Contacts
- 517-374-9146
- 517-374-9126
- 517-374-9124
Professionals
Related Practices
Overview
Dykema is recognized as a leading municipal bond firm. For decades we have represented state and local issuers of municipal bonds, as well as underwriters, purchasers, obligors, credit enhancers and trustees in all types of public finance bond and note transactions. Our experience encompasses tax-exempt and taxable issues, fixed-rate and variable-rate transactions, fixed‑maturity and commercial-paper issues, transactions involving derivative products, and publicly-sold and privately-negotiated issues.
Experience Matters
Each year we serve as bond counsel, note counsel, underwriter’s counsel, letter of credit bank counsel, or company counsel for many municipal bond transactions. In the last ten years, our team of public finance lawyers has worked on bond transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $35 billion. We are frequently requested to work on the most innovative and complex transactions. For example, we were primarily responsible for drafting the disclosure documents for the Michigan Finance Authority’s $2.9 billion Unemployment Obligation Assessment Revenue Bonds, which was named The Bond Buyer’s deal of the year in 2012. In 2014 and 2015, as bond counsel to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, we guided the Department through tender and refunding transactions in excess of $2.1 billion while the City of Detroit was under Bankruptcy Court supervision and then immediately following the City’s exit from bankruptcy. We also have served as bond counsel on over $3.0 billion of bonds issued by the Michigan State Building Authority over the last seven years to finance and re-finance the construction, renovation and equipping of state, university and community college buildings.
In addition to high profile transactions like the ones described above, the Firm regularly serves as bond counsel to a large number of counties, cities, villages, townships, schools and public authorities to finance such diverse local governmental projects as roads and streets, storm and sanitary sewer systems, wastewater treatment plants, water systems, public buildings (including jails, libraries and governmental office buildings of various kinds), public health care facilities and municipal equipment purchases (such as computers and police, fire, sanitation and other public vehicles), as well as cash flow borrowings.
Conduit, Health Care, Education and 501(c)(3) Bond Issues
Our involvement in private activity bond financings through governmental conduit issuers for qualified charitable, educational and cultural organizations (501(c)(3) organizations) and qualified industrial companies is extensive. We have experience with private activity bond financings for these types of transactions throughout the country and we have worked with all of the national underwriting firms.
Section 103 Expertise
Our Section 103 expertise is well recognized and our public finance clients seek our advice for not only structuring their bond issues, but also in connection with arbitrage calculations, post‑issuance tax compliance issues and closing agreements with the IRS. Gina Torielli leads our work in this area and is assisted by Matt Shell who is a CPA and previously worked for one of the “Big Four” accounting firms.
Municipal Bond Disclosure Expertise
Clients often seek our services with respect to complex disclosure issues associated with their bond issues. We have assisted clients in structuring enhanced due diligence protocols, we have drafted first of their kind disclosure documents and we regularly interface with municipal finance regulators at the SEC, the MSRB, the IRS and Treasury.
Troubled Municipal Credits
Our public finance lawyers have extensive experience in dealing with troubled municipal credits. We worked on a number of bond issues in connection with the City of Detroit’s widely publicized bankruptcy, including serving as bond counsel to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department in connection with a series of tender transactions and bond offerings in excess of $2.1 billion. These transactions allowed the bondholders and the City to reach a compromise acceptable to the bondholders, the bond insurers, the City and the Bankruptcy Court, instead of litigating the proposal from the Emergency Manager to treat the outstanding revenue bonds as unsecured obligations of the debtor. Additionally, we have been bond counsel on transactions that have provided cash flow relief to governmental issuers, we have assisted clients with purchasing bonds at a discount to reduce outstanding debt, and we have assisted clients in restructuring interest rate swap agreements and failed auction rate bond products.
Thought Leadership
Our lawyers have been active in providing nationwide thought leadership on a wide variety of public finance issues. Ann Fillingham has served as Chair of the National Association of Bond Lawyers Bond Attorneys’ Workshop and currently serves as an officer of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Gina Torielli is the author of the “Interest on State and Local Bonds” chapter of Merten’s Law of Federal Income Taxation, one of the most‑used legal treatises on federal income tax matters in the country. She also published “Opining On The 501(c)(3) Tax-Free Bond Transaction: Avoiding Common Borrower’s Counsel Misconceptions,” 31 William Mitchell Law Review 147. Other Dykema lawyers have been panel leaders at the Bond Attorneys' Workshop and have been speakers on various public finance topics.
