Tell us about your practice.
My practice is focused on commercial lending and real estate transactions. I started out doing purely real estate work at my old firm in Atlanta. When I made the move to Nashville and Bass, Berry & Sims, I picked up the finance work as well. Today my practice primarily involves representing companies (both public and private) in their financing needs, as well as representing several local and regional banks in secured finance transactions. I also continue to represent clients in connection with financing, leasing, acquisition or disposition of real estate. I particularly enjoy working on a financing that is intended to fund the acquisition, construction or development of real estate.
Why did you choose to pursue a career in the legal field?
After college, I got a job as a case clerk at Alston & Bird LLP. As a liberal arts major who enjoyed reading and writing, I had given law school some consideration. But as I did not have any lawyers in my immediate family, I really did not know much about the industry. My experience with A&B really confirmed for me that this was the career path I wanted to pursue.
You recently hiked to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Describe that experience.
It was amazing and hard! A couple of friends and I decided a few years back that we were going to conquer Mt. Kilimanjaro in the fall of 2015. There were seven total in our group hiking the eight-day Lemoshu Trail. The Lemoshu Trail is remote and scenic and offers one of the better acclimation schedules. A few days in to the hike, our lead guide, Athumani, nicknamed us the “Queens of Kilimanjaro.” On day seven, we departed base camp around midnight, and hiked in the dark for the next seven hours straight up hill in single digit temperatures. We reached the “roof of Africa” around 7:15 a.m. after witnessing the most stunning sunrise I have ever seen (and probably will ever see)! In the end, we had hiked roughly 42 miles, climbed around 14,000 feet and walked through five different climatic zones. I really have to hand it to our porters and guides. They pushed us when needed and entertained us with singing and dancing along the way. It was intense, but I would definitely do it all over again!