Manley, Richard A.

Richard A. Manley Jr.

Partner
RELATED SERVICES

Rick Manley, a member of the Firm's Executive Committee, serves as bond counsel to cities, towns, school districts and various special purpose districts in Massachusetts and throughout New England. His practice involves the issuance of taxable and tax-exempt debt to finance capital projects for local governments, including significant projects in the water, wastewater, airport and sports venue sectors. His work has also involved projects for distressed municipal credits and numerous regional school, water and wastewater systems.

Rick Manley, a member of the Firm's Executive Committee, serves as bond counsel to cities, towns, school districts and various special purpose districts in Massachusetts and throughout New England. His practice involves the issuance of taxable and tax-exempt debt to finance capital projects for local governments, including significant projects in the water, wastewater, airport and sports venue sectors. His work has also involved projects for distressed municipal credits and numerous regional school, water and wastewater systems.

Rick's practice also includes the representation of leading national and regional investment banks in connection with the underwriting of municipal debt.

Representative clients include the New Hampshire Municipal Bond Bank and the Cities of Brockton, Fall River, Lowell, Newton, Pittsfield and Worcester, Massachusetts.

Rick's representative experience includes:

  • Bond counsel to the City of Worcester, Massachusetts, in connection with the issuance of over $100 million taxable and tax-exempt general obligation bonds for the construction of Polar Park, home of Minor League Baseball's Worcester Red Sox, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, formerly the Pawtucket Red Sox
  • Bond counsel to the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts, in connection with the issuance of $111.2 million general obligation water bonds to purchase the assets of the Hingham Water Company. The transaction resulted in the Town's ownership of a privately owned water system that had provided water to the Town since 1879
  • Bond Counsel to the City of Nashua, New Hampshire, in connection with the issuance of $150.6 million general obligation Pennichuck Corporation Acquisition Bonds. With this issue, the City purchased the outstanding publicly traded shares of the Pennichuck Water Company, which had operated the water system in the City for many years. With the completion of this transaction, the City became the sole shareholder of Pennichuck
  • Bond counsel to the City of Manchester, New Hampshire, for the development of its first general airport revenue bond resolution for Manchester Airport, a department of the City. In connection with this issue, the City created a new capital structure for the Airport and at the same time, through special legislation, realized substantial savings by execution of a forward swap to permit the synthetic fixed rate refunding of previously issued airport bonds
  • Bond counsel to the City of Manchester, New Hampshire, for the development of a stand alone revenue bond structure for the Manchester Water Works, a department of the City. The City's objective was to spin off the water department, making it fully self-supporting, thereby, discontinuing the practice of issuing general City general obligation debt for water system capital improvements
  • Special counsel to the City of Manchester, New Hampshire, in the development of the Verizon Center, an 8,000 seat sports and entertainment venue, and also with respect to the development of the City's 4,000 seat minor league baseball stadium
RELATED NEWS & EVENTS
CREDENTIALS
Education
  • J.D.,

    cum laude

    , Suffolk University Law School, 1990
  • B.A., Government, Distinction in Major, Colby College, 1983
Bar Admissions
  • Massachusetts, 1990
Professional Affiliations
    • Member, National Association of Bond Lawyers
    • Fellow, American College of Bond Counsel
Awards & Recognitions
    • Recognized, Top 10 Massachusetts Public Finance Lawyer, Business Today (2023)
    • Named, The Best Lawyers in America®, Public Finance Law (2006-2024)
    • Named, Chambers USA, Public Finance Law (2015-2023)
    • Named, Boston Public Finance Lawyer of the Year, The Best Lawyers in America® (2015)
Professional History
    • Partner, Locke Lord LLP
    • Partner, Ropes & Gray LLP, with responsibility for the city, town and special district bond counsel practice
    • Executive Director, Massachusetts Legislature's Special Commission on Local Aid
    • Financial Adviser to local governments with a major Boston bank
    • Research Associate, Boston Municipal Research Bureau