Representative Transactions
For a printable copy of our Public Finance Representative Transactions, click here.
Principal Amount | Issuer | Title of Issue | Dykema’s Role |
$311,530,000 | City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority | Tax Increment Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2018A and 2018B (Catalyst Development Project) | Bond Counsel |
$5,350,000 | City of Ann Arbor | 2018 Capital Improvement Bonds, Series A | Bond Counsel |
$2,000,000 | Genoa-Oceola Sewer and Water Authority | Sewer System Improvement Revenue Bonds, Series 2018 | Bond Counsel |
$120,000,000 | Michigan State Housing Development Authority | Single-Family Mortgage Revenue Bonds, 2018 Series A | Bond Counsel |
$3,165,000 | Montcalm Community College | Community College Facilities Bonds, Series 2017 | Bond Counsel |
$124,500,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Revenue Bonds (City of Detroit Transportation Project) Series 2017A | Purchaser’s Counsel |
$119,575,000 | State of Michigan | General Environmental Program and Refunding Bonds, Series 2017A and 2017B | Bond Counsel |
$379,340,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | State Aid Revenue Notes, Series 2017A | Note Counsel |
$376,955,000 | Michigan State Housing Development Authority | Single-Family Mortgage Revenue Bonds, 2016 Series B and 2016 Series C | Bond Counsel |
$129,085,000 | State of Michigan | General Obligation Environmental Program Refunding Bonds, Series 2016A (Taxable) | Underwriters’ Counsel |
$82,240,000 | State of Michigan | General Obligation Environmental Program Bonds, Series 2016A (Tax-Exempt) | Disclosure Counsel |
$126,665,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Local Government Loan Program Revenue Bonds, Series 2015D (Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Water Supply System Revenue Refunding Local Project Bonds) | Bond Counsel to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department |
$197,660,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Local Government Loan Program Revenue Bonds, Series 2015C (Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Sewage Disposal System Revenue Refunding Second Lien Local Project Bonds) | Bond Counsel to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department |
$989,340,000 | Michigan State Building Authority | 2015 Revenue and Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series I (Facilities Program) | Bond Counsel |
$263,555,000 | County of Macomb | Retirees Health Care Bonds, Series 2015 (General Obligation Limited Tax) (Federally Taxable) | Underwriters’ Counsel |
$295,350,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Local Government Loan Program Revenue Bonds, Series H (Detroit Regional Convention Facilities Authority Local Project Bonds) | Bond Counsel to Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority |
$275,000,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Local Government Loan Program Revenue Bonds, Series 2014F (City of Detroit Financial Recovery Income Tax Revenue and Refunding Local Project Bonds) | Underwriters’ Counsel |
$935,860,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Local Government Loan Program Revenue Bonds, Series 2014C (Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Sewage Disposal System Revenue and Revenue Refunding Local Project Bonds) | Bond Counsel to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department |
$854,850,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Local Government Loan Program Revenue Bonds, Series 2014D (Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Water Supply System Revenue Refunding Local Project Bonds) | Bond Counsel to Detroit Water and Sewerage Department |
$265,085,000 | State of Michigan | State Trunk Line Fund Refunding Bonds, Series 2014 | Underwriters’ Counsel |
$292,000,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Student Loan Bond Anticipation Refunding Notes, Series 24-A | Bond Counsel |
$184,960,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Loan Government Loan Program Revenue Bonds, Series 2014B (Public Lighting Authority Local Project Bonds) | Underwriters’ Counsel |
$556,200,000 | Michigan Finance Authority | Student Loan Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 23-A | Bond Counsel |
$83,380,270 | Chicago Transit Authority | 2008 Capital Lease (Buses) Refunding, Series 2013 | Bank Counsel |
