Hirlye "Ryan" Lutz

Derrick Mills is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Medical Malpractice Law - Plaintiffs, Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs and Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs. Derrick, who practices law in Birmingham, Alabama, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Derrick is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Mike Vercher is a partner and former chair of Christian & Small’s Insurance and Financial Services Practice Group. For over 20 years, he has represented insurance companies and their insureds in litigation and coverage disputes. Mike also routinely represents businesses in complex mass tort, workplace exposure, construction, transportation, product liability, premises liability, breach of contract and fraud litigation. He has tried cases as lead counsel in seven different Alabama co...

Steve Monk is a member of the firm's Real Estate Practice Group. Steve's practice is primarily devoted to develop representational development work. Steve regularly represents clients in the annexation and zoning of properties for planned unit developments, traditional neighborhood developments and other mixed uses. Such representation includes preparation of developed plans for zoning, preparation of restrictive covenants, establishment of homeowners’/property owners’ association...

Preston Neel is a shareholder of Dentons Sirote in Alabama. He is a member of the Corporate practice group and advises clients across multiple industries in the areas of business and tax law, including mergers and acquisitions, tax planning, and general corporate representation. He also has extensive experience providing financial services litigation and regulatory compliance assistance to banks and nonbanks offering mortgage, unsecured small dollar, and business purpose loan products and bro...

Lea Richmond, IV is a shareholder in Carr Allison’s Birmingham (AL) office. His trial practice involves the defense of transportation liability litigation, products liability and health care litigation. In 2014, Lea received an exclusive honor when he was appointed by the Alabama Supreme Court to serve a three-year term on the Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions Committee – Civil. This committee is charged with drafting the language of the pattern jury instructions that are used acr...

Bruce Ely’s more than 40 years of experience have allowed him to handle projects as diverse as serving on the recruiting teams that successfully induced both Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai to locate their first U.S. manufacturing plants in Alabama to representing taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service, the Alabama Department of Revenue and local taxing authorities. His practice focuses on three concentric areas: representing taxpayers in federal, state and local administrative and jud...

Tiffany deGruy is a trial lawyer who has considerable experience trying high-stakes business and commercial litigation. Tiffany represents clients in a variety of industries, such as healthcare and e-commerce. Most recently, she was a key member of a trial team in a 10-week jury trial and conducted witness examinations before a jury. Tiffany represents the interests of clients in the healthcare industry in various types of commercial litigation. Tiffany also regularly advises clients on matte...

Jimmy concentrates his practice primarily in the area of state and local tax matters, including income, franchise and transactional taxes and various tax incentives. Jimmy also assists clients with federal tax issues, including those related to forming, acquiring, reorganizing and operating their businesses as corporations or various limited liability entities. Jimmy has represented clients in state and local tax controversies during each stage of the proceeding, including the Alabama Departm...

Carl Smyly was born and raised in Andalusia, Alabama. He received his undergraduate education at Birmingham-Southern College, where he was selected for membership in the Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Beta Kappa scholastic honorary societies and was valedictorian of his graduating class in 1979. He then earned his Juris Doctor degree at the University of Virginia School of Law in 1982. Mr. Smyly has been assigned the highest possible Peer Review Ratings for legal ability and ethical standards in...

Ginger Gray regularly represents clients in a wide variety of commercial real estate transactions, including lending, acquisition, disposition, development and leasing matters. Her practice includes the representation of national and regional banks, and clients involved in the development of various facilities. In addition to maintaining a general real estate practice, Ginger has devoted a substantial portion of her practice to representing banks and financial institutions in connection with ...