Armstrong Teasdale announces that Partners Jennifer Byrne and Jim Heinen, Jr. have each been named to lead one of the firm’s four core practice groups, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Byrne, who will lead the Corporate Services practice group, concentrates her practice in mergers and acquisitions, securities and corporate finance, general corporate issues, emerging companies and corporate governance. Heinen, who will lead the Intellectual Property group, focuses on the preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent applications for clients in a broad range of diverse technologies.

“Practice group leader roles are critical to advancing the firm and aligning our diverse skill sets with our strategic goals,” said Managing Partner David Braswell. “Jennifer and Jim have been significant contributors to their respective practice areas over the past decade, from operational practices and execution to hiring and mentorship, and they will continue to be tremendous assets to their teams, the firm and our clients.”

The Corporate Services practice group includes more than 60 attorneys and staff professionals with wide-ranging experience, including mergers and acquisitions, health care, technology, environmental law, international law, securities, tax, employee benefits, and trusts and estates.

The Intellectual Property practice group boasts more than 100 attorneys and staff professionals with advanced technical backgrounds and experience guiding clients in protecting their critical assets using a number of different strategies, including copyright, litigation, noncompete and trade secrets, patent, trademark, and post grant proceedings and inter partes review.

Byrne has extensive experience representing domestic and international companies from numerous industries, including manufacturing, retail, biotechnology and life sciences, technology, health care, hospitality, animal health and agtech, aerospace, finance and professional services. Acting as outside general counsel to businesses, she provides counsel on day-to-day transactions as well as high-stakes disputes and transformative relationships. She is adept at efficiently coordinating experience from other segments of the firm, such as intellectual property, lending, real estate, employment and litigation, and is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Byrne has long been a trusted adviser to publicly traded and privately held companies, investors, business owners, boards of directors, committees and management regarding fiduciary duties and governance and compliance issues. Given her extensive knowledge of and experience working closely with the startup community, Byrne also serves as co-leader of the firm's Emerging Companies practice area. She is currently the only female practice group leader, although she joins the ranks of many other women partners in executive-level management and other leadership roles at the practice, office and firmwide levels at Armstrong Teasdale.

Heinen has extensive experience in all facets of patent matters, not only in the preparation and prosecution of applications but also in opinion-related work, including freedom-to-operate, patentability, state-of-the-art searching and white-space analysis. Registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, his experience also includes post grant proceedings, including inter partes reviews, validity assessments, foreign oppositions and patent term analysis comprising the calculation of term adjustments and expiration dates. Heinen’s client list includes large corporations, emerging and startup companies, and individual inventors. He also supports numerous universities, both public and private, and tech-transfer offices on their patent portfolios.

Active in firm management, Heinen previously served as leader of the firm’s Higher Education industry team, as well as leader of the Patent Agent/Engineer subgroup, where he oversaw the hiring, training and development of patent agents and patent engineers/scientists. He also serves as a member of the firm’s Hiring Committee and has been active with the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) over the years.

Byrne and Heinen take on their leadership roles from Partners Mark Stoneman and Patrick Rasche, respectively, who will continue to focus on their active legal practices and serve in additional firm leadership and committee capacities, including their continued service on the firm’s Executive Committee.