Virginia Lawyers Weekly Names Five Williams Mullen Attorneys to Virginia Legal 250

Williams Mullen is pleased to announce that Farhad Aghdami, David C. Burton, Thomas R. Frantz, Calvin W. "Woody" Fowler, Jr., and W. Benjamin Pace were selected as Legal 250 honorees by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. Aghdami and Frantz were recognized for taxation, Burton for employment law, Pace for business litigation and Fowler for administrative law.

Aghdami serves as the firm’s Richmond managing partner. He is a partner in the firm’s Private Client and Fiduciary Service Practice and has more than 30 years of experience assisting clients with wealth transfer tax planning, business succession planning, income tax planning for individuals and businesses and fiduciary litigation. He counsels a wide variety of clients, including high net worth individuals and families, middle-market business owners, institutional fiduciaries, family offices and charitable entities.

Burton serves as the firm’s Hampton Roads managing partner. He is a partner in the firm’s Labor, Employment and Immigration Section, advising businesses on federal and state labor and employment matters. He represents clients in litigation involving federal and state anti-discrimination and retaliation statutes, covenants not to compete, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and workforce and union-related actions. He also counsels businesses dealing with improper actions by their directors and/or employees.

Frantz serves as Williams Mullen’s chairman emeritus of the board and previously served as the firm’s president and chief executive officer from 2010 to 2015. He represents multinational corporations in major mergers and acquisitions and advises businesses on a variety of corporate and tax matters. He is also active in regional and statewide initiatives, including as co-chair of RVA757 Connects and chair of GO Virginia’s Region 5 Council.

Fowler, a veteran litigator, serves as Williams Mullen’s chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, a role he has held since 2015. He represents businesses in complex commercial disputes involving banking and financial services, education, health care, product liability and insurance coverage matters. Under Fowler’s leadership, the firm has consistently been recognized as a best place to work and has seen impressive growth.

Pace is a business litigator with experience in health care, product liability and fiduciary litigation. He represents clients in state and federal courts in Virginia and across the country and has experience in bench and jury trials and arbitration proceedings. A longtime member of the Richmond Bar Association, Pace currently serves as its president and a member of its board of directors.

Virginia Lawyers Weekly describes the Virginia Legal 250 as a curated list recognizing top attorneys across the Commonwealth for their leadership and impact in their respective areas of practice. To view the full list, click here.