Henry Bowden is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and received his B.A. with Honors from the University of Virginia in 1971 and his J.D. with Distinction from Emory University Law School in 1974. Henry earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa and the Order of the Coif during his college and law school careers; he was also elected Articles Editor of the Emory Law Journal. After law school, he clerked on the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, for the Honorable Griffin B. Bell, before beginning the practice of law in 1975. His areas of concentration throughout his career have included estate planning and administration, charitable gift planning, and the representation of tax-exempt organizations. In June of 1995, Henry founded The Bowden Law Firm, the predecessor to The Bowden Spratt Law Firm founded in 2009.
Henry was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel in 1986, and served as State Chair of the College in Georgia for five years. He served as chair of the Fiduciary Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia in 1990-91, and as President of the Atlanta Estate Planning Council in 1995-96. From 1982-87, he was an adjunct professor at Emory Law School, teaching estate and gift taxation in the Masters in Taxation program there. He currently serves as a Trustee of the Georgia Federal Tax Conference, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Henry has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1991.
Henry is currently a Trustee of Emory University and of the Georgia United Methodist Foundation, Inc. He has previously served as President of the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers, as Chairman of the Board of the Atlanta Ballet, Inc., as Chairman of the Board of Historic Oakland Foundation, Inc., as a Trustee of the Westminster Schools, and as a member of the Board of Managers of the University of Virginia Alumni Association. Henry is a lifelong member of Northside United Methodist Church, where he teaches Sunday School.
Emory University awarded Henry the 2009 "Emory Medal," the highest non-degree honor bestowed by the University on one of its alumni. Henry was also honored by Emory Law School in 2005 as an "Outstanding Law Alumnus," and by the Georgia Planned Giving Council in 2006, receiving its "Greater Good Award" for his work as a professional advisor on charitable giving techniques.
Henry is married to the former Jeanne Johnson from Wilmington, North Carolina, also an attorney with BSLF. He and Jeanne have two children, Caroline B. Stockdale, a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Henry L. Bowden III, a graduate of Emory University and Emory University Law School.
