Bill is a member of the Financial Industry Group and has been with the Firm since 1981. His practice is focused on sophisticated transactional matters in the areas of public finance, banking, corporate finance and project finance. He is the head of the public finance practice in the Philadelphia office of Reed Smith. He is the head of the public finance practice in the Philadelphia office and one of the firm's key attorneys representing financial institutions in connection with their SBIC investments.
Bill serves as bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, indenture trustee's counsel, counsel to the issuer or other corporate or nonprofit obligor, and counsel to the financial institution providing credit enhancement in all kinds of public finance transactions. He has worked on financings for states, state agencies, cities, counties, townships, school districts, institutions of higher education, private secondary schools, health care institutions, toll bridge authorities, turnpike authorities, water and sewer authorities, port authorities, transportation authorities, redevelopment authorities, student loan agencies and industrial development authorities. Bill has 40 years of experience in public finance law and has worked on over 600 public finance transactions in more than 20 different states involving in excess of $25 billion in aggregate principal amount of debt obligations. He also has a significant amount of experience in the areas of structured investment products and derivatives as utilized by issuers of tax-exempt securities.
Bill structured and documented, as bond counsel, the first variable rate demand bond financing for a college or university in the United States, and the first variable rate demand dedicated pool financing for health care institutions in the United States. He also handled the first tax-exempt financing for a private secondary school in Pennsylvania, the first bond issue by a mass transit authority in Pennsylvania repayable from dedicated mass transit fees and taxes, the first off-balance sheet tax-exempt financing of a student dormitory in Pennsylvania, and one of the first tax-exempt forward refunding transactions for a municipality in Pennsylvania. Bill has drafted state legislation concerning public finance, and served for more than 30 years as general counsel to the state authority that provides financial oversight for the City of Philadelphia.
In addition, Bill frequently represents commercial banks, investment banks and other financial institutions, as well as for-profit and nonprofit corporate borrowers and other private developers and issuers of debt, in many varieties of secured and unsecured commercial lending transactions, public and private debt offerings and project financings throughout the United States and sometimes abroad. He also represents several major banking institutions in connection with their equity investments in SBIC investment funds.
Bill has lectured at national and local seminars on banking, securities, tax, public finance, and legal ethics matters.
