Practice Areas & Industries: Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Steady population growth and a marked increase in the pace of real estate development over the past decade have affected state and local governments across the country. They are increasingly challenged to meet public infrastructure needs, from airports and expressways to schools and other public projects. These governments face the challenges of financing and strategic planning, while limited resources add to the pressure of how funds are allocated.

At Greenberg Traurig, we don’t just advise our clients on immediate needs - we help them develop and implement long-term financial strategies. Our Public Finance Practice brings together an interdisciplinary team of attorneys from our Securities, Banking, Tax, Land Use, Creditors’ Rights Litigation and Real Estate Practices. We provide clients with legal services tailored to their particular public finance needs. Our attorneys have participated in a wide range of public projects and programs, including education, roads and bridges, transportation, community redevelopment, utilities, health care, single and multifamily housing, 501(c)(3) organizations, community development and industrial development.

The attorneys in our national practice group serve as bond, underwriter’s, issuer’s, borrower’s, special tax and disclosure counsel for all types of financings by public entities throughout the United States. Our clients include states, counties, municipalities, school districts and many different kinds of special purpose units of local government. We also serve as counsel to financial institutions acting as trustees, credit enhancers, liquidity providers and institutional purchasers. Our team is particularly well known for our single-family and multifamily housing finance work; we advise many residential real estate developers and lenders on tax-exempt financing. We also focus on public education and community development district financings, among other areas.

The Greenberg Traurig Public Finance Team has experience in structuring complex transactions and has attorneys who specifically focus on the tax aspects of municipal finance. This concentration also allows us to represent parties in dealing with the Internal Revenue Service Tax-Exempt Bond Office.

Finally, Greenberg Traurig is one of a small group of firms nationally focusing on secondary market tax-exempt bond transactions such as tender option bond programs, total rate of return swaps and other derivative transactions. We are often able to assist clients in achieving significant savings by using these structures. The Greenberg Traurig Public Finance Team is also able to draw on the experience, capabilities and resources of the firm’s national network of attorneys and governmental affairs professionals.

Services Available

Public Finance Legal Services

• General obligation and revenue bond financings
• Bond validation proceedings, including contested proceedings
• Work with community development districts and special tax districts
• Short-term financings through revenue, tax and grant anticipation notes
• Tax-exempt lease, lease-purchase and installment purchase financings
• Issuers’ presentations to ratings agencies
• Municipal liability insurance
• Public-private partnerships
• Interest rate swaps and other derivatives
• Multimodal financings
• Native American tribe financing
• Community redevelopment or tax increment financing

Project Experience

• Airports and seaports
• Capital equipment
• Correctional facilities
• Expressways, turnpikes, roads and bridges
• Hospitals and health care facilities
• Industrial development
• Pollution control
• Public infrastructure for community development
• Public safety
• Public transit
• Redevelopment projects
• Resource recovery
• Schools and universities
• Single-family and multifamily housing
• Sports, convention and entertainment facilities
• Student loans
• Utility and power projects
• Water management, sewer and solid waste projects
• 501(c)(3) organizations
• Native American tribes

Rankings

GT consistently ranks among the top bond, underwriter’s and disclosure counsel firms according to nation-wide and state-wide rankings compiled by The Bond Buyer, a nationally recognized municipal finance publication which is published by Thomson Financial, successor to Securities Data Company. The rankings are based on the aggregate dollar amount of publicly offered long term tax-exempt bond financings, and do not include short-term instruments, private or direct placements or remarketings. Set forth below are the Firm’s national and state rankings:

As bond counsel:

• No. 15 among the top U.S. bond counsel firms, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $5.7 billion of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 75 financings 
   
• No. 3 among the top bond counsel firms in Arizona, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $1.5 billion of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 31 issues 
   
• No. 27 among the top bond counsel firms in California, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $70.2 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in one issue 
   
• No. 8 among the top bond counsel firms in Colorado, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $174.1 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in one issue 
   
• No. 2 among the top bond counsel firms in Florida, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $3.1 billion of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 28 issues 
   
• No. 27 among the top bond counsel firms in Illinois, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $29.4 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in four issues 
   
• No. 6 among the top bond counsel firms in Massachusetts, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $89.8 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in three issues 
   
• No. 24 among the top bond counsel firms in Pennsylvania, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $96.7 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in one issue 
   
• No. 9 among the top bond counsel firms in Texas, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $659.2 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in five issues

As underwriter’s counsel:

• No. 11 among the top U.S. underwriter’s counsel, based upon our having served as underwriters’ counsel on $5.5 billion of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 106 financings 
   
• No. 1 among top underwriter’s counsel in Arizona, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $2.3 billion of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 59 issues 
   
• No. 32 among top underwriter’s counsel in California, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $40.3 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in one issue 
   
• No. 12 among top underwriter’s counsel in Colorado, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $145.2 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in six issues 
   
• No. 5 among the top underwriter’s counsel in Florida, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $826.2 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 13 issues 
   
• No. 26 among the top underwriter’s counsel in Georgia, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $0.7 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in one issue 
   
• No. 24 among the top underwriter’s counsel in Illinois, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $88.5 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in six issues 
   
• No. 8 among the top underwriter’s counsel in Massachusetts, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $365.3 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in two issues 
   
• No. 14 among the top underwriter’s counsel in Pennsylvania, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $249.2 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in four issues 
   
• No. 9 among the top underwriter’s counsel in Texas, based upon our having issued approving opinions on $764.9 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in four issues

As disclosure counsel:

• No. 10 among the top U.S. disclosure counsel, based upon our having issued disclosure opinions on $2 billion of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 22 issues 
   
• No. 3 among the top disclosure counsel in Arizona, based upon our having issued disclosure opinions on $10.5 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in one issue 
   
• No. 15 among the top disclosure counsel in Florida, based upon our having issued disclosure opinions on $199.3 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in 9 issues 
   
• No. 4 among the top disclosure counsel in Georgia, based upon our having issued disclosure opinions on $113.8 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in four issues 
   
• No. 2 among the top disclosure counsel in Massachusetts, based upon our having issued disclosure opinions on $1.2 billion of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in five issues 
   
• No. 4 among the top disclosure counsel in Texas, based upon our having issued disclosure opinions on $563.7 million of publicly offered, long-term tax-exempt bonds in three issues

In addition, GT’s U.S. offices are listed in the most recent edition of  The Bond Buyer’s Municipal Marketplace (also known as “The Redbook”).