Isaac Yilma
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has added public finance attorney Isaac Yilma as a partner in its Atlanta office, strengthening the firm’s capabilities in infrastructure finance, economic development incentives, and data center-related transactions at a time of heightened activity across those sectors.
Yilma rejoins Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP after serving as a partner at McGuireWoods LLP. His return also marks a homecoming of sorts, as he previously worked with the firm’s public finance group from 2014 through 2021.
The move expands the firm’s bench in public finance and incentive-based development work, particularly in fast-growing areas such as digital infrastructure, commercial property assessed clean energy financing, and large-scale economic development projects. The firm said Yilma will work closely with its public-private partnerships, real estate, and government relations teams to further build its incentives and economic development practice.
Isaac Yilma’s practice spans tax-exempt and taxable financings involving local governments, airports, transportation systems, utilities, multifamily housing, and sports facilities. He has represented clients as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, issuer’s counsel, and disclosure counsel in both publicly offered and privately placed transactions.
His experience in data center incentives arrives as states and municipalities compete aggressively to attract hyperscale development projects tied to cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Law firms with specialized knowledge in economic incentives, tax structures, and public financing mechanisms have become increasingly important advisers in those negotiations.
Among Yilma’s notable work, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP highlighted his role advising private data center developers on discretionary incentive packages, as well as his representation of C-PACE capital providers financing projects in hospitality and manufacturing sectors.
He has also worked on several high-profile infrastructure and development transactions, including legal work tied to financing for a new National Football League stadium, a commercial paper program for a major municipal airport, and a $1.2 billion water and sewer refunding bond issue for a large municipality.
Other representations include affordable housing initiatives, multifamily housing revenue bond issuances, and refinancing work involving high-occupancy toll lanes on a major interstate highway.
Douglass Selby, co-chair of the firm’s public finance practice and managing partner of the Atlanta office, said Yilma’s incentives and economic development practice adds strategic depth to the firm’s national platform, particularly as demand grows for sophisticated financing and infrastructure counsel.
Atlanta has emerged as an increasingly active market for public finance, infrastructure investment, and economic development work, fueled by rapid population growth, transportation expansion, logistics activity, and surging demand for data center capacity across the Southeast. Legal practices tied to municipal finance and incentive structuring have similarly expanded as local governments pursue large-scale development and technology projects.
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s public finance group has operated for more than 50 years and advises issuers, underwriters, trustees, institutional investors, and nonprofit organizations on financing transactions nationwide. The firm also maintains a significant practice advising governments and private entities on economic incentives tied to job creation and business relocation efforts.
Isaac Yilma earned his undergraduate degree from University of Georgia and his law degree from University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served on the editorial board of the Connecticut Law Review.
