INDUSTRIES & PRACTICES

industrious advice

Public Finance
WE HELP OUR CLIENTS DRIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT THROUGH KEY PUBLIC FINANCING PROJECTS ACROSS THE NATION.

Overview

Our public finance practice is nationally recognized for its outstanding expertise. For decades, we have helped state and municipal entities complete complex, sophisticated transactions, as well as more traditional general obligation financing. Our clients seek our legal advice to build schools, parks, community centers, streets, hospitals and nursing homes, multi-family housing, jails, wastewater and solid waste facilities, stadiums, utilities and many other facilities as well as to finance single-family mortgage loans and student loans.

Our attorneys serve clients as bond counsel, issuer’s counsel, underwriter’s and placement agent counsel, borrower’s counsel, special tax counsel, letter of credit bank counsel, and trustee’s counsel in connection with the issuance of tax-exempt and taxable bonds by state and municipal issuers for general government purposes or on behalf of 501(c)(3) and other borrowers. We also counsel issuers and conduit borrowers on compliance with arbitrage, rebate, spending, and use requirements, continuing disclosure, and IRS audits.

Our team approach to client representation ensures that clients’ needs are met in the most efficient and timely manner possible. Our public finance team collaborates with Dorsey lawyers in related areas, such as SEC investigations, tax, state and federal securities law compliance, land use and development finance, bond defaults and bond workouts. Many of our public finance lawyers practice in multiple related areas, such as legislative affairs, broker dealer compliance, tax, exempt organization law and Indian and gaming law.

Experience

Representative Clients
Dorsey has over 5,000 active large and small governmental, corporate, nonprofit and individual clients, which attests to the firm’s ability to respond to the legal needs of a large and diverse client base.

Tax-Exempt or Taxable Financings

  • 63-20 financing of public and quasi-public facilities
  • Bond insurance
  • Bonds for joint action municipal agencies
  • Bonds for pollution control, airport, solid waste disposal and dock and wharf facilities
  • Cash flow financings
  • Charter school financings
  • Current and advance refundings
  • Dormitory bonds and revenue bonds for colleges and universities
  • Energy bonds for governmental entities
  • General obligation/tax supported bonds
  • Hospital and health care revenue bonds
  • Improvement or assessment bonds for local improvements
  • Industrial development revenue bonds for manufacturing facilities and first-time farmers
  • Lease purchase financing for governmental entities
  • Letter of credit enhancement
  • Midwestern Tax Recovery Act
  • Notes and bonds for recreational facilities
  • Pooled financings
  • Private activity bonds
  • Public finance workouts/bankruptcies
  • Public-private partnerships
  • Rate swaps and other derivative products
  • Revenue bonds for colleges and universities
  • Revenue bonds for governmental entities
  • Revenue bonds for municipal utilities
  • Single family and multifamily housing issues
  • Stadium financings
  • Student loan revenue bonds
  • Tax and revenue anticipation bonds and notes
  • Tax credit bonds
  • Tax increment revenue bonds
  • Tax-exempt leases and installment sale contracts
  • Variable rate bonds

Accolades

2023 Lawyer of the Year Cristina Kuhn

US News Best Lawyers 2022 Leading Public Finance Law Firm

Leading National Bond Counsel 2020

US News Best Lawyers 2022 Leading Tax Law Firm

Best Law Firms-25 Nationally Ranked Dorsey Practices 2021

Chambers Leading Construction Practice 2021

BTI Client Service A-Team 2022

Contacts

Jennifer Hanson
Practice Group Co-Chair
John Danos
Practice Group Co-Chair

Industries & Practices

  • Lending Transactions
  • Nonprofit & Tax Exempt Organizations
  • Project Development & Finance
  • Public-Private Partnerships
  • Real Estate & Land Use
  • Tax