Preetha Gist Partner, Restructuring, Banking & Finance
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Banks and other capital market financial service providers, particularly those active in the structured finance markets, face a challenging and ever-changing regulatory environment. Preetha has deep structured/bankruptcy and bank regulatory experience. She is recognized and highly regarded in the industry as a true sale/non-consolidation lawyer and participates in industry-wide efforts to respond to regulatory changes in that area. Preetha also has highly valued knowledge in regulatory financial accounting issues, which affect the structuring of structured transactions.
Preetha is active in the Structured Finance Association and currently serves as the co-chair of the Structured Finance Association's Derivatives in Securitization Task Force. She regularly participates in industry advocacy efforts partnering with in-house government relations departments to educate and advise lawmakers on the real-world impacts of proposed legislative initiatives. She is also a thought leader and speaks frequently on regulatory issues relevant to the securitization industry.
Prior to joining the firm, Preetha was a partner in Chapman and Cutler's Asset Securitization Department. Before that, Preetha served as a general counsel for Capital Markets at a U.S. bank and prior to that, as in-house counsel in other financial institutions, supporting debt capital markets, loan capital markets, asset securitization and derivatives business units. She began her career as an associate at Orrick.
Los Angeles
He regularly represents secured and unsecured creditors, purchasers of assets from bankruptcy estates, bondholders, secured lenders and creditor committees, including debtor-in-possession financings and Chapter 11 exit financings.
Before joining Orrick, Jeff practiced law for 23 years at the Los Angeles offices of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP, the last 17 years as a partner of the firm.
New York
He frequently serves as bond counsel to municipal issuers participating in the financing programs of the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation and the grant and loan programs of the Rural Development division of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Douglas' particular areas of New York municipal law interest include open spaces programs and financings, town and county improvement district formation, consolidation and improvement, innovative lease-purchase financings, bond resolution referendum law, village local improvement programs and the drafting of local laws and propositions, as well as state legislation on behalf of clients.
Douglas is a frequent speaker at municipal professional organizations on local finance law, federal securities law and federal tax matters affecting municipal debt issuance.
Austin
Bill’s experience in public finance includes representing issuers such as state agencies, local governments, public utilities, and public improvement districts on both general obligation and revenue financings, as well as representing the underwriters for various municipal bonds.
Prior to joining the firm, Bill served as in-house counsel at both the City of Austin and the Lower Colorado River Authority (Austin, Texas).
Washington, D.C.
He represents a variety of market participants, including sponsors, issuers and underwriters, in public and private offerings of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).
He joins Orrick from Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders in Washington, D.C. Prior to and during law school, James worked in the secondary market as a Performance Manager in the Credit Risk Management division at Freddie Mac, where he managed the performance of billions of dollars in MBS assets.
San Francisco
San Francisco
He represents issuers and underwriters of tax-exempt bonds to finance a variety of public facilities and programs, including water and power systems, airports, schools, rental housing loan programs and homeownership loan programs.
Stan has served as a lecturer and panelist on a variety of programs concerning state and local government debt issuance. He also served for ten years as one of the original members of the Technical Advisory Committee of the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission.
Stan also has a long history of involvement in the governance of nonprofit education, arts and other charitable organizations.
Orange County; Los Angeles
Orange County; Los Angeles
He is also a member of Orrick's Leasing Practice Group, Assessment/Mello-Roos Practice Group, and Revenue Practice Group. Don has extensive experience, as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter's counsel, in the financing techniques used by school and community college districts, cities and counties in California. His practice focuses on local governmental infrastructure financing, including general obligation bond financing, municipal lease financing, and land-secured financing, as well as tax and revenue anticipation note (TRAN), pension obligation and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) obligation financings. Don serves as the lead lawyer for the California School Boards Association's annual tax and revenue anticipation note pool.
Austin
Julie has served as bond counsel to various state agencies and local governmental entities, including, special districts, cities, counties and public facility corporations; as underwriter and bank counsel to financial institutions that underwrite and purchase tax-exempt and taxable governmental obligations; and as outside counsel to a public facility corporation that owns and operates a convention center hotel and to professional sports teams that lease bond financed sports venue facilities. Julie also has experience representing domestic banks that provide credit and liquidity facilities for tax-exempt financings. Prior to entering private law practice, Julie served as an assistant attorney general in the Public Finance Division of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Texas.
San Francisco
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.
Dusseldorf
Carsten advises on all sorts of German tax and accounting issues arising for industry clients, financial institutions and private equity funds. Mainly focusing on corporate and real estate transactions and restructurings. He also advises and represents clients with respect to tax field audits and in tax litigation against the fiscal administration and before German fiscal and civil courts. Prior to joining Orrick Carsten completed his legal traineeship in both national and international law firms.
San Francisco
Robyn regularly works with both established borrowers and first-time borrowers to assist with structuring and restructuring debt programs that encompass a wide variety of debt and derivative products. In 2015, Robyn led the team that represented a private fund in connection with financing the management transfer of a multi-hospital nonprofit healthcare system to a subsidiary of the private fund, including negotiations with existing creditors. The financing involved an innovative bond structure that balanced current and future committed liquidity needs and debt burden. Robyn is also continually recognized for her excellent and sound judgment with respect to disclosure issues, including the difficult disclosure decisions caused by financial pressures from healthcare reform, affiliation activities, pension liabilities, governmental inquiries and investigations, labor disputes and qualified audit opinions.
In 2013, Robyn was elected a Fellow of the American College of Bond Counsel. She is one of the founding members of the Northern California Chapter of Women in Public Finance and currently serves on its advisory board. As a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, Robyn has been a panelist on the Health Care Financing Panel at the annual conference in 2003, 2004 and 2006. She is also a member of the American Health Lawyers Association.
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.