Stites & Harbison names five new Members and three new Counsel in 2014

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Stites & Harbison, PLLC, announced today that five attorneys have been elected to membership in the law firm, effective Jan. 1, 2014. The new Members (Partners) are: Elizabeth Hall from the Atlanta, Ga., office; Lawrence Droege, Scott Townsend and Robert B. Vice, Jr., from the Louisville, Ky., office; and Brian Neal from the Nashville, Tenn., office. Those elected to Counsel include: Ronald Stay from the Atlanta office; Benjamin Crittenden from the Frankfort, Ky., office; and Amber Nicely from the Louisville, Ky., office.

Members (Partners)

Elizabeth Hall is a litigator in the firm’s Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy Service Group. Her practice focuses primarily on representing institutional lenders and businesses in litigation related to bankruptcy, contracts, foreclosures and workouts. She is admitted to practice in Georgia.

Lawrence Droege is a transactional lawyer in the firm’s Real Estate & Banking Service Group. His practice primarily focuses on real estate, lending and creditors’ rights law. Droege has closed loans on numerous retail, industrial, office, condominium, multi-family and self-storage properties located across the country and completed workout and foreclosure transactions for several national loan servicers. He is admitted to practice in Kentucky.

Scott Townsend is a transactional lawyer in the firm’s Business & Finance Service Group. He focuses on corporate finance and securities, mergers and acquisitions, health care transactions and general corporate law. He has also represented lenders in connection with commercial lending transactions, with an emphasis on capital market lending and related issues. Townsend is the founder of the Bluegrass Business Law Blog which focuses on issues of interest to businesses, business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs in and around Kentucky. He is admitted to practice in Kentucky and Texas.

Robert B. Vice, Jr., is a transactional attorney in the firm’s Real Estate & Banking Service Group. His practice focuses on general real estate and corporate law matters, which include complex commercial lending transactions, low-income and rehabilitation tax credit developments, commercial real estate transfers, developing commercial property, and leasing transactions. He is also a LEED Accredited Professional and a 2010 graduate of Leadership Louisville’s Bingham Fellows Program.

Brian Neal is a litigator in the Business Litigation and the Torts & Insurance Practice Service Groups. He concentrates his practice on trial work in connection with complex commercial disputes, bad-faith insurance defense, products liability and general litigation. He has served as first-chair litigator in a wide range of matters, and he has experience litigating matters on appeal before the highest courts in Tennessee. He is a graduate of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Leadership Law Class of 2011 and the Young Leaders’ Council, Class 50. Neal is admitted to practice in Tennessee.

Counsel

Ronald Stay is a litigator in the firm’s Creditors’ Rights & Bankruptcy Service Group. His practice focuses on representing institutional lenders and businesses in litigation related to creditors’ rights, contracts, foreclosures, workouts and bankruptcy, as well as general commercial litigation. Stay is admitted to practice in Georgia.

Benjamin Crittenden is a litigator in the firm’s Business Litigation Service Group. He assists clients with complex commercial, governmental and regulatory matters. He has extensive experience representing businesses and individuals with state and local tax planning and litigation. He is the lead counsel for electric, water and telecommunications utilities in matters before the Kentucky Public Service Commission. Crittenden regularly appears before state courts, administrative agencies and professional licensing boards in litigation involving government entities, and is often called upon to advise clients regarding issues of constitutional and statutory interpretation. He is admitted to practice in Kentucky.

Amber Nicely is a litigator in the firm’s Business Litigation Service Group. She has a diverse litigation practice with a focus on class action defense, shareholder dissenters’ rights and derivative claims, complex franchise litigation, bankruptcy adversary proceedings and professional liability defense. She also has developed significant experience in managing large-scale document productions and electronic discovery. Nicely is a member of the firm’s ethics committee, and advises both the firm and her clients on various ethical issues and conflicts analysis. She is admitted to practice in Kentucky.