Ulmer & Berne elected four partners to the firm: John F. Bennett in Cincinnati, Ronald S. Betman and Heidi E. VonderHeide in Chicago and Nicholas B. Wille.

“Through their hard work, determination, and dedication to providing exceptional legal services, these outstanding lawyers have proven themselves as leaders at our firm,” said Scott P. Kadish, Ulmer managing partner. “We are thrilled to welcome John, Ron, Heidi, and Nick into Ulmer’s partnership and look forward to their continued contributions to Ulmer’s growth and success.”

Bennett is a patent litigator who has extensive experience with cases involving intellectual property claims as well as complex business disputes. His experience covers a wide range of technologies, and he has represented clients in matters across the United States, including the largest patent multidistrict litigation in history. He is the co-chair of the Cincinnati Bar Association’s IP Litigation Committee and writes regularly on a variety of intellectual property topics.

Betman is a veteran trial lawyer with experience representing Fortune 500 companies, privately held entities and individuals in high-stakes complex litigation and class action matters. He defends clients in the areas of securities, commodities, class action and derivative litigation, antitrust, fraud, and commercial litigation of all kinds. He has also handled numerous regulatory investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and state attorneys general. He was previously a partner at several Am Law 100 firms.

VonderHeide focuses her practice on representing financial institutions, investment advisers, and broker-dealers. Her securities practice involves handling customer and industry disputes, as well as regulatory matters. She defends clients in matters pending before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the SEC, state regulatory agencies and in state and federal courts. VonderHeide was honored as an “Emerging Lawyer” in a survey of lawyers by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company.

Wille is a commercial litigator who represents clients in complex business matters throughout the country. He has represented all types of organizations, including pharmaceutical companies, real estate developers, financial institutions and manufacturers. His experience includes representing clients in government regulatory matters and in protests of procurement decisions, and providing counseling related to the Federal Acquisition Regulation and other procurement regulations. Wille has been named to the Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for the last three years.