Trace Blankenship

Partner, Corporate and Business Transactions Group @Spencer Fane LLP

Nashville, TN, US

Trace regularly advises entrepreneurial founders, CEOs, boards, and senior management of public and private companies on strategy and execution of mergers and acquisitions, capitalization at all stages, venture capital financings, securities offerings, leveraged buy-outs, company re-caps, and tough governance questions. His M&A and securities transaction experience is ordinarily concentrated in the mid- to higher middle-market, typically with deal values in the $25 million to $500 million range, but has also included transactions valued up to $1 billion. Over his 28+ year career, he has developed a particular expertise on issues involving founders, often working closely with founders and board members on strategic acquisitions or capital growth, crisis management, and major bet-the-company decisions. He\'s been called in as independent special counsel for boards and committees and often helps companies navigate difficult investor controversies, as well as founder and senior executive transitions, and disclosure questions. He frequently leads seminars for boards and CEOs on common-sense strategies for effective leadership through high-integrity governance. He has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America since 2014 for mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and nonprofit matters. He has also been selected in multiple years for the Nashville Business Journal\'s Best of the Bar for his expertise in mergers and acquisitions and banking and finance matters, most recently in 2024 (and in one of those years was the only lawyer selected in both categories).Trace joined Spencer Fane in October 2021 as a Partner in the firm\'s Corporate and Business Transactions Group when Bone McAllester Norton PLLC and the national law firm, Spencer Fane LLP, combined to become Spencer Fane Bone McAllester in Tennessee. He is also the firm\'s loss prevention partner in Tennessee and is a member of the firm-wide national professional responsibility committee.