Waller Elects Five New Partners

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - Dec 19, 2012) -   Waller, Nashville's oldest and largest law firm, has elected five new attorneys as partners. Each attorney was previously an associate at the firm:

• R. Steven Connor - Finance and Restructuring
• John "Jeb" E.B. Gerth - Labor and Employment
• Justin F. McNaughton - Intellectual Property
• John Park - Labor and Employment
• Keith E. Thompson - Corporate

"We are thrilled to have these five attorneys, who represent a diverse group of legal practices, join the partnership at Waller," said John Tishler, chairman of Waller. "Steve, Jeb, Justin, John and Keith have built deep relationships with our clients, and they've each made a name for themselves in their industries and in our community."

Steven Connor joined Waller in 2005 and is in the firm's finance and restructuring group. He focuses his practice on corporate governance, bankruptcy and corporate restructuring, commercial finance, and healthcare securities. Connor is a member of the Nashville, Tennessee, and American Bar Associations, the American Health Lawyers Association, and the American Bankruptcy Institute. He earned his J.D. from the University of Washington and received his B.S. from Lipscomb University.

Jeb Gerth is a labor and employment attorney that has been with Waller since 2005. He works with a variety of employers across the automotive and manufacturing, retail, utilities, wireless telecommunications, and healthcare industries. His practice focuses on discrimination and harassment, labor disputes, FLSA, and labor and employment class actions. He is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University Law School. Gerth earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee and received his B.A. from Belmont University. 

Justin McNaughton joined Waller in 2006 and focuses his practice on intellectual property, copyrights, patents, software licensing and IT outsourcing, trade secrets, and trademarks. He practices within the automotive and manufacturing, banking and financial, and healthcare industries. McNaughton is a member of the Nashville and Tennessee Bar Associations and a board member with the Young Lawyers Division of the Nashville Bar Association. He earned his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and received his B.S. from Brigham Young University. 

John Park joined Waller in 2008 and is a key attorney in the firm's labor and employment practice group. He serves the automotive and manufacturing, healthcare, real estate, retail, and wireless telecommunications industries. He focuses his practice primarily on discrimination and harassment, labor disputes, labor and employment class actions, and FLSA. He is a member of the Nashville, Tennessee, and American Bar Associations. Park was also selected to be a member of the inaugural class of the Fellows Program of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, an organization of corporate chief legal officers and law firm managing partners dedicated to promoting diversity in the legal profession. He will be serving as a co-chair of the Minorities Opportunities Committee for the Nashville Bar Association for the 2013 term. He is on the Labor and Employment Committee for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and also currently serves as the diversity liaison for the Employment and Labor Law Committee of the Defense Research Institute. Park earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and received his B.B.A from the University of Texas at Austin.

Keith Thompson has been with Waller since 2005. As an attorney in Waller's corporate practice, Thompson focuses on corporate governance, securities, and mergers and acquisitions. Thompson represents a wide range of healthcare clients, including behavioral care providers, hospitals and health systems, and outpatient health service providers. He also advises companies in the automotive and manufacturing industries. Thompson is a member of the American Bar Association in the Health and Business Law Sections, the American Health Lawyers Association, and Leadership Healthcare. He earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee and received his B.A. from Wake Forest University.

About Waller
Waller is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee with offices in Birmingham, Alabama, and Austin, Texas. With approximately 200 attorneys, Waller helps clients navigate a diverse range of complex transactional, regulatory and litigation issues across myriad industries. Waller is Nashville's oldest and largest law firm. Founded in 1905, Waller has client relationships spanning decades because time and again, clients come for the lawyer and stay for the firm. For more information, please visit www.wallerlaw.com.