Veteran Tax Attorney Tom Havener Joins Pope Flynn

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BRADENTON, Fla. – Tom Havener, a 28-year veteran public finance tax attorney, has joined Pope Flynn LLC, a boutique law firm in South Carolina.

Havener most recently was an equity partner in the tax department at Squire Patton Boggs, formerly Squire Sanders & Dempsey.

"We are pleased to welcome Tom to the Pope Flynn team of public finance attorneys," Joe Lucas, a managing member of the firm, said in a statement. "He is a public finance tax attorney with significant depth of experience on a national level and we know our clients will be well-served by his talent and insights."

Havener will move from Cleveland to Pope Flynn's main office in Columbia, S.C., a spokeswoman said. The firm also has offices in Spartanburg, S.C., and Charlotte, N.C.

After starting his career in the tax counsel's office at Standard Oil Co., Havener spent 20 years at Squire Patton.

Havener has handled large and complex tax-exempt bond issuances, Internal Revenue Service audits of tax-exempt bonds, and tax litigation, including constitutional issues as a result of federal and state tax laws, according to Pope Flynn.

As a tax attorney, Havener has worked for large corporations, including Standard Oil and BP America.

His public finance clients have included the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and the states of Ohio, Connecticut, New York, Florida, Arizona, and California, as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Havener has also worked with nonprofit educational, healthcare, scientific, religious and other charitable organizations.

Havener received a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University and a law degree from Case Western Reserve University. He is admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of Ohio, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Tax Court.

Memberships include the taxation sections of the Ohio and the American Bar Associations and the National Association of Bond Lawyers. He has been a frequent panelist and chairman for NABL's Bond Attorneys Workshop and Tax and Securities Law Institute.

In 2015, Havener was named Lawyer of the Year by the Best Lawyers in America for Cleveland Public Finance law.

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