Charlotte, NC, July 18, 2011 – Winstead PC welcomes David K. Jacobs as a shareholder in its Charlotte, North Carolina office. Jacobs will work in Winstead's Finance & Banking Practice Group. Most recently he was counsel in the Charlotte office of Alston & Bird LLP.
Jacobs has 15 years of experience representing clients in a broad range of capital markets and corporate transactions, including syndicated lending, commercial finance, real estate finance (CMBS, portfolio and development), derivatives and mergers and acquisitions. At Winstead, Jacobs’ primary focus will be on representing financial institutions as lead arrangers in syndicated and middle market debt capital markets transactions.
"David is a welcome addition to Winstead’s Charlotte office and we are excited to have him join our team. Since opening just last year, Winstead's Charlotte office has grown considerably. We now have 14 professionals resident in Charlotte, and we have a number of attorneys from other Winstead offices who frequently work out of our Charlotte office to service their clients in and around the Southeast," said Raymond S. Koloski, Winstead's managing shareholder of the Charlotte office. "David brings a wealth of experience representing financial institutions on a wide range of capital markets transactions, and his expertise in this and other areas will allow us to continue to provide Winstead’s financial institution clients with the highest level of legal representation and client service."
“I was looking for a law firm that had strong, long term partnerships with some of the largest US financial institutions, that was interested in growing the scope and depth of those partnerships, and that had a flexible rate structure which would allow me to be active in many different segments of the commercial finance, syndicated lending and real estate markets,” said Jacobs. “Winstead has a team of exceptional attorneys to work with and definitely fits what I was looking for to expand my practice.”
Jacobs is licensed to practice in North Carolina, the District of Columbia, Florida and Georgia. He received his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and he also received a graduate degree in business from Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, where he attended as a Rotary International Post-graduate Scholar.
According to Winstead's CEO and Chairman Kevin Sullivan, "Winstead has been on an aggressive lateral hiring path over the last couple of years and I am very proud of all the new attorneys that have joined our team. Our regional characteristic, rate structure, culture and environment add up to an overall atmosphere that has proved to be very attractive to lateral candidates."
Winstead's lateral hiring team is led by Peyton Smith, a labor and employment shareholder based in Austin, who took over firm-wide leadership of the lateral hiring program last November. Smith works with a team of shareholders in each Winstead Office to identify and recruit potential laterals. Under Smith's leadership and through his partnership with Sullivan and a team of city lateral hiring shareholders, Winstead has successfully recruited both individual and large groups of attorneys to Winstead this year.
According to Smith, "We are thrilled with the high success rate of our collective efforts this first six months of 2011 and the exceptional attorneys who are joining the Winstead team. Ray Koloski and our other city lateral hiring team shareholders are in high gear and we've enjoyed a proven record of identifying exceptional attorneys with strong books of business who work hard, are hungry for our team-oriented culture, and know that joining Winstead will give them the supportive platform and collaborative culture to better service their clients and take their practice to the next level."
Winstead expanded into Charlotte based on client need and opportunity and is among the largest business law firms in Texas. Winstead attorneys and consultants serve as trusted advisors to mid-market and large businesses, providing a core range of legal services that are critical to their operation and success. From our well-known reputation in real estate and financial services, to our corporate and high-stakes litigation practice, to our expanded services in our energy and environmental practice, Winstead delivers practical knowledge and responsive service. In addition to our Charlotte, North Carolina office, Winstead has offices in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and The Woodlands, Texas; and Washington, D.C. For detailed information about Winstead, visit www.winstead.com.