Public Finance
Public Finance Lawyers in Central Florida
Watson Sloane attorneys are adept at tackling the ever-increasing complexity of tax-exempt financing for issuers, underwriters, lenders and borrowers. Our lawyers have served as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, underwriter’s counsel, issuer’s counsel, lender’s counsel and trustee’s counsel in virtually every area of both tax-exempt and taxable public finance across the state of Florida. We represent school districts, colleges and universities, hospitals and health and senior care institutions, nonprofit organizations, investment banks and underwriters and state and local government and authorities in a full range of bond transactions.
Our attorneys deal with many different public finance debt structures, including general obligation, revenue, variable rate and special assessment bonds, private placements, public offerings, commercial paper and tax increment financing. We also assist clients with various credit enhancement and synthetic financing techniques, including bond insurance, liquidity facilities, letters of credit, interest rate swaps and forward purchase agreements.
Our public finance team also assists issuers, underwriters and other obligated persons in complying with S.E.C. Rule 15c2-12, which requires issuers of most bonds, or certain other “obligated persons,” to agree in writing, at the time the bonds are issued, to provide continuing disclosure to the marketplace for the life of the bond issue. We are also available and qualified to provide ongoing advice on continuing disclosure compliance.
Our public finance attorneys in Orlando and Tampa participate in the negotiation of financial covenants, including those with respect to meeting fund raising targets, establishing rates at particular levels and maintaining certain asset levels while maintaining awareness of the tax issues raised by certain covenants. Our attorneys address the tax issues raised by contracts for the management of certain areas of a project by a for-profit entity and leasing of space in the project to other unrelated not-for-profit or for-profit entities. Our team also works diligently to allocate institution equity to those portions of a project most likely to be used by for-profit entities.
Our team is made up of creative problem solvers with a wide range of experience in related areas of law, such as corporate, secured transactions, real estate, securities and tax. Public finance transactions require navigation of a unique mix of specialized tax, securities and governmental law provisions, oftentimes with the additional pressure of political and media scrutiny. We utilize our combined experience and skills to focus attention and efforts on those aspects of a transaction that are truly important to our clients, while streamlining the various stages of a financing and minimizing delays or ineffective tactics by other transaction participants. Our attorneys have been recognized as The Best Lawyers in America and Florida Legal Elite, and our goal is to make progress in achieving the needs and objectives of our clients. Whatever the need may be, we have attorneys with the experience necessary to handle it. Contact us today!