NCBA Tax Section Recognizes Herman Spence
The Tax Section of the North Carolina Bar Association recently presented the Lifetime Achievement and Service Award to Herman Spence III of Robinson Bradshaw in Charlotte. The award was presented during the Tax Section’s 25th Annual Workshop on May 24 in Kiawah Island, S.C.
The award recognizes attorneys who have demonstrated outstanding professional work and exemplary reputation in tax matters and have provided extraordinary service to the section, the legal profession and the public in endeavors relating to the field of tax law and the mission and activities of the section.
Spence is the third recipient of this award, preceded by Richard E. Thigpen Jr. (2024) and C. Wells Hall III (2023). Reed Hollander, section chair, presented the award.
Herman Spence, right, accepts award from Reed Hollander.
“The award was a surprise,” said Spence. “I very much appreciate (law partner) Curtis Strubinger’s nomination of me and kind comments.”
“The breadth and depth of Herman’s tax knowledge is incomparable,” Strubinger stated in nominating his mentor. “To be clear, I mean that word quite literally. I have not met a single human being who understands a field of knowledge better than Herman understands tax law. His practice has ranged over mergers and acquisitions, private fund formation, complex partnership tax matters, solar energy investment funds, executive compensation, nonprofit tax, tax-exempt bonds, family partnerships, real estate tax, and financial instrument taxation.
“But Herman is not a generalist whose knowledge runs a mile wide but an inch deep—rather, his expertise in each area is on par with tax lawyers at national firms whose practice area only includes one of those niches. Herman serves our entire firm tirelessly and provides support to every attorney with tax needs.”
The nomination, Strubinger concluded, was more than just an acknowledgement of Spence’s contributions to the firm and the legal community.
“As impressive as his career has been,” Strubinger writes, “the real reason I am nominating Herman is a personal one. When I clerked at Robinson Bradshaw after my 2L summer, I was not sure if I was cut out to practice law at Robinson Bradshaw. Herman’s mentorship, training, and patient guidance have been invaluable for my legal career and, more importantly, he is a model for me as a husband and father while I raise my two young children.
“When my son had a medical procedure that kept me out of work for a few days, it was Herman who showed up at my door with lunch and kind words. If I am lucky enough to practice law for 35 more years, I hope to make one-tenth of Herman’s impact.”
Spence is a 1979 honors graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma. He graduated in 1982 with high honors from UNC School of Law, where he was a John Motley Morehead Law Fellow, inducted into Order of the Coif, and served as articles editor for the North Carolina Law Review.
Spence joined Robinson Bradshaw in 1983 and serves as chair of the firm’s Tax Group. He is a past chair of the Mecklenburg County Bar Tax Section, a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, and serves as communications chair for the NCBA Tax Section.
“Knowing tax practitioners around the state is both helpful to my practice and personally gratifying,” Spence said of his involvement in the NCBA Tax Section. “In most of our firm’s transactions, we deal with attorneys in other states. I do not have as much contact with local attorneys as in years past.
“Participating in Tax Section events, especially the workshops and annual meeting in Kiawah, help me stay in touch with NC tax attorneys. It is helpful to know the attorneys representing the other party in a transaction and to know attorneys who are involved in significant North Carolina tax matters. That was certainly the case several years ago when numerous attorneys who are active in the Tax Section were involved in litigation regarding North Carolina renewable energy credits.”
Russell Rawlings is director of external affairs and communications for the North Carolina Bar Association.