$583,000,000 | Michigan State Building Authority | 2013 Revenue and Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series I-A and Series I-B (Facilities Program) | Bond Counsel |
News
- November 5, 2019
- July 19, 2019
- June 7, 2018
- March 3, 2017
- August 17, 2015
- July 23, 2013
- October 22, 2012
- September 12, 2012
Press Releases
- November 5, 2020
- August 20, 2020
- June 16, 2020
- February 5, 2020
- November 1, 2019
- August 22, 2019
- August 15, 2019
- January 8, 2019
- December 21, 2018
- November 1, 2018
- September 7, 2018
- August 15, 2018
- November 1, 2017
- August 15, 2017
- December 8, 2016
- November 14, 2016
- November 1, 2016
- August 15, 2016
- November 2, 2015
- August 18, 2015
- May 19, 2015
- April 23, 2015
- January 7, 2015
- November 20, 2014
- November 3, 2014
- December 27, 2012
- May 23, 2012
Publications
- "Detroit and the Bankruptcy Education of a Bond Lawyer"The Bond Lawyer2015
- "Municipal Bankruptcy: A Guide for Public Finance Attorneys (3rd Edition)" (Co-Author)National Association of Bond Lawyers2015
- "General Obligation Bonds: State Law, Bankruptcy and Disclosure Considerations"National Association of Bond Lawyers2014
- "Michigan Municipal Law"The Institute of Continuing Legal Education2012
- "Interest on State and Local Bonds," Chapter 8Mertens, The Law of Federal Income Taxation2007
- "Opining on the 501(c)(3) Tax-Free Bond Transaction: Avoiding Common Borrower's Counsel Misconceptions"31 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 1472004
Events & Speaking Engagements
- Statutory Liens in the Municipal Market, audio conferenceJuly 20, 2015
- Distressed Municipalities: The Battle Outside of Bankruptcy, Turnaround Management Association Spring Conference, Detroit, MichiganApril 2015
- Municipal Bankruptcy and the Anatomy of a Defaulted Lease, 2013 AGLF/ELFA Public Sector Finance ForumMay 9, 2013
- Sources of Local Financing, Michigan Association of Municipal Attorneys Local Government Attorney AcademyMarch 20, 2013
- When a Bond Deal Goes Bad: Defaults, Remedies and Workouts in Municipal Finance, National Association of Bond Lawyers 11th Annual Tax & Securities Law InstituteMarch 2011, 2013
- Economic Crisis-Driven Transactions: Tools for Dealing with Financially Distressed Issues and Bond Transactions, National Association of Bond Lawyers 2010, 2011, 2012 Bond Attorneys' Workshop
- Anatomy of a Defaulted Deal, National Association of Bond Lawyers 2012 Bond Attorneys' WorkshopOctober 2012
- June 5, 2012 (Los Angeles-area)
- May 23, 2012 (Detroit) and May 24, 2012 (Chicago)
- Economic Crisis-Driven Transactions: Defaults Workouts and Bankruptcy Issues in Public Finance, National Association of Bond Lawyers 2011 Bond Attorneys' WorkshopOctober 2011
- When a Bond Deal Goes Bad: Defaults, Remedies and Workouts in Municipal Finance, National Association of Bond Lawyers 9th Annual Tax & Securities Law InstituteMarch 2011
- Defaults, Workouts and Bankruptcy Issues in Public Finance, National Association of Bond Lawyers 2010 Bond Attorneys' WorkshopOctober 2010
- Financial Management Issues for Drain Commissioners in Uncertain Economic Times, Michigan Association of County Drain Commissioners' Southwest District Spring Meeting, Marshall, MIApril 2010
- Build America Bonds, National Association of Bond Lawyers 2009 Bond Attorneys' WorkshopOctober 2009
- The Realities of the Credit Markets, The Center for Charter Schools Central Michigan University Back to School 2009: Transforming Public EducationSeptember 2009
- P3s-Other Constituents and Considerations, Inaugural Michigan P3 SummitSeptember 2008
- Government and Tribal Obligations, National Association of Bond Lawyers 2008 Bond Attorneys' WorkshopSeptember 17, 2008
- Effective Financing Strategies, Charter School Board Leadership Summit 2008May 2008
- Avoiding Legal Trouble in Charter School Finance, 10th Annual Michigan Charter Public School ConferenceNovember 2007
- Government and Tribal Obligations, National Association of Bond Lawyers 2007 Bond Attorneys' WorkshopSeptember 2007
- State Policy—Changing the Way Schools are Financed Locally, Illinois Facilities Fund Financing the Future: Meeting the Needs of Charter SchoolsFebruary 2007
Articles & Alerts
- March 27, 2020
- January 31, 2017
- September 8, 2016
- July 12, 2016
- March 9, 2016
- February 17, 2016
- March 10, 2015