Background

A native of Newberry, South Carolina, Gary T. Pope, Jr. is a 2005 graduate of the University of the South and a 2009 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law and the Moore School of Business. Having been admitted to practice in 2009, Gary concentrates in public finance.

Gary’s practice is primarily focused on serving as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, or underwriter’s counsel in connection with public finance transactions. He regularly advises counties, municipalities, and special purpose districts, as well as the State of South Carolina and many of its public universities and agencies in connection with their debt offerings and public-private partnerships. While Gary’s public finance practice encompasses a broad spectrum of clients and transactions, a substantial portion of his practice is dedicated to higher education financings as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel.

In addition to his public finance practice, Gary regularly advises public entities on the constitutional and statutory constraints on governmental powers, the Freedom of Information Act, and economic development incentives, as well as legal issues that frequently precede or accompany debt offerings including drafting ground and facilities leases, intergovernmental agreements, water purchase and sale contracts, bond referenda proceedings, and official statements and other disclosure documents. Gary has significant experience providing technical assistance to clients developing and reviewing legislation related to public finance in South Carolina.

Recent engagements have included serving as bond counsel in connection with over $1 billion of higher education financings for academic, research, student housing, and athletic facilities; advising a large South Carolina county on its successful capital project sales tax referendum to raise approximately $150 million for a new county courthouse and approximately $65 million for a new joint city-county administration complex; advising on referendum proceedings and serving as bond counsel to a special purpose district responding to hurricane damage; advising numerous political subdivisions regarding their power to impose fees and charges; serving as bond counsel to a large South Carolina county in the financing of critical sewer infrastructure to facilitate economic development; and participating in the most recent Supreme Court of South Carolina case involving tax increment finance and the transaction that followed the unsuccessful challenge to the plan of finance.

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