Katten maintains one of the preeminent public finance practices in the nation. Our public finance attorneys have served as bond counsel or underwriter's counsel with respect to several thousand bond issues throughout the United States. The Public Finance Practice consists of highly experienced attorneys who devote their full time to public finance.
We serve as bond counsel to state governments, state agencies and authorities, counties, cities, school and other special-purpose districts, nonprofit corporations and local authorities throughout the United States. Additionally, we serve as counsel to the leading national and regional investment banking firms in connection with the underwriting or remarketing of municipal securities, as well as to institutional lenders analyzing specific issues for possible long-term investment. We are also active in representing trustees, other fiduciaries and corporate borrowers of tax-exempt bond proceeds. Public Finance Practice attorneys also serve in the capacities of special tax counsel and counsel to banks or other financial institutions providing credit enhancement.
Derivatives and Financial Products
Our Public Finance Practice attorneys have been at the forefront in the development of new financing techniques in the public finance area, including derivative products (such as inverse floating rate securities and interest rate swaps), sales of redemption rights, forward purchase agreements and portfolio substitutions, mortgage pass-through certificates, collateralized mortgage bond programs, multi-mode put bond programs and split delivery transactions, as well as the implementation of credit enhancement devices (such as letters of credit, surety bonds, bond insurance and standby bond purchase agreements).
General Governmental and Public Utilities
The foundation of the Public Finance Practice is its service to municipalities, counties and other public entities as bond counsel. Our attorneys serve as bond counsel for numerous public entities throughout the United States, including Cook County, the City of Chicago, the Illinois Housing Development Authority, The Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, the Illinois Finance Authority, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Illinois, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, and numerous cities, counties and other public entities in the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
We are also leaders in the area of municipal utility revenue bond financing, serving as counsel to a number of governmentally owned electric power, gas and water and sewerage systems. These entities range from wholesale electric distribution and self-generation systems to large supplier multiple fuel source systems. The practice’s utility clients include large joint action agencies as well as municipal utilities.
The Public Finance Practice has worked with the City of Chicago on the renovation and improvement of Chicago-O’Hare International Airport, including the negotiation of new use agreements with all of the major airlines serving O’Hare, the adoption of a new General Airport Revenue Bond Ordinance and the issuance of nearly $2 billion in bonds.
Health Care and Cultural Institutions
The Public Finance Practice provides cutting-edge representation in the area of tax-exempt financing for health care and cultural facilities, serving as underwriter’s counsel, bond counsel, and special counsel to health care institutions, hospital systems, and nonprofit cultural institutions. We have also provided special tax counsel in a myriad of situations involving new structures and concepts.
Long-Term Care
The Public Finance Practice has long been active in the area of taxable and tax-exempt financing for long-term care facilities throughout the United States. Our representation of underwriters in this area has included extensive representation of Ziegler Securities and Cain Brothers with respect to billions of dollars of bonds issued to finance a broad array of long-term care facilities, including continuing care retirement communities from New Jersey to Hawaii. Our Public Finance Practice has also provided representation to retirement communities as they diversify their interest rate risk with various derivatives and other investment products.