James A. "Jim" Witherspoon

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 ...

Benjamin H. Ellis is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Real Estate Law. Benjamin H., who practices law in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been recognized since 2016. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Benjamin H. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Eddie Booher practices in the area of complex finance transactions, focusing on commercial real estate (acquisitions, development, leasing and construction) and other transactional lending work. Eddie has primary responsibility for the representation of institutional lenders in several commercial real estate conduit loan/securitization programs involving a broad spectrum of property types, including hospitality, multifamily, industrial, retail, office and healthcare properties. His experience...

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...

Scott Tyler has more than two decades of experience successfully representing some of the nation’s largest financial services, manufacturing, real estate, and other companies in a range of complex disputes. He provides his clients with a practical approach to achieving a balance between business considerations and zealous advocacy. Scott focuses his time—and his clients’ resources—on a strategic path to success by creating a road map for each case, from pleadings to mo...

MacKenzie C. Henry is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Banking and Finance Law. MacKenzie C., 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 MacKenzie C. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Peter Barwick is a partner with Alston & Bird's Finance Group and focuses his practice on structured finance matters, including the representation of major financial institutions in their roles as master servicer, certificate administrator, paying agent, trustee, custodian and issuer in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securitization transactions. Peter received his J.D. from Duke University School of Law, where he was a Williams Scholar. He received an M.A.R. in ethics, cum laude, from Y...

Mark Kelly is a member of the Corporate Transactions & Securities Group in the firm’s Charlotte office. He concentrates his practice in the areas of public offerings, private financings, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters. Mr. Kelly leads the firm’s private equity practice and has worked with private equity firms and their portfolio companies since the late 1980s in equity and debt financings, leveraged buyouts and exit transactions, including mergers with ...

“It is rewarding to help clients complete complex real estate transactions and make critical business decisions. In my 16+ years of practice, I have developed an instinct for the issues that can kill a deal, and focus on what matters most to a client. Clients expect all lawyers to know the law and see the issues, but a lawyer becomes invaluable by bringing calm, clarity, and efficiency to the table.” Andrew McCullough is a skilled lawyer that understands the delicate balance betwe...

Mike Connor is a partner in the firm’s IP Litigation Group. He is a recent co-chair of the firm’s national Intellectual Property Practice and a past chair of the national IP Litigation Group. He handles patent infringement and other IP disputes and counseling. Mike has experience in technologies such as cardiovascular implants and other medical devices, mobile telephony, high speed computer networks, financial services, diagnostic imaging, music downloads, robotics, textile machin...