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Recommended
Highly Recommended
Smith Anderson is a Raleigh-based business and litigation firm known for its team of trial-tested lawyers. Recipient of the North Carolina Firm of the Year award at the annual Benchmark US awards ceremony for several consecutive years (including once again in 2024), the firm continues to impress local peers and clients, with some partners even hailed by top trial lawyers at white-shoe New York firms who have worked with them. “They were wonderful North Carolina counsel. They played a big role at trial examining witnesses, they were very useful in that regard.” The firm has made a decision to pursue an agenda of staying “strategically neutral” regarding choosing political sides, something noted as being “very smart but very unusual in North Carolina,” and is active in a range of matters from large multi-party, multi-jurisdiction litigation for companies of all sizes to matters for small private businesses and pro bono clients. Smith Anderson has also emphasized intellectual property as a growth area as of late, particularly in situations where this intersects with commercial litigation.
Michael Mitchell attends to a practice that best exemplifies the commercial litigation/IP crossover. Mitchell represents local agricultural pillar Smithfield, who, with its affiliated company Murphy-Brown (also being defended by Mitchell), is one of the largest pork producers in the US. Over the last several years, numerous local property owners have sued Smithfield and Murphy-Brown claiming that the smell, noise, trucks and dust coming from the hog farm operations have created a nuisance. Some of these cases went to trial in federal court in North Carolina resulting in some large jury awards. The legal costs and jury awards exceed $100 million. Smithfield and Murphy-Brown sought insurance coverage for the nuisance litigation, but the insurers denied coverage. Smithfield and Murphy-Brown then brought this lawsuit in the North Carolina Business Court to enforce their insurance policies against the insurers. All claims against the insurers were settled, with final claim settled in April 2025 just before trial. Another area in which the firm has gained considerable traction is in its product liability capacity, largely on the strength of
Addie Ries, who is championed by a client as “energetic, enthusiastic, caring, responsive, intelligent, attentive to detail, and a subject-matter expert [who] kills it, every time.” Ries (who enjoys her fourth consecutive year as one of Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation) acts with Clifton Brinson for Dynax in approximately 10,000 cases that have been filed in jurisdictions throughout the nation regarding aqueous film-forming foam (“AFFF,” an agent that is used to extinguish “Class B” fires fueled by petroleum) multi-district litigation panel before the District Court of South Carolina. Plaintiffs claim that AFFF manufacturers, as well as Dynax and a multitude of other defendants whose products were used in AFFF, are liable based on the presence in AFFF of certain “PFAS” chemicals, which they allege are biopersistent in the environment and the water supply, bioaccumulative in flora and fauna and toxic to humans.
Christopher Smith was engaged by Duke Energy in 2024 to represent them in a matter in which the Town of Carrboro, North Carolina, with support from activist, well-funded national environmental groups, sued the client for liability for global climate change. This is purported to be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in which a municipality has brought such an action. Mitch Armbruster acts for Piedmont Lithium Carolinas in a regulatory challenge by adjoining landowners to a lithium mining permit issued by the State of North Carolina to the client. On the eve of regulatory trial in February 2025, and after extensive discovery, the petitioners filed a voluntary dismissal without prejudice (leaving the door open for the matter to be potentially re-filed in next 12 months.)
Our Mission Statement
Ellis & Winters will provide exceptional legal services to our clients, acting at all times with uncompromising integrity and professionalism, for the purposes of earning and preserving the trust and confidence of our clients, providing everyone at the firm the opportunity to do rewarding work, creating and fostering a diverse and inclusive environment, preserving the trust and collegiality we have built, and improving the communities in which we work through service and engagement.
Our Firm
The story of Ellis & Winters is one of ingenuity, ambition, and self‑determination. In 2000, eleven lawyers from a leading national law firm formed a new premier firm in North Carolina. They created Ellis & Winters to provide exemplary legal representation through a select team of attorneys with the resources and knowledge base necessary to handle sophisticated legal concerns and the flexibility to adapt to each client’s needs.
When Ellis & Winters was formed, its founders had already built strong reputations in their respective practice areas and had served in leadership roles as national counsel for multinational corporations. Since its founding, the firm has tripled in size through the careful addition of lateral and new attorneys, enhancing its ability to handle increasingly sophisticated matters at the state, regional, and national levels.
