Patrick E. "Pat" Kelly

Thomas Rivers is a recognized practitioner in commercial real estate law at Venn Law Group, where he has been honored in The Best Lawyers in America since 2019. His practice encompasses the full lifecycle of commercial property, representing buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, borrowers, and lenders. He provides comprehensive legal counsel on acquisition, development, financing, leasing, management, and the sale of commercial properties, while also serving as North Carolina local counsel for...

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 ...

Tom Mitchell has served as Managing Partner and Chair of the Management Committee since 2018 and is a nationally recognized finance lawyer with over 30 years of experience representing financial institutions. Tom serves in multiple leadership positions at the firm, including as Managing Partner, Chair of the Management Committee, and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. He is also an active member of the firm’s Inclusion & Belonging Committee. Tom served previously as head of ...

Brian M. Davis is a Partner at VLP, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and former Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group. Brian focuses his practice on client counseling relating to trademarks, including trademark clearance and the prosecution of U.S. and foreign trademark applications. He also has experience with copyright and other intellectual property issues, such as domain name disputes (including the UDRP), licensing programs and other intellectual property-r...

Ralph Meekins is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs and Workers' Compensation Law - Claimants. Ralph, who practices law in Shelby, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2027. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Ralph is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Jared Poplin has significant experience representing individuals, small businesses, and large companies on a broad range of corporate matters and transactions. Having served as outside general counsel for numerous companies, Jared is familiar with the issues that confront businesses on a daily basis. Jared’s practical and client-focused approach makes him a trusted partner for clients as they navigate daily challenges and pursue future opportunities. Jared’s practice encompasses a...

R. Kader Crawford is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Banking and Finance Law. R. Kader, who practices law in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which R. Kader is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Scott Syfert focuses on international and national transactions and general corporate matters. Foreign and domestic clients rely on Scott Syfert to handle their complex corporate transactions, general corporate and commercial law matters -- whether in Europe, Asia, South America or the United States. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, international joint ventures and international transactions.

Patrick Hayden is a partner in the Global Finance & Debt Products Group. His practice focuses on mortgage-backed and asset-backed securitization, and he has represented global financial institutions as indenture trustee in negotiating and closing hundreds of CDO transactions, including CLOs, commercial real estate CDOs and synthetic CDOs. He currently represents indenture trustees in connection with the administration of CDO transactions and has extensive experience with questions and dis...

Alan Pope primarily counsels financial institutions in corporate workouts and bankruptcies and in structuring intercreditor arrangements. Alan applies substantial experience to representing administrative agents and collateral agents in syndicated credit facilities and other financial institutions in secured lending transactions.