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7813

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Tax

Charles C. Cardall Partner

San Francisco

He also has legal experience relating to both charter schools and the federal income tax classification of governmental and quasi-governmental entities. He has consulted on thousands of tax-exempt, build America and tax credit bond issues and has developed deep knowledge in almost every tax aspect of municipal finance. Private activity bonds for multifamily housing, solid waste, charter schools and independent schools are areas of particular focus in his practice, as are higher education, short-term and long-term working capital and the various forms of pooled financings. Chas also has advised numerous clients experiencing financial distress or bankruptcy in tax matters relating to their municipal bonds. Representative active clients include the State of California, the University of California, the Bay Area Toll Authority, and Charter School Capital.

As a legal and policy advocate, Chas represents both government and non-government clients in federal tax rulemaking matters and in IRS proceedings, including the various types of tax-exempt bond audits, voluntary compliance (VCAP) requests and requests for private letter rulings. He has successfully closed IRS examinations relating to solid waste, water and wastewater, working capital, healthcare, pooled, multifamily housing, and industrial development bond financings. He has obtained multiple private letter rulings and technical advice memoranda and has been integrally involved in numerous regulation and legislative projects. He has found that a close working relationship with IRS and Treasury Department personnel often is critical to obtaining good results for clients.

1125

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Tax

Richard Chirls Partner

New York

With more than 30 years of experience, Richard is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities, having broad experience with tax exempt financings and related transactions involving governmental and not-for-profit entities.  His skill and stature in the public finance community was recognized by the National Association of Bond Lawyers’ highest award for his career of distinguished service in public finance. 

Richard focuses on new products, including the development of new and creative financing techniques for governments, non-profits and investment bankers. He regularly works on transactions throughout the country.  However, in his home office in New York City, he leads the relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, serving as counsel on well over 100 transactions over a period of more than 20 years and has headed the tax work in connection with every financing of a cultural facility relating to museums and performing arts in New York City over this same period.  Richard has worked on the tax aspects of several of the largest and most complex public private partnership (P3) transactions in recent years.  He frequently acts as special tax counsel to issuers and underwriters of municipal finance issues.

Roger Davis Partner

San Francisco

Among the attributes that contributed to his Hall of Fame selection were:

  • Recognized and sought out for his ability to apply his unusually extensive and diverse experience to solve problems as they arise and develop new programs or financial structures, and for his expertise and judgment in securities laws and disclosure.
  • Dedicated to helping bring about projects and programs (whether sponsored by public entities, nonprofit corporations or for-profit enterprises) that provide a public benefit and make people’s lives better.
  • Having led the development of the housing and healthcare practices at Orrick, his recent focus has been on governmental transactions, all manner of non-profit corporations, public private partnerships (P3), portfolio sales, securitizations, energy and water efficiency programs, student, senior and workforce housing, pool programs, new financial structures and programs and applications of Public Finance Authority (created in Wisconsin to finance any type of project or program in any state or territory).
  • Some of those new financial structures and programs have included pension obligation bonds, variable rate lease financing, and, more recently, joint powers authority ownership structure (turning private activity projects or projects not generally eligible for tax-exempt financing into tax-exempt governmental purpose bonds; for example, for middle income workforce housing), and energy and other infrastructure as a service (P3, simplifying procurement, off balance sheet).
  • Responsibility for legislation crucial to the scope and operation of California public finance, including California Health Facility Financing Authority, California School Finance Authority, changes to joint power authority law that helped propel California Statewide Communities Development Authority and California Municipal Finance Authority into two of the most prolific issuers in the country, local agency refunding law, authorizations for swaps, investment agreements and other derivative products, creation of security interests, streamlining validation actions, and in several other states including Hawaii and creation of Public Finance Authority in Wisconsin.
  • Chair of Orrick’s Public finance department for several decades through 2020, during which he presided over the growth of the department from one office with 12 lawyers in San Francisco to 10 offices and over 100 lawyers and paralegals around the country, consistently ranked (for more than 2 decades now) as number one bond counsel and disclosure counsel, and within the top four underwriter counsel, for bonds issued by state and local governments throughout the United States. During this period, he also held a number of other leadership positions at Orrick, including several terms on its Executive Committee and on the Management Committee of Orrick’s wholly owned subsidiary, BLX Group, LLC (providing the public finance community with a variety of non-legal services).

In addition to his selection by The Bond Buyer for its Public Finance Hall of Fame, Roger is ranked Band 1 by Chambers, and as Acritas Star Lawyer by Acritas, as Dealmaker of the Year (twice) by American Lawyer, as “best,” “super,” “most honored,” “preeminent” or “lawyer of the year” by several other publications, and declared “the Bond King” in a cover article by California Lawyer.

740

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Public Finance

Brandon Dias Partner

Sacramento

California Local Government Finance. Brandon focuses on California local government financing structures including general fund lease revenue bonds and certificates of participation; pension obligation bonds; tax and revenue anticipation notes; mello-roos bonds, assessment district bonds and other land secured financing structures; redevelopment financing; water and wastewater revenue bonds; airport revenue bonds; and public power revenue bonds.