Deep Experience
The firm’s litigation team handles a broad spectrum of matters, from pre‑suit investigations and counseling through trial and appeal. This experience provides a wide perspective on how cases develop and enables the execution of effective exit strategies when appropriate.
Ellis & Winters also maintains a robust commercial real estate practice involving purchases, sales, leases, commercial financing, and large‑scale development projects that shape city skylines. The firm’s experience allows it to provide practical, strategic, and sophisticated advice across all stages of these transactions.
Creative, Nimble Representation
The firm prides itself on a creative and adaptable approach to legal representation. Its organizational structure ensures that client matters are handled by lawyers best positioned to resolve them efficiently and effectively at every stage of the dispute process.
Smith Anderson is a full-service business and litigation law firm serving regional,national and global companies. More than one-third of our attorneys have joinedSmith Anderson from national and international firms, providing clients with a highlyexperienced and deep bench of support at favorable local market rates. It’s our clientfocusedculture and forward-thinking insights that have shaped Smith Anderson formore than a century as it helps guide clients toward success.
Key Practice Areas:
- Banking & Finance
- Business Litigation
- Corporate & Transactional
- General Litigation
- Intellectual Property
- Real Estate Development
- Regulatory & Public Policy
- Workplace Law
Practice Areas:
- Administrative Law
- AgTech
- Appellate Advocacy Closely-Held & Family-Owned Businesses
- Commercial Contracts
- Complex Contract Disputes
- Construction & Infrastructure
- Corporate & Securities Litigation
- Corporate & Syndicated Finance
- Corporate Compliance
- Corporate Relocation, Expansion & Incentives
- Data Use, Privacy & Security
- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
- Employment, Labor & Human Resources
- Energy & Renewable Energy
- Environmental
- Financial Institutions
- General & Commercial Litigation
- Government Contracts
- Government Relations
- Health Care
- Higher Education
- Information Technology
- Insurance Recovery Litigation & Counseling
- Insurance Regulation
- Intellectual Property
- Intellectual Property Litigation
- International Law
- Land Use & Zoning
- Life Sciences
- Mass Tort & Catastrophic Loss
- Medical Malpractice Defense
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Mezzanine Finance
- Non-Compete & Trade Secrets
- OSHA & Workplace Safety
- Patent Litigation
- Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Litigation
- Private Equity
- Product Liability
- Public Companies/Securities
- Real Estate Development
- Real Estate Litigation
- Restructuring, Insolvency & Creditors’ Rights
- Start-Ups
- Tax
- Technology Transactions
- Toxic Torts, PFAS and Asbestos Litigation
- Trademark & Copyright Litigation
- Trusts & Estates
- Value-Based Care
- Venture Capital
- Venture Debt & Technology Finance
Founded in 1920, Akerman is recognized as one of the country’s premier law firms, with more than 700 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States..
Commercial Litigation: Akerman offers a leading trial team that includes litigators across the United States. We represent a diverse range of clients across numerous sectors, with particular strength in the financial services, private equity, insurance, real estate, construction, health and life sciences, and energy sectors. Akerman lawyers regularly appear before judges and arbitrators in class actions, securities, white-collar, fraud and recovery, product liability, intellectual property, employment, bankruptcy, and general business matters.
Appellate: With a bench that includes many former appellate and trial court judges, Akerman’s appellate practice is a national powerhouse with demonstrated success in handling appeals related to complex commercial litigation. Akerman's appellate team frequently assist trial lawyers during all phases of litigation, preserving errors for appeal, drafting motions and responses, and providing strategic advice on the best approach for seeking relief on appeal. They handle numerous matters before appellate courts nationwide in various commercial cases and class actions. We also have experience in administrative appeals involving high profile issues before state agencies. Additionally, Akerman's appellate lawyers represent industry associations as amicus curiae in appellate proceedings when our clients are not a party to an appeal but have a substantial interest in the outcome.
