Barnes & Thornburg Welcomes New Attorneys and Legal Professionals

Barnes & Thornburg has added corporate, intellectual property, litigation, and real estate attorneys and legal professionals to its Atlanta, Delaware, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, New York, and Raleigh offices. 

An associate in the Grand Rapids office, Keanen Armour advises his clients in a number of areas, particularly relating to aviation law and related tax and corporate matters. He assists with structuring aviation transactions, including domestic and foreign-based aircraft purchases and sales. Armour also prepares aircraft leases, joint ownership agreements, and a range of additional documentation in support of owning and operating private aircraft. He earned his J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2020 and his B.A. in political science from Michigan State University in 2016.

Based  in the Atlanta office, William Baker is an experienced paralegal who is skilled in preparing a range of U.S. nonimmigrant visas, including H-1B, H-2B, National Interest Waivers, EB-1 outstanding researcher petitions, L-1A and EB-1 petitions, and O-1, P-2 and E-3 visas. He also writes I-129, I-129 R supplement, supporting, and reference letters, along with related appendices. Additionally, he drafts, prepares and files I-485 Adjustment of Status, I-765 Employment Authorization, and I-131 Advance Parole petitions; Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Employment Authorization Document (EAD) initial and extension petitions; along with R-1 Religious Visa petitions and I-360 Special Immigrant petitions for Religious Workers. Baker earned his B.A. in English from the College of Charleston in 2012. 

Alexis Daenecke, an associate in the Atlanta office, focuses her practice on insurance recovery and general commercial litigation. Her litigation experience includes insurance coverage litigation and counseling, construction disputes, breach of contract, and collection disputes. Daenecke helps companies solve a range of business disputes and has experience drafting motions, briefs, and discovery responses; performing research; and taking depositions. In the area of insurance coverage litigation, Daenecke advises on virtually all stages of the dispute, from the initial legal analysis of coverage available under an insurance policy, to trial and appeal. She earned her J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law in 2021 and her B.B.A. in marketing from the University of Georgia in 2018.

A staff attorney in the Indianapolis office, Alex Georges focuses his work in the areas of product liability defense and mass tort litigation. Leaning on his understanding of medical records, Georges is able to garner details from relevant medical history, courses of treatment, mitigating factors and the like, to advise clients on complex legal issues. He earned his J.D. from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2020 and his B.S. in history from the University of Southern Indiana in 2015.

An associate in the Atlanta office, Daniel Habif works with a wide range of business entities on virtually all stages of tax-incentivized corporate and real estate transactions. He represents syndicators, developers, lenders, and investors in tax-incentivized transactions involving federal and state tax credit private equity investments. Habif’s practice focuses on transactions involving low-income housing developments and historic rehabilitation and renewable energy projects. He earned his J.D. from American University Washington College of Law and his B.A. in international studies from the University of Michigan.

Christopher Manos, of counsel in the New York office, drafts and negotiates various business agreements, non-disclosure agreements, release letters, and related documents for his clients. He draws on the knowledge and extensive skills he honed representing fund sponsors in a variety of transactions while with two other New York City-based law firms. Prior to joining Barnes & Thornburg, Manos worked on a number of complex litigations and government investigations in areas related to compliance and insider trading. He earned his J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law in 2008 and his B.A. in government and foreign affairs from the University of Virginia in 2002.

James Smith, a real estate project manager in the Delaware office, helps attorneys, builders, business and civic leaders, developers, homeowners, and legislators achieve their land use goals in efficient and cost-effective ways. He works with community leaders and legislators on area plans and with homeowners and developers to facilitate the approval and transfer of title to private open space, as well as to resolve issues affecting their communities. Smith earned his LL.M. in taxation from Villanova University School of Law in 2004, his J.D. from Widener University Delaware Law School in 1998, his M.Mgt. from The Pennsylvania State University in 1993 and his B.A. from the University of Delaware in 1989.

Ruijie Zhang, a patent technical specialist in the Raleigh office, routinely assists with patent prosecution and preparation, including drafting patent applications, conducting searches and responding to formal actions. Their goal in those searches is to learn what prior art is in existence, as well as if a new technology is patentable. Prior to joining the firm, Zhang was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of Calgary, and a postdoctoral associate at Duke University. They earned their Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University in 2020 and their B.S. and M.S. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 2015.

With more than 700 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Atlanta, Boston, California, Chicago, Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minneapolis, New York, Ohio, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Texas and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit us online at www.btlaw.com or on Twitter @BTLawNews.