Meet Josh

Licensed in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, Josh Spencer’s practice focuses primarily on utility, construction and business/commercial litigation. An experienced litigator and trial attorney, Josh handles cases for a diverse group of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd clients in both federal and state courts as well as in arbitration and administrative hearings.

His utility practice focuses upon the representation of regulated utilities and their contractors in commercial contract, condemnation, construction defect, construction payment, encroachment, nuclear, property damage, rate, reservoir, and tort liability cases, including defense of claims for personal injury and wrongful death.

His construction practice involves all phases of the construction process, including the drafting and review of custom and industry form construction contracts, in-project advice and counsel and representation of owners, contractors, design professionals and subcontractors in contract, payment and construction defect disputes.

Josh litigates a range of business and commercial cases, including contract, commercial lease, unfair trade practices, minority shareholder oppression, trade secret, negligent misrepresentation, supplier and dealer disputes, tortious interference and corporate governance disputes. He has extensive experience managing complex litigation involving dozens of witnesses, numerous experts and intense electronic discovery requiring management of hundreds of thousands of documents.

EXPERIENCE

• •  Representation of an owner in construction defect and payment cases involving nuclear facilities and equipment
• •  Representation of a contractor in its seven figure claim against the owner of an environmental remediation project that involved dozens of witnesses around the country and hundreds of thousands of electronic documents
• •  Defense of regulated utility and contractor clients in multiple wrongful death and serious personal injury cases involving electric transmission and distribution lines, including those involving burns and serious electrical injuries, often with application of the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC), the National Electrical Code (NEC) and/or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards involved
• •  Federal court jury trial of a business dispute involving allegations of tortious interference and unfair trade practices
• •  State court jury trial representing a grading contractor against a county and its engineer that involved the contractor’s claims for costs associated with delay and idle equipment
• •  Representation of an owner in an eight figure arbitration claim against its engineer for negligent design of highly specialized process equipment at several of the owner’s facilities throughout North Carolina

• University of South Carolina, J.D., 2006
• University of South Carolina, B.A., magna cum laude, 2003

• Georgia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• U.S. Court of Appeals, First, Fourth and Eleventh Circuits
• U.S. District Court, Middle and Northern Districts of Georgia
• U.S. District Court, Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of North Carolina
• U.S. District Court, South Carolina

• The Best Lawyers in America© Litigation – Construction (2021-2025)
• South Carolina Super Lawyers® “Rising Stars” Construction Litigation (2012-2021). South Carolina Super Lawyers is published by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology can be found here.
• Greenville Business Magazine “Legal Elite of the Upstate” Construction Law (2022) and Energy and Utilities Law (2020-2024)
• South Carolina Law Review

• American Bar Association, Construction Forum
• Greenville County Bar
• South Carolina Bar, Construction Law Section Delegate (2016-2017), immediate past Chair (2015-2016), Chair (2014-2015), Chair-Elect (2013-2014), Secretary (2012-2013)
• South Carolina Board of Pyrotechnic Safety, Board Member (2014-Present), Vice Chair (2020-Present)
• A husband and father, Josh and his wife have two children. They have served as host parents to Brazilian, Italian, Danish and Portuguese foreign exchange students through AFS and have provided a home to foster children in Greenville County. A former member of the South Carolina Army National Guard and former JAG officer in the South Carolina State Guard, Josh served a three-year term on the Board of Directors of Senior Action. Active in his church, Josh has served as a Deacon, Sunday Morning Pre-School Director and AWANA leader.

• “Quick Takes on Quick Takes,” International Right of Way Association ITC Symposium, Hilton Head Island, SC, March 31, 2023
• “A Primer on Gas and Electric Eminent Domain Rights & Condemnation Procedures,” Client CLE Seminar, Charlotte, NC, February 25, 2020
• "The Big Catch: Navigating South Carolina’s Recreational Use Statute," South Carolina Lawyer, November 2015
• South Carolina Construction Law Deskbook, Contributing Author, 2013
• "You Can't Rob Peter to Pay Paul," South Carolina Lawyer, September 2012
• "Caveat Venditor: South Carolina's Implied Warranties and Tort Liability in Residential Construction," South Carolina Lawyer, March 2011
• "The Effect of Warranty and Repair Work on Mechanic's Lien Rights under South Carolina Law," News & Notes (SC Bar Construction Law Section Newsletter), Summer 2010
• "Should I Let Him Come Back?: The Effect of Warranty and Repair Work on Mechanic's Lien Rights," South Carolina Lawyer, January 2009
• "Hearing Those Who Pay the Bills: A Comparison of the Federal and South Carolina Taxpayer Standing Models in Light of Sloan v. Sanford," South Carolina Law Review, 56 S.C. L. Rev. 675, Summer 2005