Frederick T. "Fritz" Smith

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He has over 25 years of experience working with employers on worksite immigration compliance (criminal and civil), employment-based immigration sponsorship and global mobility transfers to 200+ countries. Ian founded the Firm’s immigration practice in Atlanta and has led the group since joining the Firm in 2013. He focuses his practi...

Charles Ruffin, shareholder in the Firm's Atlanta and Macon offices, has amassed over 30 years a wide array of litigation experience. He currently concentrates his practice in eminent domain and condemnation law, representing landowners and business operators of all sizes in eminent domain, condemnation and inverse condemnation matters. Mr. Ruffin's clients include a wide variety of national and international businesses from large multinational corporations to small individually owned busines...

Clay Walts concentrates his practice in employee benefits and executive compensation, which includes drafting and preparing qualified retirement plans, welfare benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements for both public and closely held companies; addressing employee benefit issues in corporate transactions; advising clients on issues relating to the investment of plan assets and exemptions from the plan asset and prohibited transaction rules; and counseling clients on issues relati...

Scott Kitchens is a partner in Alston & Bird’s Corporate & Business Transactions Group. He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, equity investments, and complex commercial transactions. He has extensive experience leading transactions in the payments, technology, manufacturing, and distribution industries, especially in the acquisition or sale of privately held targets and divisions of public companies. Additionally, Scott is noted for his pragmatic a...

Jay C. Ruby is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Immigration Law. Jay C., who practices law in Atlanta, Georgia, has been recognized since 2014. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jay C. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Dan Diffley serves as co-chair of Alston & Bird’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group. A courtroom veteran, he focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, including class action defense, insurance matters, products liability, professional malpractice, and other commercial disputes. As lead trial counsel, he has extensive experience representing Fortune 500 companies at trial, arbitration, and every other facet of commercial litigation. In nearly 20 years of practice, he...

Summer H. Martin is a member of Dentons' Life Sciences and Health Care practice, focusing on health reform and regulatory compliance. Her practice includes representing providers in responding to governmental investigations, subpoenas and False Claim Act actions, and counseling clients in the establishment and implementation of health reform and regulatory compliance matters. Her areas of experience include representation of public and private health care facilities and providers, including h...

Laura Frick is an attorney in the firm’s Commercial Finance practice group. She has represented national and regional banks and other financial institutions in syndicated, club, and single-lender transactions. Laura’s prior law firm experience and her many years as internal commercial lending counsel for a regional bank enable her to document and close transactions for her clients in a practical and efficient manner. Laura works closely with clients to help them navigate the compl...

Daniel Sineway is a registered patent attorney who takes a strategic, business-focused approach to helping clients protect their IP rights. Daniel and his team work with companies of all sizes to craft and develop innovative IP strategies that best fit each client’s needs. His team provides significant value in helping startups, early-stage entrepreneurial companies, and mid-market and large companies navigate difficult IP issues with respect to “high tech” areas. He is adep...

Henry D. (“Hank”) Fellows, Jr., is an av-rated trial lawyer who has been devoted to complex business litigation for forty years. As a founding partner of Fellows LaBriola LLP, Mr. Fellows has successfully tried cases in numerous Georgia Superior and State Courts and in the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia. In addition, he has successfully argued cases before the Georgia Supreme Court, the Georgia Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals ...