Maintaining the firm’s practice of rotating people in and out of key leadership positions, McGuireWoods has appointed new office managing partners in Atlanta, Houston, Baltimore, and San Francisco effective July 1, 2025.
Ryan Buchanan will succeed Chris Greene as managing partner of the Atlanta office. Buchanan returned to McGuireWoods’ Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Practice Group this year after serving as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. He began his career as a McGuireWoods associate and served 12 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Alabama and the Northern District of Georgia before becoming U.S. attorney in 2022.
Tyler VanHoutan will take over from Yasser Madriz as managing partner of the Houston office. VanHoutan advises clients on intellectual property matters, including litigation, prosecution, counseling, and portfolio management. His work spans industries such as microprocessor and graphics processor design, telecommunications, oil and gas, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.
Melissa Martinez will become managing partner of the Baltimore office, succeeding Elena Marcuss. Martinez focuses on commercial litigation, environmental and business torts, contractual disputes, and fiduciary matters. She also handles consumer litigation involving state consumer protection laws and patent litigation. Martinez chairs McGuireWoods’ Asian Pacific Lawyers Network and sits on the steering committee of the firm’s Appellate Justice Initiative.
Todd Dressel will serve as managing partner of the San Francisco office, taking over from Dave Powell. Dressel represents financial institutions, hedge funds, indenture trustees, institutional investors and other creditors in corporate and municipal bankruptcy and restructuring matters. He also handles commercial litigation, including foreclosure actions, breach of contract, fiduciary claims and bank defense matters.
“We are grateful to Chris, Yasser, Elena and Dave for their leadership and service to the firm,” said managing partner J. Tracy Walker IV. “We thank them for their dedication and look forward to the perspectives that Ryan, Tyler, Melissa, and Todd will bring to their new leadership roles.”