LOS ANGELES – May 2, 2022 - Ian C. Ballon and Susan L. Heller, shareholders of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, have been recognized by the Daily Journal among its “Top Intellectual Property Lawyers of California” for 2022. Ballon and Heller are consistently named to the prestigious annual list, which honors attorneys who provide creative, innovative, and winning strategies for clients’ intellectual property matters, according to the Daily Journal.
The Daily Journal’s “Top Intellectual Property Lawyers” are selected from hundreds of nominees from law firms, public agencies, nonprofits, and universities, honoring attorneys on the cutting edge of intellectual property work, according to the publication.
Ballon, who is based in the Greenberg Traurig’s Silicon Valley and Los Angeles offices, is co-chair of the firm’s global Intellectual Property & Technology Practice and represents clients in internet- and mobile- related intellectual property and technology litigation – including copyright, trademark, and patent infringement litigation, trade secret and right of publicity litigation, and matters involving database protection, screen scraping, and artificial intelligence – and in the defense of data privacy and cybersecurity class action suits.
He is also the author of the leading treatise on internet and mobile law, E-Commerce and Internet Law: Treatise with Forms 2nd edition, the 5-volume set published by West (www.IanBallon.net), which includes extensive coverage of intellectual property law issues. He also serves as executive director of Stanford University Law School’s Center for the Digital Economy, which hosts the annual Digital Economy Best Practices Conference where lawyers, scholars, and judges are regularly featured and interact. (See https://law.stanford.edu/center-for-digital-economy/#slsnav-contact)
Ballon was named Lawyer of the Year for Information Technology Law in the 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, and 2013 editions of Best Lawyers in America. In 2019, he was selected as one of the top 20 Cybersecurity lawyers in California and, in 2018, one of the Top Cybersecurity/Artificial Intelligence lawyers in California by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal. Ballon received the 2017 “Trailblazer” Award, Intellectual Property from The National Law Journal and he has been recognized as a “Groundbreaker” in The Recorder’s 2017 Litigation Departments of the Year Awards. He was also the recipient of the California State Bar Intellectual Property Law section's Vanguard Award for significant contributions to the development of intellectual property law. Ballon is an elected member of the American Law Institute and served as an advisor to its international intellectual property jurisdiction project and a member of the consultative group for the American Law Institute’s Data Privacy Principles of Law project.
Heller is co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Orange County office, co-chair of the firm's Global Trademark & Brand Management Group, and senior advisor to the firm’s Women’s Initiative. Heller is consistently recognized by numerous publications and organizations as having one of the preeminent and most innovative international trademark practices in the country and for being a game-changer. When the stakes are high and critical brands are at risk, Fortune 500 companies, world champion athletes, high-net-worth individuals, A-list celebrities, and highly visible pre-initial public offering companies turn to Heller for her strategic thought leadership and counsel, honed by her three decades of experience. At the forefront of global strategic management and monetization of big-name brands on a worldwide level, she is known for developing cutting-edge branding strategies, most notably in "bet-the-brand," high stakes trademark cases. She works directly with CEOs and senior executives, in and out of corporate boardrooms. Her practice has spanned over 30 years across virtually every industry and in most jurisdictions throughout the world.
In 2020, Heller was selected to be a member of the prestigious United Nations’ Artificial Intelligence Initiative (AI For Good), joining an elite team of law firm leaders, international business executives, university deans, and UN thought leaders. She also serves on the Board of Visitors at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, the Dean’s Advisory Board of the University of California Irvine’s Business School, and on the Board of Human Options, an organization whose mission is dedicated to ending the cycle of domestic violence.
The National Diversity Council named Heller one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in the United States and she was honored with the 2020 Client Choice Award for Intellectual Property – Trademarks Category in California (voted for exclusively by corporate counsel). Euromoney twice named her the winner of its Americas Women in Business Law Awards “Best in Trademark,” and Best Lawyers in America on two separate occasions named her “Lawyer of the Year” in Trademark Law for Los Angeles. Heller was twice selected as “Trademark Lawyer of the Year” by Finance Monthly Global Awards, is a three-time winner of the “Lawyer of the Year for Intellectual Property” by Lawyer Monthly, and is a “WIPR Leader” by World Intellectual Property Review. She was honored by her alma mater, Cornell University, which named her a Distinguished Classmate. She also serves on the highly regarded President’s Council of Cornell Women.
About Greenberg Traurig’s Intellectual Property & Technology Practice: With more than 225 intellectual property attorneys and patent agents in the United States, Asia, and Europe, Greenberg Traurig provides a broad range of patent, trademark and copyright protection and strategic counseling. Greenberg Traurig was named “Law Firm of the Year” for Trademark Law and a “National Tier 1” Law Firm for IP Litigation, Patent Law and Litigation, Copyright Law, Technology Law, and Information Technology Law by U.S. News and Best Lawyers, 2022 “Best Law Firms."
About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2400 attorneys in 43 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm, often recognized for its focus on philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono, reported gross revenue of over $2 Billion for FY 2021. The firm is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law 100, Am Law Global 100, NLJ 250, and Law360 (US) 400. On the debut 2022 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard, it is a Top 15 firm. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab and net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage. Web: www.gtlaw.com.