McNair Brings Business and Government Together to Get Things Done

Robert E. McNair was the first governor in the United States to actively pursue industrial and economic development for his state. When his term of office ended and he founded the McNair Law Firm in 1971, it was with the commitment that we would continue and expand South Carolina’s ability to grow and attract new business.

Today our firm is central to South Carolina’s entire economic development process. We represent major companies that seek to move to or expand in South Carolina (including businesses based in more than 20 countries), and counsel municipal, county and state development officials on the best ways to attract and retain these companies. Innovation has been our lawyers’ hallmark, from assisting with the creation of the South Carolina Jobs - Economic Development Authority to structuring the state’s first use of industrial incentives to finance general commercial development. There is no role in South Carolina’s economic development that we do not regularly fill, and our long-term relationships in the development arena are unsurpassed by any other state law firm.

McNair lawyers are well-versed in the often complicated and technical areas of economic development incentives, from state-based corporate income tax credits, such as the Job Tax Credit, to county-based Fee in Lieu of Property Tax arrangements. McNair also understands the political and business factors involved in establishing effective development incentives, and knows how to help all parties involved achieve their objectives.

Comprehensive Solutions

At McNair, we combine diverse legal disciplines to create opportunities for growth, and to resolve problems and disputes that may threaten a successful project. In addition to a core group of lawyers with primary economic development emphasis, nearly a quarter of our firm's lawyers are regularly involved in economic development counsel. They are supported by colleagues in such practice areas as public affairs, governmental relations, tax, real estate, immigration, contracts, employment, finance and general corporate law. We are practicing lawyers in all areas needed for a development project, and have proof that we can work together to resolve any obstacle.

How we Get Things Done
Our client, a global manufacturer of high technology cables and systems that is affiliated with one of Italy’s largest industrial groups, planned a $30 million expansion of its South Carolina manufacturing operations. The corporate parent approved the project and the land was assembled, but a major problem arose when the State Department of Transportation targeted an eminent domain action for part of the property to build a new highway project – an action that would scuttle the expansion plans.

Our lawyers worked with the highest levels of state government, including the Departments of Commerce and Transportation, to devise a solution, and eventually negotiated an agreement for financing the construction of a new bridge that would make relocation of the highway project feasible. Our focused dispute resolution skills preserved the expansion, and the jobs and revenue it will generate.

The Art of Relationships

McNair’s knowledge of how government works means we have the creative resources to build incentive packages that work – and that few, if any other law firms can assemble. We understand how state government works at the highest executive and legislative levels, and our professional credibility means we are often successful at working with decision-makers to design solutions that reshape development law and position us to resolve even the most complex development challenges. More importantly, we work to ensure that any development solution adds value for both business and government. No matter where you are in the development spectrum, you can rely on McNair to know exactly what is both practical and feasible.

How we Get Things Done
One of South Carolina’s largest banks wanted to build a new North American financial headquarters in the state, planned as a campus development that would include over a dozen buildings and more than 1,000 employees. Appropriate economic development incentives were needed to help secure the project, but they ran into a constitutional roadblock: by state law, such incentives could not be granted to banks because of their tax status.

McNair lawyers proposed and lobbied for a change in the law and then structured a highly favorable incentive package. Weeks of high-level, nearly round-the-clock work were required, an effort our client believes no other law firm in the state could have matched.

Corporate Relocation

If you are looking to establish, expand or relocate an industrial or other commercial business, or if you represent a governmental entity wishing to offer financial incentives to such businesses, we can help you achieve your development objectives. We have a strong record of success working with global businesses that relocate operations to South Carolina, having advised companies with bases of operations in:

• Europe (Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Serbia/Montenegro, Switzerland, the United Kingdom)
• Asia/Pacific (China, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines)
• Africa/Middle East (Nigeria, Lebanon)
• North America (Canada, Panama).

How we Get Things Done
In the early 1990s Governor McNair, while a member of a state delegation that traveled to Europe to help boost South Carolina’s international trade, met with the owners of a small German manufacturer. The company had purchased a business that produced truck rear-view mirrors and was looking to relocate it. Governor McNair advocated for South Carolina’s economic development incentives, and our firm subsequently negotiated with state and county economic development officials to secure financing and other incentives to bring the operation here.

Our client opened its new South Carolina facility in 1994 with five people. Today, after relying on us for help with incentives, international financing, tax guidance and licensing, our client employs 300 people at a 160,000 square foot plant that has achieved a position of global leadership in its industry.

Incentive Financing

Economic development financing is a complex undertaking that can combine tax incentives with government tax-exempt bond financing for infrastructure construction of industrial facilities, roads, sewers, public utilities and other related infrastructures. We play a central role in facilitating economic development bond financing for business and government throughout South Carolina. You get the benefit of our experience on billions of dollars in economic development financing transactions. That includes work as issuer’s and underwriters’ counsel on such financing vehicles as industrial development revenue bonds, special assessment and special source revenue credits and bonds, and Fee-in-Lieu-of-Tax (FILOT) transactions.

Businesses get our help in working with municipalities as well as such state agencies as the South Carolina Jobs - Economic Development Authority. Financing packages can range from several million dollars to many hundreds of millions of dollars. And, given our in-depth understanding of state law and extensive contacts at every level of government, we can often develop innovative financing approaches that secure incentives tailored to our clients’ unique development needs.

We have been particularly effective at developing incentive vehicles that combine financing from multiple public and private sources. In one major package we integrated municipal, county and private financing to facilitate the construction of a downtown convention center / hotel development. Other examples include an incentive package that we developed to help two municipalities create a development corridor between them, a public-private partnership formed to create incentives for redeveloping a blighted urban area, and innovative multi-entity incentives for the development of a public-private recreation complex.

How we Get Things Done
McNair played the lead role in an economic development financing innovation that resulted, for the first time in South Carolina history, in using industrial development incentives to help finance a non-industrial commercial project. Our initial client was the developer of a factory outlet village in Cherokee County, but we have since used this innovative approach to help finance at least six other projects. We effectively convinced state officials to pursue this approach by showing that state law did not prohibit it, even though it had never been tried before. Such outside-the-box thinking is a hallmark of our economic development practice.