{"id":34592,"date":"2024-11-04T10:31:13","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T15:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=34592"},"modified":"2024-11-14T15:23:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T20:23:54","slug":"hometown-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/hometown-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Hometown Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn\u2019t part of a plan. Nobody really saw it coming. But when all four attorneys in the Greenville, South Carolina, City Attorney\u2019s Office are Furman University alums, every day is like homecoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just happened organically,\u201d says City Attorney Leigh Paoletti \u201996.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you have is just this really amazing place to live and raise families \u2026 a place where people can see themselves staying,\u201d she adds. <\/span>\u201cAnd Furman students want to stay. And that creates a job pool that\u2019s rich in Furman graduates. I think that\u2019s just what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Logan Wells \u201906. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wells was the first<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant City Attorney Logan Wells \u201906 was the first to join the office in 2016.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A history and political science major, she decided while at Furman to go to law school.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She loves what she does in her current post.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of variety,\u201d Wells says. \u201cWhat I do every day is different and I really enjoy that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She also enjoys being able to see the fruits of her labor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can look around the city and see things I\u2019ve been involved in,\u201d Wells says. \u201cI did a lot of work on the Unity Park development and seeing that come to fruition has been very exciting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Leigh Paoletti \u201996. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Enter Paoletti<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leigh Paoletti \u201996, who\u2019s been with the city for five years, was next.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After law school, Paoletti spent a short time in private practice doing civil work and clerking for a judge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, after working in the 13th Circuit Solicitor\u2019s Office for 15 years prosecuting violent crime, she became the Greenville city prosecutor handling mainly misdemeanors like simple assault.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Three years later, the Greenville City Council recruited Paoletti to the city attorney position.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She also advises the Greenville Police Department on a variety of matters, including public safety work, internal affairs investigations and evidence management.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Eva Bateman \u201906. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

A remote start for Bateman<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next to join the team was Assistant City Attorney Eva Bateman \u201906 <\/span>in 2020.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up in Greenville, \u201cFurman was the only place\u201d she wanted to go to college. Initially a business administration major who was pre-med, her life took \u201ca complete 180\u201d after a business law class her junior year.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt opened my eyes to see there was a type of legal practice that wasn\u2019t what you typically thought of,\u201d says Bateman. \u201cI never had the desire to be a litigator.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bateman spent about 10 years in private practice with Nelson Mullins focusing on corporate securities and mergers and acquisitions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But one day, Wells, whom she\u2019d known at Furman, encouraged her to apply to the city.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m our contracts attorney,\u201d says Bateman, \u201cand it\u2019s a good fit professionally and personally.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/span> work have real-life impact, from new playground equipment in the city\u2019s 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great group, both in the City Attorney\u2019s Office and in the larger city,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Mike Spinelli \u201908. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

And finally, Spinelli<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The newbie of the team is Assistant City Attorney Mike Spinelli \u201908, who joined in 2022.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spinelli majored in psychology and planned to pursue it in graduate school. He met his wife, Anne Bean \u201908, 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.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201906, who knew Paoletti was looking to hire another person in the City Attorney\u2019s Office and recommended him for the job.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t looking for a change, but the opportunity appealed to him. \u201cIt was not subject to market fluctuations in real estate, and I was kind of ready for a change,\u201d he says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2013Swamp Rabbit Trail Connector; land acquisitions for use as green space; easements for utilities; zoning appeals; and code enforcement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

March Madness comes to City Hall<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All agree that having Furman graduates as colleagues is a special perk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very proud we went there,\u201d says Wells. \u201cWorking for the city where your alma mater is located also provides a connection.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019ve joked about having a monopoly in the office.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have that common experience of being Paladins,\u201d says Spinelli. \u201cThere\u2019s a certain level of familiarity there that is nice, especially in a town dominated by Clemson grads.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The four also share an enthusiasm for Furman sports, which they share with their families.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When, in 2023, the men\u2019s basketball team was on its way to its first NCAA tournament victory since 1974, all four were pulling for them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe get excited when Furman is in the news or our teams are doing well,\u201d says Wells. \u201cIt\u2019s fun when you\u2019re rooting for <\/span>the same team.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would sneak in a game here and there, and Logan and I were cheering very loudly,\u201d Bateman says. \u201cSome people were wondering what was going on upstairs.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greenville\u2019s City Attorneys all pull for the Paladins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":295,"featured_media":34526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3055,3056,1963],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2024","category-features-fall-2024","category-furman-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34592"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35259,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34592\/revisions\/35259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}