Benjamin C. DeCelle

With two decades of experience as a practicing attorney, Karin McGinnis, CIPP/US, is known as a true business partner when litigating and providing counsel to her clients. Well versed in employment, privacy, and general commercial litigation, Karin helps clients navigate a range of complex issues. In addition to employment and privacy matters, Karin has successfully litigated a wide range of matters, including lawsuits involving trade secret misappropriation, defamation, violations of noncomp...

Andrew Price focuses on the representation of financial institutions in connection with the structuring and documentation of secured and unsecured syndicated, club and bilateral senior credit facilities. Andrew frequently represents left lead arrangers, administrative agents, and lenders in a broad range of investment-grade and middle market corporate and commercial lending transactions, including acquisition-related financings, leveraged recapitalizations, cross-border financings, and workin...

Kimberly Zirkle focuses her practice on corporate finance and acquisition transactions. She regularly represents a variety of lenders, private equity portfolio companies, and private companies in corporate finance and acquisition transactions. Kimberly’s experience involves a wide variety of debt structures including: unitranche, ABL, first lien, split lien, second lien, and mezzanine (secured or unsecured). Kimberly primarily represents SBICs, BDCs, lenders and institutional investors ...

Tony Lathrop is a seasoned corporate trial lawyer experienced in complex commercial litigation, transportation, land use, zoning/development, planning, and condemnation law. As a recognized leader within legal, transportation, and planning communities in North Carolina and nationwide, Tony brings valuable industry and governmental perspectives to client matters, which he approaches with an eye towards maximizing value and reducing future risk. Tony utilizes his experience as a trial attorney ...

John D. Cole is a litigator with broad experience across the spectrum of employment law and labor law. For more than 20 years, John has represented employers of all sizes in cases throughout the eastern United States. He has handled numerous cases involving virtually all aspects of employment law before various federal courts, federal and state administrative agencies, and the state courts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. He has also handled employment arbitration cases before A...

Ryan Smith is co-head of the Investment Team and a member of the Management Committee. For over 20 years, he has built a practice that represents clients on a variety of complex leveraged financings, senior and junior capital lending transactions, private equity and other equity investments, and corporate transactions. Ryan’s primary focus is in finance and equity investment transactions. As counselor to lenders and passive and controlling stakeholders, he represents a variety of financ...

George Taulbee heads the firm’s Technology, Privacy & IP Transactions Group in North Carolina. He focuses on all intellectual property and transactional matters involving computer and Internet technology, electronic commerce, and sports and entertainment. Mr. Taulbee has more than 25 years of experience working in software licenses and development outsourcing, joint venture, website hosting, and content and linking agreements. He has extensive experience in patent, trade secret and ...

Evan Bass is head of the firm’s Commercial Real Estate group. Evan represents clients in their ongoing business affairs and focuses his practice on commercial real estate, real estate finance and real estate related corporate law matters. He is also a member of the Investment Management practice, with a focus on REITs and private real estate investment funds. Evan's experience includes advising investors, developers, lenders and major corporations on a variety of commercial estate trans...

William L. Mills IV is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Tax Law and Trusts and Estates. William L., who practices law in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which William L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Mike Connor is a partner in the firm’s IP Litigation Group. He is a recent co-chair of the firm’s national Intellectual Property Practice and a past chair of the national IP Litigation Group. He handles patent infringement and other IP disputes and counseling. Mike has experience in technologies such as cardiovascular implants and other medical devices, mobile telephony, high speed computer networks, financial services, diagnostic imaging, music downloads, robotics, textile machin...