Joshua J. Butera
Senior Counsel

Contact Information

Phone

561-362-2030

Fax

401-824-5123

Email

jbutera@pldolaw.com

Biography/Practice Areas

Joshua J. Butera is Senior Counsel with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC and a member of the Corporate & Business Law, Municipal Law and Cannabis Law Teams. He concentrates his practice assisting clients in the areas of corporate and transactional law, mergers and acquisitions, commercial real estate and lending, administrative and regulatory law, contract law and other general private and public sector issues. He is a skilled legal researcher and writer and has assisted in the representation of small businesses, middle market companies, individuals, non-profit and private organizations, and public agencies on numerous legal matters. He regularly provides clients with business advice, from start-up, through strategic growth and finally exiting the market.

For his professional excellence, Attorney Butera has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® as a Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch® in the practice area of Corporate Law.

Attorney Butera is a former Special Counsel in the Office of Governor Gina Raimondo, where he conducted legal research and analysis on a wide range of legislative issues and public policies. He drafted briefs before the Rhode Island Supreme Court and Superior Court and prepared FOIA responses and other memoranda. In this position, he also advised senior staff on legal matters and policies related to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and the Rhode Island Airport Corporation. Prior to his public service for the State of Rhode Island, he worked in the litigation department of an international law firm representing clients in numerous areas of the law including contract law, the Fair Housing Act, and the False Claims Act.

Attorney Butera earned his J.D. from Boston University School of Law, cum laude, and was the Managing Editor of the Boston University Law Review. He is a Melville M. Bigelow Scholarship awardee and a recipient of the G. Joseph Tauro Distinguished Scholar. While in law school, he served as a judicial intern for the Honorable John J. McConnell, Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island and in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. He graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Political Science. Attorney Butera is admitted to practice law in Florida, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and before the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.

 

Areas of Practice

  • Corporate & Business Law
  • Cannabis Law
  • Commercial Real Estate
  • Municipal Law
  • Public Policy Law

Bar Admissions

  • Florida
  • Rhode Island
  • Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court District of Massachusetts
  • U.S. District Court District of Rhode Island

Honors and Awards

  • Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch®

Education/Professional Associations

Education

  • Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
    • J.D. – 2015
    • Honors: cum laude
  • Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
    • B.A. – 2009
    • Study Abroad, London School of Economics, 2007-2008

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Florida Bar Association
  • Rhode Island Bar Association

Pro Bono Activities

  • Children’s Workshop Foundation, Board of Directors

Representative Matters

  • Represented a large manufacturing corporation in a complex M&A transaction that involved a multi-disciplinary team approach to successfully close on a ~$50MM acquisition.
  • Represented paving and construction contractor in $27 million equity sale.
  • Represented software company in $25 million equity sale.
  • Represented renewable energy company in $17 million purchase of real property for development into solar farm.
  • Acted as bond counsel to municipality for $2.8 million bond refunding.
  • Represented bank in purchase of $165 million grant anticipation bonds.