Butler Snow offers a comprehensive and diverse public finance practice ranging from all forms of state and municipal bonds and obligations to the full complement of techniques available to finance governmental, healthcare, industrial/economic development, public-private partnerships, exempt facilities, utilities, public and private educational institutions, housing and other developments. With 17 attorneys practicing full-time in our Public Finance and Incentives Group, Butler Snow has one of the largest and most successful public finance practices in the Southeast. Butler Snow is consistently rated among the top bond counsel firms in Mississippi and the nation by The Bond Buyer.
From our offices in Memphis, Tenn., Baton Rouge and New Orleans, La., and Ridgeland and Gulfport, Miss., our bond attorneys have served clients in bond issues totaling over $19.5 billion in the last few years.
Our attorneys have served state and local governmental entities, financial institutions, 501(c)(3) nonprofit institutions and other public finance participants in a myriad of public financing matters. The Butler Snow team prides itself on how we couple our public finance expertise with our commitment to coordinated utilization of all resources of the Firm to best serve our clients’ needs. This synergy helps us understand clients’ needs more thoroughly, and deliver targeted legal services that more effectively support those needs.
Our regional presence in public finance continues to grow beyond our historical Mississippi base with the on-going expansion of our public finance practice in Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana.
In Mississippi, the Butler Snow Public Finance and Incentives Group has served as bond counsel to over two-thirds of the counties and numerous cities, school districts, utility districts and economic development districts. Additionally, this group has served as bond counsel to the State of Mississippi, the Mississippi Hospital Equipment and Facilities Authority, the Mississippi Home Corporation, the Mississippi Development Bank and the Mississippi Business Finance Corporation, the latter of which serves as the primary issuer of private activity bonds in the state.
In Georgia the experience of our attorneys includes serving as bond counsel, issuer’s disclosure counsel and underwriter’s counsel for state and local governmental entities, including the State of Georgia, the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority, the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, Cobb County, Ga., the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority, the Atlanta Development Authority, Clayton County Development Authority, other local government development authorities, downtown development authorities, recreation authorities, housing authorities and hospital authorities, as well as representing other financing participants ranging from 501(c)(3) entities to housing developers to corporate trustees.
In Tennessee the firm has served as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and special tax counsel for cities, counties, school districts, utility districts and industrial development boards across the state. We have also represented public finance clients in post-issuance compliance matters involving arbitrage rebate, Internal Revenue Service dispute resolution, development of tax compliance policies and development of public debt management policies. We routinely advise underwriters and financial advisors in Tennessee regarding public finance matters.
In Louisiana our attorneys have served as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel for various local governmental subdivisions across the state. We have also represented public finance clients in matters involving higher education financings, creation of tax-exempt entities and corporate trust matters.
Butler Snow routinely serves as underwriter’s counsel to many of the largest national and regional investment banking firms involved in public finance transactions.
In addition to our traditional public finance practice, the group works closely with the firm's tax credit, banking, commercial lending, taxation, real estate, governmental affairs, bankruptcy, environmental and other practice groups on private project financing, letters of credit transactions, state and local tax incentives and abatements and other financing and transactional related matters, including refundings, restructurings and default workouts.
Areas of expertise within our Public Finance and Incentives practice include the following:
For additional information on Public Finance and Incentives, please contact John F. England.