Womble Carlyle attorney Bill Ragland has been named the 2017 Atlanta Lawyer of the Year for Mergers and Acquisitions Litigation by The Best Lawyers in America.

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.

Earlier this year, Ragland also was named a 2016 member of both the IM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategistsand the IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Attorneys.

Bill Ragland is among Womble Carlyle’s most experienced lead litigators and trial lawyers, with particular experience in patent and intellectual property litigation. He has litigated more than 55 patent infringement and other patent-related cases in his 30-year career. Ragland also provides strategic advice regarding the structure, negotiation and implementation of intellectual property enforcement and licensing programs and portfolio management services. Ragland founded the Atlanta Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section and served as its first co-chair, is a past president of the Atlanta Bar Association, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia.