Alston & Bird has broadened its cross-border banking and financial services litigation capabilities with the addition of Paul Morris as a partner in London. He joins from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he had been a partner since 2010.

“Paul brings an esteemed practice and sterling track record in dispute resolution tied to structured finance, securitizations, and other corporate debt transactions,” said Brett Jaffe, Alston & Bird partner and co-chair of the firm’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group. “He is an outstanding strategist and tactician who is highly sought after by a prominent roster of banks and other financial institutions seeking to protect their assets in today’s turbulent credit markets.”

Morris has more than two decades of experience at the forefront of sophisticated, high-value banking and finance disputes, with a focus on complex cases arising predominantly from derivatives and structured finance products but also traditional debt financing structures. He is particularly experienced in contentious work for corporate trustees and regularly advises trustees, issuers, and other agency providers on a wide range of post-issue disputes, such as liability management transactions, remediations, consent solicitations, exercises of trustee discretion, potential and actual defaults, and restructurings. He also has a substantial reputation in civil fraud and asset-tracing cases and acts for institutions and individuals in the course of investigations carried out by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

“Banking and financial services litigation is a strategic priority for our London finance practice, and having a high-end litigator of Paul’s caliber who has acted across an impressive breadth of prominent cases in the structured finance space adds significantly to our contentious offering and will be of enormous value to our corporate trust, agency, and asset-services clients,” said Shanell Cramer, Alston & Bird partner and co-head of the firm’s Finance Group. “Paul’s top-shelf litigation experience and business savvy substantially strengthen our preeminence advising leading trust companies across all stages of the deal life cycle – from transaction closings and asset administration to default issues, including bankruptcy, litigation, and collateral liquidation.”

Morris’s arrival is the most recent action taken by Alston & Bird in support of its London finance platform. In March, the firm added partner James Fisher, who advises corporate trust and agency clients and others across a broad range of debt capital markets transactions.

“Paul is a fantastic addition to our growing and formidable London practice,” said Rich Willis, partner in charge of Alston & Bird’s London office. “His joining reinforces our strategy of expanding our London footprint with practices such as banking and financial services litigation that are strategically valuable to our clients and where we can translate our market-leading U.S. brand into seamless collaborative client service on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Alston & Bird opened in London in 2019. With Morris’s arrival, the firm now has six London partners spanning practices in finance, payments, and litigation.