Atlanta, Ga. – Carlton Fields is pleased to announce that for third consecutive year, Atlanta Shareholder Stephen A. Opler was selected for Georgia Trend magazine’s 2011 Legal Elite in the area of Business Law.

The magazine’s listing comprises Georgia’s top attorneys in eight practices areas: Business Law; Personal Injury Litigation; Criminal Law; Labor and Employment; Taxes; Estates and Trusts; Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights; Family Law; and General Practice/Trial Law. Attorneys are selected by their peers as the most effective in their area of practice.

Opler practices in Carlton Fields’ Corporate, Securities & Tax group. He has extensive knowledge in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate finance, securities, restructurings, and corporate governance. Prior to joining Carlton Fields, Opler was interim general counsel for Cameron Capital, a Toronto-based private equity firm. He has also served as a principal for Genesis Capital, LLC, an Atlanta-based independent investment bank; was co-founder, managing partner of the organizing Partnership, and a board member for One Georgia Bank; served as an independent business consultant and legal advisor; and was a partner in the law firm of Alston & Bird, LLP.

Opler received his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law and his B.S. from the University of Virginia. He has passed the CPA exam as well as the Series 7 and 63 securities exams.