DALLAS AND ATLANTA, July 10, 2014 – FisherBroyles LLP (FisherBroyles) adds Ruben C. DeLeon, James A. Marshall and George W. Poletes to the firm’s rapidly expanding Dallas office as partners. DeLeon, formerly of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a NYSE Governance Services top 25 best corporate law firm, specializes in intellectual property (IP) law. Marshall and Poletes both bring years of in-house experience for small, medium and global corporations including Burger King and CoreXchange.
“We are thrilled to have Ruben, James and George join our practice,” said James M. Fisher II, co-managing partner of FisherBroyles. “Their combined experience in technology, corporate and intellectual property law is a tremendous asset to our clients and our firm and represents yet another endorsement of our innovative business model.”
DeLeon brings more than 20 years of IP experience to the firm for both high-tech clients and individual entrepreneurs. In addition to his expertise in trademark, copyright, trade secret, software licensing and intellectual property litigation, DeLeon also specializes in patent-related matters, with a particular emphasis on electronics, computer technology and telecommunications.
Previously a senior counsel for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, DeLeon is also a past partner at Winstead PC, whose Texas real estate and construction practice groups were ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA in 2014. He is a member of the American Intellectual Property Association and past officer of the Hispanic National Bar Association. DeLeon was an adjunct professor at Texas Wesleyan University and has presented at the annual Telecommunications Law Conference and co-chaired the State Bar of Texas’ Minority Council Program for 2007-2008.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1988 and his Juris Doctor from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in 1994.
Marshall’s practice concentrates primarily on franchising, general corporate, business law, and commercial real estate. A veteran of the foodservice and hospitality industries, he is a past general counsel for Compass Group USA, where he was responsible for supervising the division’s law, real estate and risk management departments.
Marshall has also served as in-house counsel for Burger King Corporation, Hardee’s Food Systems and LaQuinta Inns, where he was responsible for the sale and purchase of restaurants, conducted real estate transactions and oversaw litigation and risk management duties. He also spearheaded LaQuinta’s franchise program and advised the hotel chain in the areas of marketing, compensation agreements, employment agreements, management agreements and secured transactions, and spearheaded its franchise program.
A 1971 graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington, Marshall earned bachelor’s degrees in history and English literature before going on to complete his Juris Doctor at Indiana University-Indianapolis in 1975. Marshall is a certified mediator and has mediated hundreds of disputes in franchising, contracts, family and probate law, and personal injury cases. He has also taught mediation classes at the SMU Legacy Campus in Plano, Texas.
As a business operator, investor and in-house attorney for 20 years, Poletes is a subject matter expert in IT infrastructure, cloud services, data centers, telecom and networking, and outsourcing. In addition to his financing, mergers and acquisitions experience, Poletes has negotiated and drafted agreements for technology outsourcing and licensing, strategic partnerships, and value-added reseller relationships.
Prior to joining FisherBroyles, Poletes was co-founder and senior executive of CoreXchange (now owned by Zayo), a leading provider of data center services. He is also a former senior executive and general counsel of ThePlanet, a privately‐held hosting provider, where he played a leadership role in building the company from an early stage and managed its sale to a private equity investor. Poletes held corporate development and in-house legal positions at OnRamp Technologies and Verio – two internet service providers – where he helped manage their merger ahead of Verio’s initial public offering in 1998.
Poletes graduated with highest honors from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1990 and earned his Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law in 1994. He is a past board member of the Dallas Arts District Chorale and of the University of Texas at Arlington College of Science’s advisory council.
About FisherBroyles, LLP
Founded in 2002, FisherBroyles LLP was the first national, full-service, cloud-based law firm in the country. Our Next Generation Law Firm® has grown to almost 100 attorneys in 11 offices nationwide. The FisherBroyles model leverages technology to offer a more cost-effective solution to clients without sacrificing Big Law quality by eliminating unnecessary overhead that does not add value to clients. FisherBroyles has been recognized as a Tier 1 Atlanta firm the last two years by Best Lawyers and U.S. News & World Report and as one of the top law firms in Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Visit our website at www.fisherbroyles.com to learn more about our firm’s unique approach and how we can best meet your needs.