LOS ANGELES – April 21, 2021 – Ian C. Ballon and Susan L. Heller, shareholders at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, have been recognized by the Daily Journal among its “Top Intellectual Property Lawyers of California” for 2021. Ballon and Heller are routinely 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 firm’s Silicon Valley and Los Angeles offices, is co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s global Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Group 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. In addition, he 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 the Lawyer of the Year for Information Technology Law in the 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, and 2013 editions of Best Lawyers in America. For the past four years, he has been recognized as one of the Top 1,000 trademark attorneys in the world for his litigation practice by World Trademark Review. In addition, in 2019, he was named 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. He 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. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and served as an advisor to its international intellectual property jurisdiction project.
Heller, co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Orange County office, chair of the Global Trademark & Brand Management Group, and co-chair of the global Greenberg Traurig Women’s Initiative, is consistently recognized as having one of the preeminent international trademark practices in the country and for being a game-changer in the field. 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-IPO companies turn to Heller for her strategic thought leadership and counsel, honed by 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. Heller 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
Heller serves on the Board of Visitors of University of California, Irvine (UCI) Law School, Dean’s Advisory Board of the UCI Merage School of Business, Executive Committee of the University of Southern California (USC) IP Institute, and Cornell University’s President's Council of Cornell Women. She is also a board member of Orange County’s Human Options, an organization focused on breaking the cycle of domestic violence and on the Leadership Committee of 5050 Women on Boards.
The National Diversity Council named Heller one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in the US and she was honored with the 2020 Client Choice Award for the 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 named her “Lawyer of the Year” in Trademark Law for Los Angeles for two years. Heller was named “Trademark Lawyer of the Year” by Finance Monthly Global Awards, “Lawyer of the Year for Intellectual Property” by Lawyer Monthly, and a “WIPR Leader” by World Intellectual Property Review. She was also honored by her alma mater, Cornell University, which has named her a Distinguished Classmate.
About Greenberg Traurig’s Intellectual Property & Technology Practice: With more than 200 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, and Technology Law by U.S. News and Best Lawyers, 2020 “Best Law Firms."
About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2200 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 3.0 Certified. Web: www.gtlaw.com