San Francisco
Prioritizing the importance of client relationships and formulating viable solutions tailored to each client’s unique strategic goals, Rich works extensively in the healthcare, energy prepay and public utilities and affordable housing housing sectors. He serves as the lead tax attorney on dozens of transactions each year. This substantial deal volume has given Rich experience with myriad complex and unique tax issues associated with such transactions and allows him to provide clients with practical guidance and market-tested advice.
Healthcare: Rich has focused on healthcare transactions for over two decades. Clients range from large systems such as Kaiser and Sutter to single-site hospitals. Deals include multibillion green bond deals to finance environmentally friendly improvements, complex acquisition financing deals, workout deals for financially distressed systems, smaller equipment financing deals, and everything between.
Energy Prepay and Public Utilities: Rich has served as tax counsel on many gas and electricity prepayment transactions for clients which include Black Belt Energy District and Southeast Energy Authority. Rich has worked with the Bonneville Power Administration and a California Electric Utility Company for over 20 years on a range of financing programs primarily aimed at financing and refinancing Bonneville’s nuclear generating resource and the California Electric Utility Company's generation, distribution, and transmission facilities. In addition, Rich has an extensive history working on deals for the San Diego County Water Authority and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
Affordable Housing: Rich focuses on the tax-exempt financing of all types of housing projects, including 100% affordable projects that combine tax-exempt bonds with low-income housing tax credits, workforce housing projects that cater to middle income tenants, and mixed income housing.
Aside from transactional work, Rich is also an advocate, representing governmental issuers, conduit borrowers, and investment banks in IRS and other regulatory proceedings, including tax-exempt bond audits, voluntary closing agreement program (VCAP) requests, and requests for private letter rulings. Rich has successfully closed IRS examinations relating to multifamily housing, healthcare, solid waste, and arbitrage matters. He has been involved in numerous regulatory and legislative projects and has found that a strong working relationship with IRS and Treasury Department personnel facilitates obtaining good results.
Rich served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL) from 2011 to 2021 and, in 2019-20, was President of NABL. Rich has written and lectured extensively on the tax aspects of public finance transactions, having served as editor of the Federal Taxation of Municipal Bonds Deskbook, chaired the National Association of Bond Lawyers Bond Attorneys Workshop, and served on several other panels at industry seminars and roundtables. Rich became a fellow of the American College of Bond Counsel in 2018.