Meet Mac

Mac McLean has been a Certified Tax Specialist for over 30 years. He works primarily in the areas of estate planning, corporate tax planning and retirement program planning.

Financial institutions and trust departments call on Mac for help in dealing with the proper handling of estates and trusts and in probate court actions to construe the provisions of trust documents.

In estate planning, he advises large and small estates on tax and probate opportunities that can minimize tax and probate costs, including life insurance trusts, family partnerships and charitable lead and remainder trusts.

In business tax planning, Mac advises clients in asset sales, acquisitive transactions and corporate reorganizations. He has guided a successful management buyout of a multi-million-dollar company engaged in software development for the healthcare market. He has extensive experience in representing businesses and lenders in transactions and financing involving new markets tax credits and other tax credits.

Mac has considerable experience with regard to all forms of nonprofit organizations and the issues they face. 

In the retirement planning area, Mac advises clients with respect to requirements of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Labor and particularly the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). He has assisted clients in addressing and solving their contribution-testing issues, including participation in voluntary correction programs and handling retirement plan issues arising from mergers and acquisitions.

He has significant experience in structuring retirement plans for governmental bodies, including plans that provide specific groups of employees with the ability to make contributions in excess of regular deferral limits.

• New York University, LL.M. in taxation, 1989
• University of South Carolina, J.D., 1988
• University of South Carolina Honors College, B.S., cum laude, 1985

• South Carolina, 1988
• U.S. District Court, South Carolina, 1994
• U.S. Tax Court, 1993

• The Best Lawyers in America© Litigation - ERISA (2011-2025), Litigation - Trusts and Estates (2011-2025), Employee Benefits Law (2010) and Trusts and Estates (2010)
• Best Lawyers® 2020 Litigation – ERISA “Lawyer of the Year” Greenville
• Best Lawyers® 2019 Litigation – Trusts and Estates “Lawyer of the Year” Greenville
• Best Lawyers® 2018 Litigation - ERISA “Lawyer of the Year” Greenville
• Best Lawyers® 2015 Litigation - ERISA “Lawyer of the Year” Greenville
• Greenville Business Magazine “Legal Elite of the Upstate” Bankruptcy and Creditor Rights Law (2021-2022), Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions (2020), Estate and Trust Law - Planning (2022-2024) and Tax and Estate Planning Law (2018-2023)
• National Outstanding Eagle Scout Award 2021
• The President’s Volunteer Service Award, Lifetime Achievement Award 2013
• Boy Scouts of America Blue Ridge Council Silver Antelope Award 2002

• Upcountry History Museum, Board of Directors (ex-officio, 2007-Present)
• Rotary Club of Pleasantburg, President (2021-2022)
• Boy Scouts of America Blue Ridge Council, Board of Directors (1993-Present), President (2018, 2019)
• Boy Scouts of America National Council, Area President (2015-2017)
• Greenville Literacy Association, Board of Directors (2010-2014)
• Greenville County Library System, Board of Trustees (1996-2000, Vice Chair 1997-2000)
• South Carolina Bar

• “New law provides for the ability to place a ‘Transfer on Death’ designation on titled personal property,” HSB Blog, October 22, 2024
• “Can employers face liability when a cyber-attacker steals funds from an employee’s individual 401(k) account?” HSB Blog, October 18, 2023
• “HSB Employment Law Webinar: What does the SECURE Act 2.0 mean for employers and retirement plan compliance?” April 20, 2023
• “The SECURE Act 2.0 Makes Major Changes to Retirement Plan Law,” HSB Blog, March 14, 2023
• “Key Legal Areas for Family Businesses” (Panelist), Anderson University’s Family Enterprise Institute, October 20, 2022
• “Updates to IRS Correction Principles for Qualified Plans,” HSB Blog, July 27, 2021
• “Correction Programs of the IRS and DOL For Employee Benefit Plans,” HSB 2021 Employment Law Webinar Series, March 25, 2021
• “How Do We Have a Board of Directors Meeting During COVID-19?,” HSB Blog, April 24, 2020
• “Estate Planning Documents and Other End of Life Issues,” Rolling Green Village, Greenville, SC, October 2 and October 30, 2019
• “Legal 101 – Good Governance Policies,” Together SC Nonprofit Summit, Greenville, SC, March 12, 2019
• "Demystifying I.R.C. Section 199A," HSB 2018 Corporate Law for Accountants Seminar Series
• “Evaluating and Filing Estate Claims,” The Woodlands at Furman, Greenville, SC, June 15, 2018
• "Crafting the Historic Tax Credit Deal," ULI South Carolina Panel Discussion, Charleston, SC, April 21, 2017