News Article

Public Relations contact: Bruce Buchanan (336) 728-7027

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC., announced that Jack Hicks has been named the new Managing Member of the firm’s Greensboro office.

Hicks succeeds Randy Hanson in the role of Greensboro Office Managing Member. Hanson, Managing Member of the Greensboro Office for the past five years, has been tapped by the firm to lead its Global Business Group practice.

"I am honored to be asked to lead this outstanding group of attorneys and professionals. The inception of the Greensboro office eight years ago has strengthened Womble Carlyle’s position as the market leader in the Triad," Hicks said. “I’m also extremely pleased that Randy will remain a part of our team. He has been instrumental in broadening the firm’s international focus."

Hicks is a licensed patent attorney who counsels counseling clients in all areas of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret law. A substantial portion of his practice includes the preparation and prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent and trademark applications, as well as patent litigation. His clients include companies in the aerospace, pharmaceutical, electronics, home furnishings, banking, computer software, leather goods, publishing, telecommunications and textiles industries.

In addition to his intellectual property work at the firm, Hicks also is a frequent speaker and author on patent issues. He serves as an adjunct professor at the Elon University School of Law. Before becoming an attorney, Hicks was a design engineer for Texas Instruments.

Hanson said he is excited by the chance to lead the expansion of Womble Carlyle’s global practice, which has become an increasingly active and important aspect of the firm’s business. In 2007, for example, Hanson joined former Gov. Jim Hunt in leading a delegation of Womble Carlyle attorneys on a business tour of China. There, they met with Chinese industry and political leaders on behalf of Womble Carlyle clients. The firm’s practice includes representing American companies who wish to do business overseas, as well as foreign businesses looking to establish U.S. operations.

"We have a team of lawyers at Womble Carlyle with decades of substantive cross-border legal experience gained from assisting clients in many different jurisdictions around the world. We are adept at dealing in other business and legal cultures, to give counsel on and assist in managing the local complexities inherent in cross-border transactions," Hanson said. :While I am proud to have served as Managing Member of the Greensboro office, I look forward to expanding our firm’s services in this critical area."

Hanson advises a wide range of domestic and international businesses on a variety of transactional, corporate and commercial matters. His practice is focused on negotiating, documenting and closing complex business transactions, including strategic alliances and business acquisitions and divestitures; helping U.S. clients establish and expand offshore operations, particularly in Asia and Latin America; and working with foreign concerns to build new or growing U.S. operations.

Womble Carlyle - Innovators at Law
A full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle ranks among American Lawyer magazine’s list of the 100 leading firms in the country and is a top law firm for companies doing business in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
The firm is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award, making Womble Carlyle the first law firm ever to receive the highest honor given to a business organization in recognition of its support of the Fund and its 45 member educational institutions.

The firm also is the first law firm to be awarded the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award, which is the highest recognition given by the U.S. government to employers for their support of employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.

Founded in 1876, Womble Carlyle operates in six states and the District of Columbia with more than 500 attorneys in eleven offices located in Atlanta, GA; Greenville, SC; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, NC; Washington, DC; Tysons Corner, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Wilmington, DE. Womble Carlyle is located in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, and serves clients nationally and globally.