THE BLOCK FIRM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CO - Founder
- PARTNER
- Lawyer
Aaron Block is a lawyer clients call when they need stellar advocacy in the
Abby Polhill is an Atlanta native and currently resides in the Midtown area. She graduated from Greater Atlanta Christian School in 2018 before obtaining her Bachelor of Science degree in Literature, Media, and Communication, with a concentration in Social Justice, from The Georgia Institute of Technology in 2022.
While at Georgia Tech, Abby spent time as an Undergraduate Research Assistant, coordinating qualitative research to structure licensing documentation, as well as reviewing, annotating, and drafting end-user license agreements. She served as a committee member in the Student Government Association and as a member of the Women's Leadership Conference Committee. Abby also volunteered with AVLF, the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyer's Foundation, as a Saturday Lawyer Program Volunteer, advocating and providing free social and legal help for low-income tenants and survivors of intimate partner violence. During her time there, she attended workshops where she acquired the skills to conduct effective client intake interviews and assess legal needs.
Abby has previous experience as a legal intern, mitigating the workload of real estate attorneys by analyzing and evaluating legal documents as well as assisting in the management of the contract execution process for agreements related to existing properties. She also has over 8 years of sales experience, working directly with the clientele of various brands in showrooms at The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market.
As Paralegal at The Block Firm, Abby supports our attorneys by interviewing and maintaining direct contact with clientele, gathering important, preliminary case details, and fostering positive relationships. Abby conducts legal research, analyses cases, and prepares correspondence for proper distribution of documents. She additionally aids in the firm's marketing efforts by creating highly engaging, original content for distribution on our social media channels.
Outside of the office, she enjoys attending Pilates classes, trying new restaurants in the city, traveling, and spending time with family and friends!
Andrea Block is an advocate for survivors of abuse. She brings Title IX and other lawsuits on behalf of children and young adults when they have been sexually abused, assaulted, or harassed. Her practice ensures that institutions that are entrusted with the care of children-like schools, churches, medical facilities, and recreational organizations-are held accountable when they fail to protect those children. Andrea stays in close contact with a network of non-profit child protection and anti-sexual abuse advocacy centers, as well as thought-leaders and other practitioners of gender discrimination law.
Andrea is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer who has litigated complex cases across the country on behalf of both individuals and businesses. Andrea's cases have involved injuries relating to commercial and financial products, business torts, unfair banking practices, and employment disputes, as well as personal injuries. She has appeared in federal and state courts, as well as in AAA and FINRA arbitration. Her clients have recovered millions in damages. Andrea is known for her analytical style and hands-on approach to trials and arbitration hearings, as well as for her fresh perspective and solution-oriented approach to negotiations.
Prior to co-founding The Block Firm, Andrea practiced for nearly a decade representing clients in class actions and high stakes litigation and arbitrations, first in the St. Louis, Missouri office of a large, national law firm and then in Atlanta as part of a specialized boutique litigation practice.
Andrea and her husband, Aaron, live in Atlanta with their two young daughters. Andrea is actively involved in the Atlanta community. Among other things, she has served on boards and committees for Washington University in St. Louis, the Cathedral Towers (HUD affordable housing for seniors), the Peachtree Road Farmers' Market, Greenhouse Scholars, and Trinity School. She also serves as the President and COO of a charitable foundation.
Prior Experience
Husch Blackwell LLP, St. Louis, Missouri
Parker Hudson Rainer & Dobbs LLP, Atlanta, Georgia
Education
J.D., magna cum laude, Washington University in St. Louis
B.A., summa cum laude, Washington University in St. Louis
Job Titles:
- Chief Marketing Officer
- Chief Marketing Officer, Lead Paralegal
Ellie is the Block Firm's Chief Marketing Officer. She leads the strategy and execution of the Firm's digital and traditional marketing, branding, public relations, and business development initiatives. Ellie also provides skillful leadership to ensure that we provide the best possible experience to our clients and our team, our two most valuable relationships.
Ellie also serves as the Lead Paralegal for the Block Firm. She works in close coordination with all the attorneys on our team to apply her knowledge and expertise involving highly complex legal issues in furtherance of our team's cases. Ellie researches and analyzes cases, manages all aspects of traditional and electronic discovery, and provides key support at depositions, hearings, and federal and state trials.
Lisa Lombardo is an experienced trial lawyer and counselor who focuses on significant commercial disputes. She began her career prosecuting violent crimes ranging from armed robbery to child molestation and drug trafficking in one of Georgia's busiest judicial circuits. Life took her to Cincinnati, where she provided in-house counsel to Great American Insurance Group. She advised adjusters nationally in high-exposure cases involving sexual abuse, civil rights violations, wrongful deaths, and commercial injuries. After returning to Atlanta, Lisa practiced with a defense firm, where she specialized in trials and appeals.
Lisa's passion as an attorney is to help simplify complicated matters for her clients. She strives to make complex documents and legal principles understandable, no matter one's educational background or life experiences.
Lisa graduated from the Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia in 2003. She was an editor for the Race and Ethnic Ancestry Law Journal and a board member for the Women's Law Student Organization. She graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in English in 2000.
Lisa lives in Atlanta with her husband, Joe, and their twin boys. She has served on multiple committees at the Cathedral of St. Philip and the Atlanta Speech School. She is currently co-president of the Wardlaw Parents' Council at the Atlanta Speech School.
Max Marks is an experienced litigator who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and practiced for nearly a decade at an international law firm prior to joining the Block Firm LLC in 2021. Max has represented clients large and small in a broad range of cases, with the most significant experience in antitrust, civil rights, real estate, and contract litigation. Max has successfully navigated cases through trial and appeal, and he has helped recover hundreds of millions of dollars.
Max started his legal career before he went to law school, working for years as the only employee of a sole practitioner civil rights attorney in Columbus, Ohio. There, he developed a passion for helping individuals seek justice who had suffered discrimination, police abuses, or retaliation for whistleblowing. Max then went to Harvard Law School, where he graduated near the top of his class.
For most of the next decade, Max worked at Alston & Bird LLP, learning how one of the world's largest corporate defense firms operates. While at A&B, Max sought out every opportunity to do plaintiff-side work, and he spent about half of his time representing plaintiffs in state court, federal court, and international arbitration tribunals. This plaintiff-side work ranged from high-dollar antitrust litigation representing a Fortune 5 company to a jury trial representing a farmer in small-town Georgia where Max conducted all of the cross-examination, gave the closing argument, and won the appeal.
Max joined the Block Firm to more fully align his career with his values and spend the bulk of his time representing individuals and small businesses that have been wronged. Max is committed to seeking justice and litigating cases through trial and appeal.
While Max is a confident and aggressive litigator, he also understands that full-scale litigation is not always the way to get the best results. Max spent years while at Harvard studying alternative dispute resolution and training as a volunteer mediator with the Harvard Mediation Program, and he served as the organization's Training Director during his final year at school. This training and his experience mediating small claims cases helped attune Max to the social, emotional, and psychological aspects of litigation that often get neglected, and he will use every tool available to help clients achieve their goals in the most sensible way possible.
Max lives in Decatur with his wife, Liza, and their son and daughter.
Prior Experience
Alston & Bird LLP - Senior Associate
Education
J.D., magna cum laude, Harvard Law School; Harvard Mediation Program, Training Director
B.A., summa cum laude, University of Miami; Phi Beta Kappa (junior year inductee); Departmental Honors in English; Received awards as the top graduating student with a major in literary studies and the top graduating student with a major in the humanities;