Susan M. Smythe Principal

Phone: (843) 720-4608  |  Fax: (843) 723-7398  |  Email: ssmythe@buistmoore.com

Practice Areas
Business and Banking
Environmental
Health and Administrative Law
Real Estate

Susan M. Smythe is a transactional lawyer who has had a diverse and complex practice. She has acquired extensive experience in her thirty plus years of practice in the areas of real estate, mergers and acquisitions, finance, franchise law, captive insurance and business entities. Ms. Smythe is the head of the firm’s business department.

Her real estate experience includes representation of large mixed use and resort developments, negotiation of development agreements and other entitlements,  and transactions involving the sale and purchase of hotels, office buildings, resorts, golf courses, marinas and other commercial properties. She was the principal drafter of the South Carolina Local Government Development Agreement Act, Section 6-31-10 et seq. Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976 as amended.

Ms. Smythe has done extensive work with conservation easements in connection with land protection, mitigation and innovative development, representing large acreage owners, developers, land trusts and other charitable organizations. Her mergers and acquisitions work includes the sale of a wide range of businesses from industrial plants, medical facilities, and various specialized businesses. She has experience with economic incentives, including fee in lieu agreements and job tax credits. In the corporate areas, Ms. Smythe has negotiated and drafted complex shareholder, member or partner arrangements and negotiating  entity owner disputes and dissolutions.

Representative Matters:

•	Representation of developers of Daniel Island, Carnes Crossroads and Poplar Grove developments, each large mixed use developments, including negotiation of development agreements and other entitlements
•	Representation of a brownfield mixed use developer, including assistance with a development agreement and tax increment and municipal improvement financing
•	Several medical office building transactions with complex financing and/or ownership structures
•	Negotiation of an asset sale and then a stock sale of $30 million business with an equity rollover

Educational Background:

•	University of Virginia School of Law, 1976 - J.D.
	Order of the Coif
•	Brown University, 1972 - B.A.
	Phi Beta Kappa
•	Captive Insurance Certificate Program, 2004
•	Mediator Certification, 2004

Honors:

•	The Best Lawyers In America, Real Estate and Corporate Law, One of the First Women in South Carolina to be Listed
•	Chambers USA - Leaders in their Field, Listed in Real Estate and Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions
•	Martindale Hubbell Law Directory, AV rating
•	Super Lawyers: South Carolina 2008, Listed in Real Estate
•	Who's Who in American Law
•	Who's Who Legal USA - Real Estate, 2006

Bar Admissions:

•	South Carolina, 1977

Personal Information:

•	Married Henry B. Smythe, Jr. in 1970 and together raised three children