Smith Anderson Welcomes Attorneys Catherine Gregory, Benji Jones and Brett Neve

Smith Anderson welcomes attorneys Catherine Gregory and Benji Jones, who have joined the firm’s Corporate and Transactional practice, and Brett Neve, who joins its Banking and Finance practice.

Catherine focuses on mergers and acquisitions and government contracting. Prior to joining Smith Anderson, Catherine served as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps officer in the U.S. Army, advising senior executives and business teams across several areas of law, including commercial contracts, aviation, regulatory, corporate investigations (internal and government), compliance and ethics, government contracting and litigation. Catherine served as the senior military justice legal advisor at U.S. Army Special Operations Command, as a principal legal adviser and ethics counselor at the U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command; as a Principal Legal Advisor at the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade; and as an administrative and national security law attorney for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

Benji has practiced law as a corporate attorney for more than 20 years, including her first 15 years at Smith Anderson before co-founding a capital raising boutique law firm in Raleigh. Now, back at Smith Anderson, Benji continues to advise public and private companies on public equity and debt offerings, domestic private placements, crowdfunding, other non-traditional private offerings and repurchase programs, public company securities compliance, corporate formation and governance, early-stage financing for start-up and growth companies, mergers and acquisitions and strategic contracting. The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized Benji in Securities/Capital Markets Law since 2018 and Securities Regulation since 2019.

Brett advises clients on a range of financing matters, including the negotiation and execution of new credit transactions as well as workout and restructuring matters. Brett has eight years of experience working at international law firms, advising stakeholders throughout the capital structure in all aspects of restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency matters, in- and out-of-court. Brett has helped public and private companies, their boards and management, as well as creditors, debtors, agents, lenders, sponsors, and investors, navigate a full range of scenarios involving financial distress, including Chapter 11 proceedings, debtor-in-possession financings, distressed asset sales, recapitalizations, and other liability management transactions.