Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP announced today that Michael Larsen has joined the firm as special counsel in its Public Finance Group, where he will focus on matters related to Section 103 of the Internal Revenue Code.  He will be resident in the Firm’s Charleston, South Carolina office.

Mr. Larsen is a tax attorney who represents state and local governments and underwriters in the issuance of municipal obligations.  He has advised clients on financings for educational institutions, hospitals, public utilities, convention centers, airports, and museums and other cultural institutions.  He has also represented clients in tax-exempt bond audits before the Internal Revenue Service.

“Our public finance work continues to grow in size and complexity,” said Don Ubell, practice group leader for the Parker Poe Public Finance Group.  “Michael’s background in counseling clients on the tax aspects of significant and sophisticated financings will be valuable to both public and private institutions.”

Mr. Larsen is one of 15 attorneys in the Public Finance Group of Parker Poe.  Co-Chair of the National Association of Bond Lawyers Auction Rate Securities Reissuance Task Force, Mr. Larsen is also the author of An Introduction to IRS Audits of Tax-Exempt Bonds and An Explanation of Clean Renewable Energy Bonds and a frequent speaker on the federal tax aspects of public finance practice.

Mr. Larsen joins Parker Poe from the Washington, D.C., office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, a 1,000-plus attorney law firm based in San Francisco.  He received his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from the University of Baltimore and his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University.  He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the State of New York.

Parker Poe serves as bond counsel for cities, counties, universities and health care institutions throughout the Carolinas and as counsel to banks and other financial institutions throughout the United States.

About Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP
Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP currently has more than 225 lawyers in offices across the Carolinas.  The Firm represents domestic and international clients in litigation and dispute, commercial, transactional and regulatory matters, including employment, environmental and government affairs.

Parker Poe provides counsel to a wide spectrum of public finance clients including cities, counties, school districts, colleges, hospitals, universities, governmental authorities, banks and underwriters engaged with financing public sector capital projects.  In South Carolina, Parker Poe was the first to implement county tax increment financing.  During the past two years in North Carolina, the firm helped secure more than $2 billion in financing for cities, counties and universities, and assisted in financing the state’s first light rail system and the future NASCAR Hall of Fame, as well as improvements for its two major airports and two flagship universities.