Alston & Bird LLP

Managing Partner: Richard R Hays

Firm Overview

Alston & Bird has grown to become a leading international firm while remaining steeped in a culture with client service and teamwork as the cornerstones of all that we do. The firm develops, assembles, and nurtures the strongest and broadest array of legal talent and expertise necessary to meet our clients’ needs in an ever-changing and fast-paced environment.

Main Areas of Practice

Capital Markets/Mergers & Acquisitions:

The firm’s attorneys have extensive experience with complex mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, going-private transactions, joint ventures, and similar transactions for clients in a broad range of industries, representing bidders, target companies, stockholders, boards of directors, and financial advisors. Alston & Bird lawyers have been involved in all aspects of leveraged buyouts and distressed sales, capable of handling the acquisition and financing of public and nonpublic companies of any size.

Natural Resources & Energy:

Attorneys provide energy clients with nationally recognized expertise in virtually every aspect of the law affecting the energy industry, from electric and natural gas regulation and project development and financing to carbon management, energy supply transactions, and public policy.

Financial Services:

The firm provides a wide range of corporate governance, merger and acquisition, regulatory, litigation, securities, and structured finance services to our banking, insurance, investment management, broker-dealer, mutual fund, payment systems, and alternative investment vehicle clients. The payments group has global experience in all sectors of the industry, including merchant acquiring, card issuing, mobile payments, e-commerce, card schemes and payment networks, gift cards, health care payments, fintech, blockchain, and B2B payments.

Finance:

Alston & Bird has one of the leading structured finance and securitization practices in the country. The firm represents many of the most active issuers, originators, master servicers, servicers, trustees, fund managers, investors, domestic and foreign financial institutions, rating agencies, and insurers in a variety of debt financings. The practice applies its talent and expertise in several leading U.S. financial centers and in London to lead transactions in virtually every asset class of the structured finance and securitization markets.

Health Care:

The firm is home to one of the most extensive, full-service health care practices in the United States. With demonstrated transactional, regulatory, public policy, government investigations, and litigation expertise, the team includes former senior health policy and enforcement officials from the U.S. Congress and executive branch departments and agencies, including the White House, Departments of Justice and Health & Human Services, and Food and Drug Administration.

Intellectual Property:

Alston & Bird’s IP practice is one of the largest and most highly regarded in the United States. The group provides a full range of intellectual property services, including patentability and prosecution, litigation, post-grant review proceeding expertise and services, patent maintenance, counseling on infringement avoidance, and validity and infringement studies and opinions.

Legislative & Public Policy:

The firm’s legislative team is uniquely positioned to advise clients in a bipartisan, bicameral manner on public policy issues. The firm represents clients before Congress, the executive branch, and regulatory agencies.

Litigation:

Alston & Bird’s attorneys have litigated in virtually every major industrialized jurisdiction around the world. The firm’s litigation experience includes antitrust, bankruptcy, construction, environmental and land development, ERISA, international trade and regulatory, labor and employment, securities, products liability, and class actions.

Real Estate:

Alston & Bird’s industry-focused real estate investment and finance practice encompasses the full range of capabilities needed to serve sophisticated clients. It handles massive multiproperty and multijurisdictional transactions, while maintaining specialized expertise focused on specific property types. With a leading real estate capital markets practice, the group is positioned at the intersection of the industry where assets meet capital.

Tax:

The firm has one of the largest and most acclaimed tax practices in the United States, including international, federal, state, and local taxation; employee benefits and executive compensation; wealth planning; tax-exempt organizations; and transfer pricing.

International Work:

The multidisciplinary team has structured deals and handled disputes around the globe. The firm’s international practice has extensive experience planning, structuring, and implementing business deals in virtually every major commercial jurisdiction in the world. The firm can identify the best local counsel and develop the optimal approach for business transactions abroad, whether it involves an acquisition, joint venture, licensing arrangement, technology transfer, manufacturing contract, distribution agreement, outsourcing, or other arrangement.