Russell A. Brinson

Frank Schall has been recognized by his peers and clients for his white-collar, internal investigations, and regulatory defense work and is a seasoned attorney with significant experience in a wide range of healthcare litigation, commercial litigation, and financial services matters. Having spent time working as a prosecutor and for a large financial institution overseas, Frank brings a breadth of experience and perspectives to his representation of individuals, small businesses, and large co...

Joshua R. Adams is a principal in the Charlotte, North Carolina, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He exclusively represents employers in a broad range of employment-related litigation in both federal and state courts, as well before administrative agencies. In addition to providing employers with advice and counsel, Josh focuses his litigation practice on collective/class action wage and hour litigation and complex, single-plaintiff wage disputes across the country. He regularly advises employers...

Steve Gruendel represents banks and other creditors in connection with workouts and bankruptcies. A certified mediator, a former entrepreneur and a workout lawyer, Steve brings a practical, solution-seeking approach to complex legal situations. He’s been recognized in Chambers Partners USA as a go-to workout lawyer for the past 14 years. Steve is co-head of the Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring group. He represents banks and other creditors in workouts and bankruptcies. Also cert...

Sonya Pfeiffer is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Civil Rights Law, Criminal Defense: General Practice and Criminal Defense: White-Collar. Sonya, who practices law in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Sonya is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

As an intellectual property attorney with more than 30 years of experience, Dick Lupo focuses his practice on intellectual property and technology transactional matters. Heavily involved in a variety of intellectual property and transactional matters for emerging-market companies as well as established businesses, Dick provides sophisticated IP counsel to diverse clients in wide-ranging industries, including: Financial services Heavy industrial manufacturing Internet applications Computer sof...

Ben Pleune is a partner in Alston & Bird’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group, with extensive experience litigating patents in U.S. district courts, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and before the International Trade Commission. Ben has also been involved with numerous patent validity challenges before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board. Ben’s practice has focused on a variety of industries, including bar code scanners, image sensors, pharmaceuticals, telecomm...

A former Managing Chariman of the firm, Ben Hawfield provides senior leadership and brings decades of experience to client matters related to workouts and bankruptcy proceedings. Ben Hawfield advises Moore & Van Allen corporate clients in acquisitions and financing transactions, particularly those involving a compromise or restructure of debt. He has significant experience in representing corporations, individuals and lenders in workouts and bankruptcy proceedings.

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 ...

Neil Bloomfield advises financial services firms on their engagements with government authorities. Neil’s matters primarily fall into two categories—advising institutions on regulatory compliance issues and conducting investigations in response to issues raised internally or by a government authority. Neil regularly represents clients with responses to inquiries by Federal (e.g. CFTC, OCC, FRB, SEC, IRS, DOJ, and various U.S. Attorney's offices and Congressional Commissioners), St...

Ross Barton is a trial lawyer focusing his practice on the litigation of complex patent disputes before district courts and the International Trade Commission (ITC). With a background in Physics and a deep understanding of mobile technologies, semiconductors, and software and hardware programming languages, Ross has spent the last decade taking high-stakes cases in the high-tech sector to trial. He previously taught patent litigation courses as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Virgin...