James L. "Jim" Priester

Steve Ball is a shareholder with Carr Allison residing in the firm’s Birmingham (AL) office. Steve represents local and national clients in their business litigation and corporate matters arising both in Alabama and other states. His diversified practice includes the representation of his clients, both as plaintiffs or defendants, in their litigation and transactional needs. Steve has litigated numerous contractually based claims for his clients and also has extensive experience in the ...

Rachel Moore is an accomplished attorney with more than 25 years of legal experience. She practices in the areas of commercial, banking, and construction litigation, and appellate work. Licensed to practice in Alabama since 1992, her experience includes trying complex cases on behalf of financial institutions; handling foreclosures, judicial foreclosures, redemptions and deficiency actions, asset recovery, and negotiating and preparing workouts. In Rachel’s construction practice, she re...

Richard Smith, one of the founding partners of Christian & Small and a partner with its predecessor, Rives & Peterson, has been an integral member of the firm’s litigation group for his entire legal career. He served as the firm’s Managing Partner for five years. Richard’s practice focuses primarily on complex and corporate litigation for clients in the financial services, health care and construction industries, as well as corporate entities in other industries. His...

David Stewart is the chair of the firm's Governmental Affairs Practice Group. He is also a member of the Economic Development Practice Group. While based in the firm's Birmingham office, he regularly represents clients before the executive and legislative branches in Washington, D.C. and Montgomery, Alabama. He also advises clients on federal and state campaign finance and ethics laws. Following David’s graduation from Washington and Lee, he worked in Washington, DC for Senator Jeff Ses...

Mr. Pape’s practice is almost solely focused on guiding boards of education through complex governance, policy, civil rights, special education, and employment issues; and, when those issues result in litigation, he defends boards of education. A large part of his practice consists of assisting boards of education navigate complex, modern constitutional and equity matters. Mr. Pape has extensive expertise in the area of modern school desegregation. Between current and past matters, he h...

Kane is particularly active in the public education sector, where he has represented both public universities and boards of education on tax and finance matters, and he currently serves on the faculty of the University of Alabama's academy for finance training for new school superintendents and chief school financial officers. In addition to bond counsel engagements, he has served as company counsel and bank counsel in letter-of-credit backed transactions, as lender’s counsel in direct ...

Paul H. Greenwood is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Banking and Finance Law, Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law, Litigation - Bankruptcy and Real Estate Law. Paul H., who practices law in Birmingham, Alabama, has been recognized since 2018. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Paul H. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice a...

Elizabeth H. Hutchins is a shareholder in Dentons Sirote’s Birmingham, Alabama office, where she is a member of the Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice group and has served on the Firm's board of directors. Her practice includes planning for the management and distribution of clients' estates to accomplish their goals and to minimize estate taxes using sophisticated estate planning tools and techniques. She counsels business owners regarding succession planning. In probate ...

David Moore is a partner in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group. He focuses primarily on insurance coverage, commercial litigation, and professional liability. David represents individual and corporate clients in state and federal courts throughout Alabama and Mississippi. He has represented plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of complex state and federal litigation, including matters involving, insurance coverage, professional liability, commercial contracts, toxic tort, products l...

Counselor. Teacher. Lawyer. Dale Stone wears many hats when he assists clients in developing and implementing plans for the effective and efficient disposition of their assets. Dale has over thirty-four years of experience guiding clients through the personal and practical aspects of estate planning and estate administration as well as the legal, economic and tax issues involved. For owners of family businesses, Dale coordinates planning for the preservation and continuation of the business i...