The Best Lawyers in America has named Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Bill Ragland its Lawyer of the Year for Mergers and Acquisitions Litigation in the Atlanta market for its 2019 edition.

This is the fifth consecutive year that Ragland has been named a Lawyer of the Year, having previously been named the Atlanta market’s top attorney for Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation, Technology Law, Patent Law, and Copyright Law. Only a single lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as the Lawyer of the Year. Winners are selected based on peer-review assessments of abilities, professionalism and integrity.

The Best Lawyers in America, the oldest lawyer-rating publication in the United States, also recognized Ragland in the practice areas of Commercial Litigation, Banking & Finance Litigation, Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation, Patent Law, Patent Litigation, Technology Law, Intellectual Property Litigation, Trade Secrets Law and Trademark Litigation. Ragland has been listed in Best Lawyers for each of the past 13 years.

In June, Ragland was named one of the world’s Top 300 IP Strategists by Intellectual Asset Management magazine (“IAM”) for the eighth time. Ragland also is ranked in the IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Professionals. In addition, he is recommended and listed by Chambers USA and Super Lawyers for Intellectual Property and Business Litigation. Ragland also received the 2018 Intellectual Property Community Service Award, which was jointly presented by Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, the Atlanta Bar Association and the State Bar of Georgia.

Bill Ragland is among Womble Bond Dickinson’s most experienced lead litigators and intellectual property strategists. He has litigated more than 60 patent infringement and patent-related cases in his 32-year career, as well as scores of other intellectual property disputes. Ragland also provides strategic advice regarding the structure, negotiation and implementation of intellectual property enforcement and licensing programs and portfolio management services. Ragland is a past president of the Atlanta Bar Association, founded the Atlanta Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section and served as its first co-chair, served as chair of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Litigation Section, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia. As a long-standing member of the National Board of the Smithsonian Institution, Ragland serves as the co-chair of the Smithsonian National Board’s Alumni.