Harold Craig "Hal" Spears

Having tried nearly 20 cases to verdict, Ben Chesson is a trial lawyer with a proven record of winning when it matters. He has tried cases for corporate and individual clients in state and federal courts across North Carolina. Ben has also represented clients in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, all appellate courts in North Carolina, and the South Carolina Supreme Court. Whether representing plaintiffs or defendants, Ben understands that while disputes are resolved in courtrooms—cas...

Noell P. Tin is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Criminal Defense: General Practice and Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Noell P., who practices law in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2010. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Noell P. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Joey Norman has a diverse corporate, commercial, and transactional law practice, employing a value-driven approach to his practice particularly focusing on appraising and addressing risk from a business operations and efficiency view point, while accomplishing legal goals and helping his clients maximize return. Joey has a broad-based transactional and corporate law practice. He acts as outside counsel addressing day to day general corporate, operational, and commercial legal matters, includi...

Hillary Crabtree brings considerable bankruptcy experience, corporate law and restructuring experience to her clients, which have been drawn from such areas as energy, airlines, auto, manufacturing, biopharmaceutical, and retail sales. A seasoned attorney with experience in bankruptcy, corporate law, and finance, Hillary Crabtree counsels high-profile clients in industries including energy, airlines, auto, manufacturing, restaurants, biopharmaceutical and retail sales. Hillary works across th...

Stacie Knight is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation. Stacie, who practices law in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Stacie is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Brad Johnson is a partner in the Finance Group of Alston & Bird. Brad is a senior partner in the firm’s trust, agency and asset servicing practice, one of the largest corporate trust focused practices in the country. Brad regularly represents financial institutions which provide corporate trust, custody, loan agency, reporting and administrative services in a wide variety of capital markets transactions, including transactions involving collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), projec...

Tim Ryan is a highly experienced financial services attorney who has an extensive background in representing clients in the structuring, negotiation, documentation, and closing of a broad variety of lending and financing transactions. He represents lenders and arrangers in international and domestic syndicated, club and single-lender transactions. Mr. Ryan's practice extends to acquisition financings, recapitalizations, high-grade and junior debt financings, cash flow, and asset-based and oth...

Bryan Ives is co-chair of the Firm’s Corporate Transactions & Securities Group and has recently concluded a 4-year term on the Firm’s management committee and service as the Firm’s Financial Partner. Bryan has deep experience in a wide range of areas, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, taxation and corporate governance, and debt and equity financing. Bryan began his career as a tax lawyer and is a member of the American College of Tax Counsel. Using his ...

Kristin Hinson is a partner in the Financial Services & Products Group. She focuses her practice on private investment funds and funds of funds, investment adviser registration and compliance, unregistered offshore private investment funds and private equity funds. Prior to joining Alston & Bird, Ms. Hinson was a partner at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar Association, and is also a member of the New York Bar ...

Mr. Ellsworth counsels clients to procure, protect, license and enforce intellectual property rights. Mr. Ellsworth works diligently to understand his client’s business and to leverage that understanding to achieve his client’s intellectual property goals in a turn-key and cost-efficient manner. Mr. Ellsworth manages extensive domestic and international patent portfolios for several publicly traded companies and provides strategic counseling to a variety of smaller business concer...