commercial transactions involving companies from numerous industries, including long-term care, financial services and government contracting.  He helps clients navigate all aspects of commercial transactions and general corporate matters, including corporate finance, securities laws and corporate governance.

Ryan Kenrick (Norfolk) represents national, regional and local clients in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, including land acquisition, development, leasing, financing and dispositions. His goal is to assist his clients throughout the entire life of their development projects. Ryan has extensive experience negotiating purchase agreements, dealing with complex title issues, negotiating leases and managing all facets of commercial real estate closings. He has assisted his clients in the acquisition and disposition of mixed-use development projects, office parks, shopping centers, golf courses and investment properties throughout the region, and he has worked with state and local government agencies with respect to economic development projects.

Joseph Pope (Richmond) represents companies and individuals in complex civil, criminal, and constitutional litigation, with an emphasis on appeals and advanced motions practice. He has represented parties in high stakes cases at every level of the judiciary, including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Virginia. He has represented clients at trial and on appeal in a broad spectrum of complex business and commercial litigation, including antitrust litigation, intellectual property litigation, class actions, bankruptcy and creditor rights litigation, and business and partnership disputes.

Forbes Thompson (Washington D.C.) focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions. She has assisted clients on numerous multimillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions and asset purchases involving public and private companies and strategic, private equity buyers and sellers. She represents clients in deals across a wide range of industries, including insurance and insurance brokerages, software and technology and manufacturing and distribution.

Ryan Trail (Columbia) represents companies facing complex environmental regulatory issues in the industrial, manufacturing, real estate and banking industries. He helps companies maintain compliance with constantly evolving environmental laws and regulations, and he counsels landowners, potential purchasers and lenders on environmental liabilities related to contaminated real estate. Ryan also helps clients obtain and comply with numerous environmental permits, including industrial wastewater discharge permits, stormwater permits and air permits.

Will Wozniak (Tysons) focuses his practice on government contracts. He works with those who do business with the federal, state and local governments in navigating the unique requirements and challenges of a government contractor. He supports clients in the many facets of government contracting, including teaming strategy and agreements, bid and proposal review and development, contract negotiation and formation, compliance, disputes, claims and cost accounting issues.

Vanessa Yearick (Virginia Beach) focuses her practice on securities, public finance and corporate law. Her experience includes offerings of equity and debt securities for privately and publicly held companies as well as offerings of municipal bonds. Vanessa has assisted clients in various business matters, including entity formation, corporate governance and securities law compliance. She also has served as bond counsel, borrower’s counsel and bank counsel in various types of tax-exempt and taxable municipal bond financings.