Leighton Lord, Neil Robinson Nominated to Founding Class of ULI South Carolina Center for Sustainable Leadership
September 26, 2007
Columbia, SC – Nexsen Pruet’s Leighton Lord and Neil Robinson have been nominated as founding class members of the Urban Land Institute South Carolina Center for Sustainable Leadership.
Lord is chairman of the board of Nexsen Pruet and Robinson is managing partner of the firm’s Charleston office and leads the firm’s Real Estate Practice group. The founding class will be comprised of 54 individuals, 18 each from the Upstate, Midlands, and Lowcountry.
The center is dedicated to creating “better places” in South Carolina. Members of the founding class will meet periodically over the course of a year to address community visioning and implementation issues, along with social, environmental, and economic issues pertaining to the state’s growth.
The program has been developed in alliance with ULI South Carolina, College of Charleston, Clemson University, Strom Thurmond Institute, University of South Carolina Institute for Public Service and Policy Research, S.C. Mayors Institute for Community Design, Lowcountry Graduate Center, and the Citadel.
Lord practices in the areas of corporate, partnership and real estate law with special emphasis in real estate finance, real estate development, commercial leasing, and state land sale registrations. Prior to joining Nexsen Pruet, he clerked for the prestigious Delaware Chancery Court before practicing corporate litigation in Wilmington, Delaware. Additionally, he served for three years as staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Lord chairs the Midlands ULI Executive Committee and is a member of the organization’s state executive committee; serves on the executive committee of the Foundation for Columbia’s Future; and is a contributing author of “Protecting the Land: Conservation Easements Past, Present and Future.” He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and his law degree from Vanderbilt University.
Robinson has extensive practice experience including complex real estate transactions; administrative law, including permitting, zoning and land sales registrations; community association and condominium law; and commercial and resort real estate development. He was named to the 2007 edition of Best Lawyers in America for real estate, and was one of just three attorneys in South Carolina listed in Who’s Who Legal: USA – Real Estate 2006.
In addition, he is president of the Coastal Properties Institute and the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition; a founding trustee of the Clemson Real Estate Development Foundation; and a member of ULI’s Recreation Development Council. He earned his undergraduate degree from Clemson and his law degree from the USC School of Law.
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is a nonprofit research and education organization supported by its members. Established in 1936, ULI today has over 36,000 members in 90 countries, with over 375 members in the South Carolina District Council. As the pre-eminent, multidisciplinary real estate forum, ULI facilitates the open exchange of ideas, information and experience among industry professionals and policy makers dedicated to creating better places.
Nexsen Pruet, LLC is one of the largest law firms in the Carolinas, with more than 170 attorneys and offices in Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, Hilton Head, and Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C. Founded in 1945, Nexsen Pruet provides a broad range of legal services to the business community and represents companies and other entities in local, state, national, and international venues. For further information, see www.nexsenpruet.com.
