The firm is pleased to announce that Mary Ellen Conner has been elevated to partner effective January 1, 2022. Mary Ellen is based in the firm’s Marietta, Georgia office. “Since joining the firm, Mary Ellen has been a key member of the Johnson Fistel team, often being called upon to work on the firm’s largest and most complex matters, and consistently driving results for our clients,” said Michael I. Fistel, Jr., one of the firm’s founding partners and managing partner of the firm’s Marietta, Georgia office. Frank Johnson, co-founder and the firm’s managing partner added: “Mary Ellen embodies our firm’s P.R.I.D.E. mantra—Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Determination, and Excellence. I am proud to have a partner like Mary Ellen by my side representing our clients.”
Prior to joining Johnson Fistel, Ms. Conner practiced law at Jones Day, a full-service law firm with more than 2,500 lawyers and 43 offices around the world, representing Fortune 500 companies in complex commercial and securities litigation. Ms. Conner also previously represented numerous businesses, healthcare providers (including hospitals, physician groups, laboratories, Durable Medical Equipment supply companies, and ambulatory surgery centers), and individuals in government investigations and litigation brought by the Department of Justice and Office of Inspector General for alleged violations of the False Claims Act, federal securities and commodities fraud statutes, and insider trading laws at a boutique civil litigation and criminal defense firm.
Additionally, Ms. Conner served on the faculty of Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School where she taught Civil Procedure I and II; Legal Research, Writing, and Analysis I; and Legal Communications and Process. She also served as the Faculty Adviser to the Moot Court and co-directed the school’s Oral Advocacy Competition.
Ms. Conner has received multiple industry and national recognitions, including the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer rating—the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards based upon peer reviews—for 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Ms. Conner was also recognized as a member of the General Litigation Department of the Year, awarded by The Daily Report, for the years 2013 and 2014. She also received the Safe Haven Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Representation in 2012.
Ms. Conner graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Public Service Scholar with a B.A. in English and Psychology. She received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law with Honors in 2011, where she served on the editorial board for The North Carolina Law Review and received the Gressman-Pollitt Award for Excellence in Oral Advocacy from the Holderness Moot Court. While in law school, Ms. Conner also served as a summer clerk to The Honorable Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr., Chief Judge for the Western District of North Carolina.Edit