Butler Snow LLP

Public Finance, Tax Incentives & Credit Markets - Assistant Practice Group Leader

Blake Sharpton is the Assistant Practice Group Leader for Butler Snow’s Public Finance, Tax Incentives and Credit Markets Group. He focuses his practice on public finance, commercial lending and debt financing, and mergers and acquisitions. He represents school districts, cities, counties, development authorities, educational institutions, and underwriters across Georgia and other states. Blake has extensive experience serving as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, bank counsel, borrower’s counsel and underwriter’s counsel on a wide variety of tax-exempt and taxable bond transactions. Blake focuses primarily on traditional municipal finance projects such as new educational and general municipal facilities. Blake also routinely works on economic impact projects and transactions such as sports stadiums, entertainment venues, multi-use developments, multi-family housing developments, retail developments, hotels, and airports.

On an annual basis, Blake is involved in millions of dollars of public finance transactions. Known for creativity and an efficient approach, Blake’s clients appreciate practical advice that leads to a desired outcome involving new school buildings, athletic facilities, equipment financings, sports stadiums, entertainment venues, downtown revitalization projects, hotels, housing, general local governmental infrastructure, healthcare facilities, student housing, student activity, water and wastewater facilities

Complementary to his core practice, Blake is also able to provide his clients guidance on liquidity facilities, election law matters, open meetings and open records act issues, construction issues, and municipal and school law issues.

Blake also represents banks and other financial institutions in connection with direct purchases of tax-exempt bonds in connection with tax-exempt transactions.

He obtained his J.D. from Mercer University and is admitted to the Georgia State Bar, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the Supreme Court for the State of Georgia.