Public Finance

Sutherland has an extensive traditional tax-exempt bond practice, representing a substantial number of issuers of general obligation, water and sewerage, airport, recreation, hospital and industrial development revenue bonds. During the past five years, the firm served as bond counsel in over 200 separate bond issues with an aggregate principal amount in excess of $5 billion.

In addition to extensive experience as bond counsel, Sutherland represents banks (as purchasers or credit enhancers) and securities underwriters in connection with tax-exempt bond issues. We have worked with, and for, most of the major national, regional and local banks, financial advisers and underwriters, including:

A.G. Edwards & Sons
Bank of America
BT Alex Brown Incorporated
Chemical Bank
Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.
First Union Securities Inc.
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Interstate/Johnson Lane Corporation
Jackson Securities
Merchant Capital, L.L.C.
Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc.
Merrill Lynch & Co.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
NationsBanc Capital Markets, Inc.
Salomon Smith Barney Inc.
Stephens, Inc.
SunTrust Equitable Securities
The Robinson-Humphrey Company, LLC
UBS PaineWebber Inc.
Wachovia Securities, Inc.
Ward and Associates

In addition to our work in Georgia, we have participated in various capacities in over 100 tax-exempt bond issues in the states of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Special Experience

According to The American Lawyer, Sutherland has one of the largest tax department of any firm in the country. The tax department includes a former Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (Randolph W. Thrower), a former Chief Counsel to the Internal Revenue Service (N. Jerold Cohen), four former Chairmen of the American Bar Association's Section of Taxation and the Chair-Elect of the ABA's Section of Taxation. N. Jerold Cohen is currently the Chair of the American College of Tax Counsel and the former Chair of the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council.
Sutherland's tax group has extensive experience representing exempt organizations of all types including colleges, universities, hospitals, foundations and others. The exempt organization practice includes corporate, finance and tax representations, and Sutherland lawyers have represented issuers and borrowers in connection with both Comprehensive Examination Program (CEP) audits and targeted audits of tax-exempt bond issues.
Sutherland is one of two law firms which serve as bond counsel for the State of Georgia.
Members of the firm have handled most of the major "test" cases in the public finance area for Georgia issuers, including, most recently, Barkley v. City of Rome, which established the legality of multi-year leases, AMBAC Indemnity Corp. v. Akridge (commonly referred to as the "Berrien County" case), which upheld the conclusiveness of validation proceedings and, in 1995, Clayton County Airport Authority et al. v. State of Georgia et al., which upholds the validity and constitutionality of intergovernmental contracts.
Sutherland has extensive participation in many tax credit projects.