News & Insights

Fifteen Alston & Bird attorneys have been named “IP Stars” by Managing IP in its 2025 rankings of the world’s leading intellectual property practitioners and practices.

Alston & Bird has once again been ranked among America’s top adoption-friendly workplaces, marking 19 consecutive years that the firm has been recognized nationally as a leader in employee adoption benefits.

Alston & Bird represented Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, the holding company for Seacoast National Bank, in its $710.8 million acquisition of Villages Bancorporation, parent company of Florida-based Citizens First Bank. The transaction structure includes a unique combination of cash, common stock, and non-voting preferred stock and represents Seacoast’s largest transaction to date.

Alston & Bird secured a unanimous decision from the New York Appellate Division, First Department, affirming the claim by MSI Management Services former CEO Teri Martin that retirement did not cause the forfeiture of her shares in the company’s stock.

For the fourteenth consecutive year, Alston & Bird has been recognized as a global leader in patent law by Intellectual Asset Management in its annual IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Professionals.

Alston & Bird advised loanDepot Inc. on closing its $200 million securitization, through the loanDepot GMSR Master Trust, of portfolio excess spread from mortgage servicing rights on mortgage loans underlying certain mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae.

Alston & Bird secured a significant victory for Massachusetts-based Checkpoint Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in cancer immunotherapies and treatments, and its CEO in a securities class action in the Southern District of New York. The suit alleged violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, claiming the company made materially false or misleading statements about the likelihood of Food and Drug Administration approval for a biologics license application. In a detailed ruling issued May 19, the court granted our motion to dismiss the case with prejudice, finding the plaintiff failed to adequately plead any false or misleading statements or the scienter required for securities fraud.

Alston & Bird advised Texas-based pawnbroker FirstCash Holdings and its UK subsidiary Chess Bidco on their £351 million acquisition of H & T Group, a leading publicly traded UK-based operator of pawn stores. 

Alston & Bird represented Texas-based Industry Bancshares and its six subsidiary banks in their acquisition by Cadence Bank, a Mississippi-based financial services company. Under the agreement, Cadence Bank will pay between $20 million and $60 million in cash for Industry Bancshares’ outstanding common stock.

Alston & Bird’s Intellectual Property Group was named “Litigation Department of the Year” for Intellectual Property by Daily Report at the annual Southeastern Legal Awards on May 1, 2025. 

Alston & Bird congratulates the Hon. Betty Weinberg Ellerin, senior counsel in the firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group, as the latest honoree to be the subject of a portrait as part of the New York City Bar Association’s “Women on the Walls” initiative. Slated to be unveiled at a May 6 ceremony, the portrait was commissioned by the City Bar’s Women in the Legal Profession Committee to recognize the trailblazing careers of female legal professionals with strong ties to New York City.

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