Tax: Public Finance

Locke Lord is well known in the United States for its skill in public finance by serving in all roles, including:

• Bond counsel
• Issuer counsel
• Underwriters’ counsel
• Bank counsel
• Borrower's counsel
• Trustee counsel

Additionally, we often serve as special tax counsel to issuers, borrowers, nonprofits, letter of credit and liquidity providers, bond trustees and other transaction participants. Financing areas in which the Firm has particular experience include:

• Traditional state and local government projects
• Single and multifamily housing
• Health care
• Mass transit projects
• Airports and seaports
• Public utilities
• Public and private secondary schools
• Public and private higher education facilities
• Economic development projects, including P3 projects
• Solid waste disposal, including recycling facilities
• Student loans

We also have significant experience in providing advice with respect to municipal derivatives for both primary and secondary markets, including interest rate swaps and related instruments. These include floating-to-fixed and fixed-to-floating interest rate swaps, swaptions, basis swaps, interest rate caps, collars and floors. We deal with many derivative products in primary market transactions involving original bond issues as well as secondary market securitization transactions involving the issuance of custodial receipts, tender option bonds and other synthetic securities.

Depending on our role, we regularly draft or review tax certificates and tax disclosure in offering documents, and we provide the federal and state tax-exemption opinion relating to traditional municipal debt, from general obligation bonds to tax, revenue, grant and bond anticipation notes as well as all types of conduit financings.

We also advise and represent clients who combine public finance with other federal and state subsidies, including new markets tax credits, renewable energy tax credits, historic tax credits and low-income housing tax credits.