Hometown Team

It wasn’t part of a plan. Nobody really saw it coming. But when all four attorneys in the Greenville, South Carolina, City Attorney’s Office are Furman University alums, every day is like homecoming.

“It just happened organically,” says City Attorney Leigh Paoletti ’96.  

“What you have is just this really amazing place to live and raise families … a place where people can see themselves staying,” she adds. “And Furman students want to stay. And that creates a job pool that’s rich in Furman graduates. I think that’s just what’s happened.” 

Logan Wells ’06. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

Wells was the first 

Assistant City Attorney Logan Wells ’06 was the first to join the office in 2016.  

A history and political science major, she decided while at Furman to go to law school. 

After graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law, she entered private practice with Collins & Lacy, working mostly on civil defense litigation involving insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. 

She loves what she does in her current post. 

“There’s a lot of variety,” Wells says. “What I do every day is different and I really enjoy that.” 

She also enjoys being able to see the fruits of her labor. 

“I can look around the city and see things I’ve been involved in,” Wells says. “I did a lot of work on the Unity Park development and seeing that come to fruition has been very exciting.”

Leigh Paoletti ’96. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

Enter Paoletti 

Leigh Paoletti ’96, who’s been with the city for five years, was next. 

With two attorneys in her family, she says she always wanted to be a lawyer. She attended the Mercer University School of Law shortly after meeting her husband, who is from Aiken, South Carolina. They married in 2000, after Paoletti graduated, and eventually had two children, now in middle and high school.  

After law school, Paoletti spent a short time in private practice doing civil work and clerking for a judge. 

Then, after working in the 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office for 15 years prosecuting violent crime, she became the Greenville city prosecutor handling mainly misdemeanors like simple assault. 

Three years later, the Greenville City Council recruited Paoletti to the city attorney position. 

Her work includes advising city staff on issues involving human resources and employment, land use and development, management and maintenance of city property, city contracts and provision of municipal services, such as public works, parks and recreation and business licensing.  

She also advises the Greenville Police Department on a variety of matters, including public safety work, internal affairs investigations and evidence management.

Eva Bateman ’06. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

A remote start for Bateman 

Next to join the team was Assistant City Attorney Eva Bateman ’06 in 2020. 

Growing up in Greenville, “Furman was the only place” she wanted to go to college. Initially a business administration major who was pre-med, her life took “a complete 180” after a business law class her junior year. 

“It opened my eyes to see there was a type of legal practice that wasn’t what you typically thought of,” says Bateman. “I never had the desire to be a litigator.” 

After graduating from the University of Richmond School of Law, she wanted to work in Greenville. At the time, her husband, now also a lawyer in Greenville, was stationed at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. 

Bateman spent about 10 years in private practice with Nelson Mullins focusing on corporate securities and mergers and acquisitions. 

But one day, Wells, whom she’d known at Furman, encouraged her to apply to the city. 

“I’m our contracts attorney,” says Bateman, “and it’s a good fit professionally and personally.” 

The contracts are for everything from construction and other professional services to software for city departments, equipment for first responders and a host of other needs. 

Because of the pandemic, Bateman spent her first year working remotely, meeting most of her colleagues virtually, and returning to the office in early 2021 before having a third child that year. Bateman also enjoys seeing her work have real-life impact, from new playground equipment in the city’s historic and special-emphasis neighborhoods, to developments, such as the new public safety complex at Halton Road, which is set to open in the fall of 2024. 

“We have a great group, both in the City Attorney’s Office and in the larger city,” she says.

Mike Spinelli ’08. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

And finally, Spinelli 

The newbie of the team is Assistant City Attorney Mike Spinelli ’08, who joined in 2022.  

As part of a military family, Spinelli moved around a lot as a child, but spent his teens in Columbia at Ridgeview High School, where he learned about Furman. And after a visit, he and his best friend decided to apply. 

Spinelli majored in psychology and planned to pursue it in graduate school. He met his wife, Anne Bean ’08, who was also a psychology major. But after graduation, he took a year off to mull over his options and chose law school instead, even though it was a new path for his family.  

Spinelli then attended the University of Maryland School of Law. With their respective families in Columbia and Atlanta, they decided to settle in Greenville in 2013, thinking it was a good place to start a family. They now have four children. 

Spinelli was working at a real estate law firm when he was contacted about the job by another Furman graduate, private practice attorney Sam Tooker ’06, who knew Paoletti was looking to hire another person in the City Attorney’s Office and recommended him for the job. 

He wasn’t looking for a change, but the opportunity appealed to him. “It was not subject to market fluctuations in real estate, and I was kind of ready for a change,” he says. 

Spinelli, whose focus is on real estate, gets the first look at property issues and works closely with the planning and engineering departments on developments and projects such as the Legacy Park–Swamp Rabbit Trail Connector; land acquisitions for use as green space; easements for utilities; zoning appeals; and code enforcement. 

March Madness comes to City Hall 

All agree that having Furman graduates as colleagues is a special perk.

“We’re very proud we went there,” says Wells. “Working for the city where your alma mater is located also provides a connection.”  

They’ve joked about having a monopoly in the office.  

“We all have that common experience of being Paladins,” says Spinelli. “There’s a certain level of familiarity there that is nice, especially in a town dominated by Clemson grads.” 

The four also share an enthusiasm for Furman sports, which they share with their families. 

When, in 2023, the men’s basketball team was on its way to its first NCAA tournament victory since 1974, all four were pulling for them. 

“We get excited when Furman is in the news or our teams are doing well,” says Wells. “It’s fun when you’re rooting for the same team.”  

“We would sneak in a game here and there, and Logan and I were cheering very loudly,” Bateman says. “Some people were wondering what was going on upstairs.”