We've been part of the public finance community for over a century.

There are very few law firms across the country that have served as bond counsel for over a century and still dedicate a significant portion of their practices to public and municipal finance. Ice Miller is one of those firms. Simply put, that means our lawyers understand not only the complex issues that arise in dealing with governmental finance, but also work daily with government officials, elected bodies, underwriters, financial advisors and other professionals serving issuers at every level and in every forum imaginable. We understand the challenges present in municipal finance, and we bring all our resources to bear to help find the best solutions.

OUR WORK TOUCHES ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE.

Click a community below to see how.

HEALTH CARE

UTILITIES

PARKS

HOUSING

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

MUNICIPALITIES

SCHOOLS

NONPROFITS

HEALTH CARE

Health Care

Ice Miller has a national reputation in health care finance based on the depth of our experience, the versatility and creativity of our attorneys and the well-established relationship we have with our long-standing clients.

The Firm is well-suited to represent any party to a financing, but we most frequently serve as bond counsel or underwriter’s counsel on financings for hospitals and health systems. We take a collaborative and team-oriented approach to assist with all types and aspects of transactions.

Our exceptional services extend beyond the closing of the transaction providing counsel on post-issuance matters that include, but are not limited to, arbitrage rebate compliance, review of Schedule K to the Form 990, credit and liquidity facility extensions and replacements, post-issuance compliance best practices, document amendments, remediations and IRS audits. We are committed to providing our clients with comprehensive, high-quality advice and counsel at a reasonable cost

To learn more about our health care practice, click here. If you have questions about health care financing, please contact Michael Melliere, David Nie or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

UTILITIES

Utilities

The Firm has worked on hundreds of municipal utilities, including water, electric and gas, and municipal sewage works.

Ice Miller has assisted these types of utilities as bond counsel in every type of transaction imaginable for many decades. Some of these utilities have been or are regulated and the Firm's lawyers have assisted these utilities not only in raising capital, but in enacting user fees and negotiating regulatory matters such as the proceedings before regulatory commissions and environmental agencies

Many of the concepts applied to utilities owned by municipalities also apply to conservancy districts and regional sewer and water districts, and Ice Miller attorneys have long served as bond counsel to both. These concepts also apply to rates and charges, user fees and similar governmental utility matters of certain special taxing districts that operate utilities, including sanitary, solid waste, storm water and water special taxing districts.

To learn more about municipal utilities and sewage works, click here. If you have questions about utilities, please contact Buddy Downs, Philip Genetos, Tyler Kalachnik, Lisa Lee, Davie Nie, Pattie Zelmer or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

PARKS

Parks

A special taxing district is usually a department of the unit that established the district, but it also has its own governing body and specific statutory requirements. There are sanitary districts, which provide for wastewater collection and treatment; park districts, which establish, operate and maintain park and recreational facilities, including aquatic facilities; storm water management districts, which construct improvements to move storm water, waterworks districts, which provide safe drinking water to community residents; and redevelopment districts, which undertake rehabilitation, redevelopment, job retention and expansion and economic development of targeted areas. Ice Miller has worked with dozens of these special taxing districts as they structure financings and impose rates and charges, user fees and special benefits taxes to finance projects.

There are also other special purpose special taxing districts, such as conservancy districts, solid waste districts and levee districts, which are established pursuant to unique statutory procedures to allow funding of various public projects. The Firm has extensive experience in each of these types of financings.

To learn more about special taxing districts, click here. If you have questions about special taxing districts, please contact Buddy Downs, Lisa Lee, Pattie Zelmer or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

HOUSING

Housing

Ice Miller has extensive experience working with issuers, including housing authorities, and developers in all aspects of bond financings concerning single family and multifamily housing, mortgage subsidy financing, construction and equipment financing, refunding issues, variable rate and put bonds, capital appreciation bonds, conduit and other pass through transactions, industrial development and private activity bonds, interest rate swaps and various pool financings, both taxable and tax-exempt.

In addition to working with housing authorities, Ice Miller has extensive experience representing other governmental issuers (both as bond counsel and issuer's counsel), developers (for profit and non-profit), LIHTC syndicators, underwriters, banks, lenders and credit providers on housing projects, including counsel with respect to the federal low income housing tax credits.

