Serena Nowell

Serena L. Nowell is a seasoned and accomplished attorney with over 30 years of diverse legal experience. She serves as Of Counsel to The Starkey Law Group on local government matters. Serena also maintains her own law practice focusing specifically on economic development and public finance matters for local governments. During the first ten years of her career, she was an entertainment attorney, representing creatives and business clients in the music industry.

Serena completely shifted her practice focus and went to work in the City of Atlanta Law Department for ten years. She successfully defended the city in numerous Section 1983, employment discrimination and sexual harassment actions. Midway through her tenure in the Law Department, she was promoted to the senior management position of Deputy City Attorney for the Commercial Transactions Group. In that position, she managed legal service delivery by a team of attorneys and support staff members. She also served as legal counsel on matters requiring senior-level attention in the areas of public finance, economic development and budget and fiscal policy.

In addition to being a skilled advocate and counselor, Serena is a highly respected municipal finance professional. She has served as issuer’s counsel, bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter’s counsel in a wide variety of municipal finance transactions with a total value of more than $7B.

Serena has worked on some of the most iconic economic development projects in the State of Georgia, including the Beltline tax allocation district. In her role as issuer’s counsel, she established and implemented internal processes to evaluate and improve compliance with primary and secondary disclosure obligations under applicable federal securities laws. She is also experienced in advising clients regarding their continuing disclosure obligations on post issuance compliance matters.

Serena is a member of the State Bar of Georgia. She previously served on the editorial board of the ABA’s highly regarded Human Rights Magazine, as Vice Chair of the ABA Public Finance Committee of the State and Local Government Law Section, as a member of the Steering Committee for the National Association of Bond Lawyers’ (“NABL”) annual Bond Attorneys Workshop, a faculty member for the annual Fundamentals of Bond Law Seminar and as Chair of the Diversity Committee. 

Serena is a native New Yorker, a proud graduate of Howard University School of Law, and Boston University. Her greatest joy is derived from spending quality time with her close circle of family and friends.