Tax-Exempt Healthcare Finance. Brandon also focuses on tax-exempt healthcare finance for 501(c)(3) organizations. His experience includes financings for standalone hospitals, hospital systems and continuing care retirement communities. He has served as bond counsel or underwriters' counsel on tax-exempt healthcare financings in various states throughout the nation.

740

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Tax
  • Corporate Tax
  • Public Finance Tax
  • Tax Advocacy
  • Finance
  • Structured Finance
  • Real Estate
  • Nonprofit Organizations
  • Residential Mortgage‐Backed Securities
  • International Tax
  • France
  • Derivatives
  • Charter School Finance
  • Asset‐Backed Securities
  • Banking & Finance
  • Fintech

Stephen Jackson Partner

Paris; New York

Steve is admitted in New York California, England and Wales, and Paris and his primary focus is on U.S. taxation of securitizations and re-securitizations, including collateralized debt and loan obligations, mortgage-backed securitizations, structured investment vehicles and other structured finance and financial markets transactions.

For over fifteen years, Steve has served as tax counsel to issuers and underwriters in numerous registered, agency and privately-placed CMBS and RMBS transactions (primary issuances and re-securitizations), involving performing loans and non-performing loans, as well as other mortgage-related asset classes, such as servicing advances and tax liens, and in securitizations involving other asset classes such as credit card and auto loan/lease receivables. Steve also provides tax advice in connection with whole loan purchase transactions, including leveraged and nonleveraged acquisitions, joint ventures involving mortgage assets and repo and warehouse financings for various asset classes. Steve also advises financial institutions on tax issues in connection with their role as servicer, trustee or securities administrator under various securitization programs, as well as with respect to FATCA.

Steve writes and lectures on finance and international related tax topics and also participates actively in the tax committee and other initiatives of the Structured Finance Association and other industry and bar-related organizations.

740

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Tax

Aviva M. Roth Senior Career Associate

Washington, D.C.

Aviva has experience in governmental and exempt facility bonds, including general governmental facilities, 501(c)(3) bonds, tobacco asset securitizations, capital funds financing, arbitrage and post-issuance compliance relating to private use issues.

Prior to joining Orrick, she was a docket attorney at the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel where she drafted regulations, notices and private letter rulings.


154550

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Tax
  • Public Finance

John Stanley Partner

San Francisco

In his municipal finance practice, John has served as bond counsel, special tax counsel and underwriter’s counsel for a variety of transactions, including particularly governmental, airport, and public power financings. John has represented issuers and borrowers before the Internal Revenue Service in connection with audits, private letter rulings, and requests pursuant to the voluntary closing agreement program (VCAP). 

John has worked with issuers to establish post-issuance compliance programs tailored to their specific financings, and also has significant experience with tax-exempt commercial paper programs for both governmental and exempt facilities.  John is a regular speaker at various conferences focused on public finance and tax, including conferences organized by the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the American Bar Association Tax Section, and the California Bond Buyer Conference.  John is serving as Chair of the National Association of Bond Lawyers' "The Institute" conference in 2024.  

740

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Tax
  • Structured Finance
  • Public Finance Tax
  • Corporate Tax

George Wolf Senior Counsel

San Francisco

George is also a long-time member of the Public Finance Tax Group, specializing in public power and health care, and is the leading national authority on municipal derivative products. He is principal tax advisor to several major municipal electric utilities and nonprofit healthcare organizations. He also has extensive experience in working with leading banks in creating new financial products, including secondary market synthetic instruments, contingent payment debt instruments, financing strategies for energy, as well as defending the taxation of financial transactions before taxing authorities.

George also has substantial experience defending the tax integrity of financing arrangements in particular as well as tax litigation in general.

740

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Public Finance
  • Restructuring
  • Public Power Financing
  • Derivatives

Neil Wolk Partner

New York

Neil has spent the bulk of his career working on both tax-exempt and taxable financings for public power clients including joint action agencies, municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives. He has had many roles in these financings including bond counsel, counsel to the underwriters and counsel to credit enhancers.

Over his career, Neil has worked on financings for joint action agencies and municipal utilities such as Gainesville (Florida) Regional Utilities, Intermountain Power Agency, JEA, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company, Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power), Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems and WPPI Energy. The transactions in which Neil has participated have included public offerings, private placements, system and project financings, tax-exempt and taxable financings, secured and unsecured debt, senior and subordinated debt, fixed rate and variable rate debt and derivatives and he has had extensive experience in drafting documents for all of these types of financings. In addition, he has considerable experience with all types of disclosure issues encountered by electric utilities.

Neil also has been involved in a number of transactions involving the acquisition of utility companies and/or utility properties.

Recently, Neil represented MEAG Power in the financing of its undivided ownership interest in the first new nuclear generating facilities constructed on U.S. soil in over 30 years, which involved both taxable and tax-exempt capital markets debt, along with U.S. Department of Energy-guaranteed debt, and which was selected by The Financial Times as one of the most Innovative Deals of 2011.

Before joining Orrick, Neil was a partner at Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon in New York.