Michael Best Adds Three New Hires & New Office Managing Partner in Raleigh

Michael Best is pleased to announce the addition of two Partners, Ed Roney and Joseph Dickinson, and one Senior Counsel, Holly Benton, to the Raleigh office. All three join from North Carolina-based law firm Smith Anderson. Roney will join the Intellectual Property Practice with Dickinson and Benton joining the Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice Group.

In addition to joining the firm, Roney will also serve as the Office Managing Partner in Raleigh. Roney’s practice spans across diverse technologies and industries including information technology, eCommerce, manufacturing, and medical devices, 4G/5G telecommunications, artificial intelligence and blockchain. Roney earned his B.S from Purdue University, his M.S. in electrical engineering from National Technological University, and his J.D. from DePaul University.

With more than 25 years of experience, Dickinson has advised technology companies as well as healthcare and government entities across a broad range of issues related to cybersecurity, data privacy, data breaches and investigations. In a recent, prior role, he served as chief privacy officer and chief information security officer for a large academic medical system and focused on creating and managing data privacy and security programs with real world applications. Dickinson earned his B.A. from Malone University, and his J.D., cum laude, from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Benton’s practice focuses on commercial, technology, higher education, retail, residential management, healthcare, and startup companies, for whom she advised on privacy and data protection laws and information lifecycle management. Before practicing law, she served as the University Privacy Officer at Duke University, where she transformed their privacy program from an incident response team into a strategic group positioned to approach risk management broadly. Benton earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Wellesley College, and her J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law.