International Litigation & Arbitration: Akerman has a long record of accomplishment in resolving complex multijurisdictional disputes. Our team represents multinational, foreign, and domestic corporations and individuals before U.S. federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings before a wide range of international arbitral bodies in multiple jurisdictions. Akerman litigators help clients successfully address conflicts in a broad range of sectors, including general commercial disputes, power and energy, construction and engineering, and banking and finance, among many others. Our highly responsive, multilingual team works in tandem with experienced local counsel to provide seamless resolution to disputes throughout Latin America, as well as in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
Employment Litigation: Akerman’s national, multidisciplinary team helps clients navigate claims brought before state and federal agencies and boards as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the United States. Our lawyers regularly defend employers in all types of employment litigation, including complex class-action discrimination cases and collective action wage and hour matters. We also represent employers in connection with administrative charges and audits, and have successfully negotiated and supervised numerous settlements with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Updated Sep 2024
King & Spalding helps leading companies advance complex business interests in more than 160 countries. Working across a highly integrated platform of more than 1,300 lawyers in 26 offices globally, we deliver tailored commercial solutions through world-class offerings and an uncompromising approach to quality and service.
Trial and Global Disputes: Our experienced disputes lawyers try and arbitrate high-stakes cases every year across the globe in the most challenging jurisdictions for corporate clients. Recognized for creativity, meticulous preparation, and top-rate advocacy, our lawyers help clients navigate the litigation lifecycle, working together from day one to identify business objectives, develop a strategy to meet those objectives, and then execute that strategy. With more than 450 lawyers in 17 offices worldwide, we are uniquely able to staff and manage large and cross-border disputes from filing, to trial, and through appeal. Our lawyers have a variety of expertise across substantive areas, including Appellate Law, Class Action Defense, Commercial Litigation, Construction & Engineering Disputes, Corporate & Securities Litigation, E-Discovery, Insolvency Litigation, Insurance Coverage & Recovery, Intellectual Property, International Arbitration, Labor & Employment, Product Liability, Professional Liability, and Toxic & Environmental Torts. Working together—one area of expertise informing another—our disputes lawyers provide clients with seamless and efficient representation in the most complex and sensitive matters.
Capabilities:
- Appellate, Constitutional and Administrative Law
- Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation
- Class Action Defense
- Commercial Litigation
- Construction and Engineering Disputes
- Corporate and Securities Litigation
- E-Discovery
- Insurance Coverage and Recovery
- Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark and Copyright Litigation
- International Arbitration and Litigation
- Labor and Employment
- Product Liability
- Professional Liability
- Toxic & Environmental Torts
Government Matters: Clients ranging from Fortune Global 50 corporations to high-profile individuals in every region of the world entrust King & Spalding’s Government Matters practice to guide them through rapidly changing regulatory landscapes, complex investigations by U.S. and foreign enforcement authorities, highly sensitive internal investigations and related, often parallel civil proceedings.
Hundreds of lawyers across the United States, Europe and Asia bring decades of prior government service and industry experience to our regulatory and investigative practices, which serve the financial services, pharmaceutical and medical device, healthcare, energy, automotive and technology sectors in particular. The team includes six U.S. Attorneys, 24 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and former senior officials from the highest ranks in regulatory and enforcement organizations that are most significant to our clients.
Our experienced team includes former leaders at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Bank of England, the U.K’s Financial Reporting Council and the World Trade Organization.
Capabilities:
- Antitrust
- Data, Privacy and Security
- Environmental, Health and Safety
- FDA and Life Sciences
- Government Advocacy and Public Policy
- Government Contracts
- Healthcare
- International Trade
- National Security and Corporate Espionage
- Securities Enforcement and Regulation
- Special Matters and Government Investigations
Corporate, Finance and Investments: Our Corporate, Finance and Investments team brings a collaborative approach to help clients execute complex, high-value transactions. We have a fully integrated platform with more than 330 lawyers in 17 offices, offering clients the benefit of global specialists with local knowledge and industry expertise. We work side by side with our clients to execute transactions efficiently and effectively—we understand what matters to both our clients and opposite parties and we explain the actual, practical risks to our clients.
Capabilities:
- Activist Defense
- Alternative Capital and Credit Funds
- Capital Markets
- Construction and Procurement
- Corporate Governance
- Emerging Companies and Venture Capital
- Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
- Energy and Infrastructure Projects
- Financial Restructuring
- Investment Funds and Asset Management
- Leveraged Finance
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Middle East and Islamic Finance and Investment
- Private Equity
- Real Estate
- Securitization
- Tax
Updated Sep 2024
