Milton S. Wakschlag

Milton S. Wakschlag has practiced as a municipal bond tax lawyer for over 30 years. He concentrates his practice primarily in the areas of public-private partnerships, IRS audits and examinations, sustainable and clean energy finance, financial derivatives, workouts, arbitrage rebate and the tax-exempt financing of health care facilities, airports, affordable housing, assisted living, public power, sports facilities, public infrastructure, economic development projects, waste disposal facilities and working capital for charitable organizations.

Mr. Wakschlag has served as: chairman of the Tax-Exempt Financing Committee of the American Bar Association (Tax Section); a member of the Steering Committee of the Bond Attorneys’ Workshop (National Association of Bond Lawyers); a principal faculty member for "Understanding and Calculating Arbitrage Rebate," a national training seminar sponsored by the Government Finance Officers Association; co-chair of The Bond Buyer’s Ninth Annual Midwest Public Finance Conference; and chairman of "Stadium Development," a national conference sponsored by the Center for Business Intelligence. Mr. Wakschlag has also spoken on municipal finance topics for conferences sponsored by American Public Power Association, The Bond Buyer, Center for Business Intelligence, Council for Urban Economic Development, Georgetown University Law Center, Government Finance Officers Association, Grant’s Municipal Finance, Information Management Network, National Association of Bond Lawyers, National Association of Health and Educational Facilities Financing Authorities, National Council of Development Finance Agencies, National Council of State Housing Agencies, U.S. Conference on Municipal Reinvestment, and numerous governmental bodies and banking firms.

Mr. Wakschlag is the author of "Handle with Care: Tax-Exempt Bonds for New Sports Arenas" (Infrastructure Finance, September 1997), "Has the TEFRA Public Approval Requirement Outlived Its Usefulness?" (The Exempt Organization Tax Review, August 1996), "The Use of Tax-Exempt Financing for Stadium Construction" (Infrastructure Finance, February/March 1996; reprinted in The Exempt Organization Tax Review, March 1996), and "Important Developments During the Year—Tax Exempt Financing" (The Tax Lawyer, Summer, 1990 - 1997), and was the "ABA Mentor" for Note, "Application of Religiously Restrictive Secular-Use Provisions in Tax-Exempt Revenue Bond Financing" (The Tax Lawyer, Spring 2003). He is acknowledged in “Tax-Exempt Bonds and Municipal Telecom Facilities: A Modest Proposal (or Two),” Journal of Municipal Telecommunications Policy (Winter 2006), The Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds, Fifth Edition (2001) and The Stadium Game, Second Edition (2001), and has been featured in numerous articles on tax matters appearing in International Financing Review, The Bond Buyer, Modern Healthcare, The Exempt Organization Tax Review, Project Finance, American City and County, Grant’s Municipal Finance, Engineering News-Record, Bloomberg.com, Reuters and Tax Notes.

Mr. Wakschlag has repeatedly been named to the Super Lawyers and Leading Lawyers lists for Illinois, and included in Marquis Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in the Midwest and Who’s Who in America. The Public Finance Practice at Katten, of which Mr. Wakschlag is the senior tax partner, has been named a Chicago Tier 1 Practice in the U.S. News-Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” rankings. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

Mr. Wakschlag serves as the Chicago chair of the firm's Pro Bono Committee and was the first partner recipient of the firm's annual Pro Bono Service Award. He is a founder of Keshet, a parent organization for persons with disabilities, was a recipient of its "Guardian of Hope" award, and is a member of the Leadership Steering Committee for the Supported Community Living Initiative that it co-sponsors. He is acknowledged in Roth, Chaya, “The Fate of Holocaust Memories: Transmission and Family Dialogues.”

Mr. Wakschlag received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and his LL.M. in Taxation from DePaul University. He is admitted to practice in Illinois.