To learn more about our housing financing practice, click here. If you have questions about housing financing, please contact Michael Allen, Philip Genetos, Tyler Kalachnik, Jim Snyder, Kip Wahlers or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Economic Development

Ice Miller works with municipalities and counties and many other governmental organizations to assist in developing and redeveloping both rural and urban areas in an effort to create attractive places in which to work, live, raise a family and improve quality of life.

Our attorneys have worked on dozens of economic development and redevelopment projects which have retained, expanded or attracted all types of businesses creating thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investments.

Ice Miller has developed a unique practice as special counsel to governments negotiating the terms of an economic development or redevelopment incentive package on behalf of government clients as those governments seek to provide incentives and at the same time protect the interests of their constituents.

To learn more about our economic development and redevelopment practice, click here. If you have questions about economic development and redevelopment, please contact Buddy Downs, Lisa Lee, Jim Snyder, Kip Wahlers or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

MUNICIPALITIES

Municipalities

Ice Miller provides bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, disclosure counsel and issuer's counsel representations with regard to a myriad of obligations issued by cities, towns and villages.

Ice Miller works with cities, towns and villages and their local attorneys and elected officials on every variety of financing available.

The Firm's lawyers work with municipalities in many other areas, including employee benefits, environmental law, litigation and a number of other disciplines. Because of Ice Miller's long standing commitment to working with public and government clients, the Firm has dozens of lawyers who work with municipalities in many capacities.

To learn more about our work with municipalities, click here. If you have questions about municipalities, please contact Buddy Downs, Heather James, Lisa Lee, Jim Snyder, Pattie Zelmer or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

SCHOOLS

Schools

We work hard to build relationships and trust with our school clients. We recognize that each financing is important and demands the utmost attention, whether it is a $250,000, $2,000,000 or $90,000,000 borrowing.

We have served as bond counsel for school corporations on such matters as: general obligation bond financings; lease financings; referendum public questions (capital project and operating referenda); petition/remonstrance races; pool financings; 516 Loans; equipment lease financings; tax anticipation notes/warrants; and primary and continuing disclosure, as required by SEC rules and regulations.

In working with so many school corporations, we have accumulated vast resources of supplemental materials to assist superintendents, business managers, board members and local counsel in understanding the details of the financings and the required legal steps.

Ice Miller builds communities by working with K-12 public schools on project financing needs ranging from minor upgrades to the construction of new campuses.

To learn more about our public school practice, click here. If you have questions about public school financing, please contact Jane Herndon, Erik Long, Kristin McClellan or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

NONPROFITS

Nonprofits

Ice Miller's Public and Municipal Finance attorneys are among the most experienced in the nation in 501(c)(3) revenue bond financings.

We serve collaboratively and creatively in all transactional roles, including most frequently as bond counsel and underwriter's counsel. Whether we are facilitating a direct placement or public offering, a fixed or variable rate deal, our attorneys work to meet the needs of any clients in any field: colleges and universities (private); healthcare including hospitals and senior living facilities; independent and charter schools; museums, cultural institutions, social service organizations and recreational organizations; and other 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

The Firm's experience includes transactions for individual borrowers and networks of affiliated nonprofit organizations, including first-time participants in the bond market and regular borrowers with complex plans of finance. Our long-term relationships with clients build trust through continued service in many areas, including Form 990 and Schedule K, IRS audits, post-issuance compliance, rebate, and securities and disclosure.

To learn more about our housing financing practice, click here. If you have questions about housing financing, please contact Todd Ponder, Jeff Lewis or another member of the Public and Municipal Finance Practice Group.

At Ice Miller, we know bonds build communities.

While statistics can be boring, to the extent they are available, they reinforce our prominence. Ice Miller is consistently rated among the top law firms in the country and the Midwest in number of bond issues approved.

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issues per year as bond counsel with up to $7.8 billion in principal amounts.
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total principal amount during the last decade as bond counsel.
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in Midwest Region for principal amount as bond counsel by “The Bond Buyer."