A long tradition of serving as bond counsel
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 that we have lawyers who understand not only the complex issues that arise in dealing with government finance, but also work daily with government officials, elected bodies, other professionals serving government at every level and in every forum imaginable. We understand the challenges facing governments and their respective constituents, and we bring all of our resources to bear in helping them find the best solutions.
There also are few law firms across the country that have the depth and breadth across the public finance landscape we do. Regardless of the size of the borrowing or the sophistication of the issuer, we bring our vast knowledge, experience and first rate client service to the table to assist in a financing. We have more lawyers specifically focused on public finance than any other firm in Indiana and most firms in the Midwest. Not only does Ice Miller provide services in all of the roles (bond, underwriters, issuer, disclosure counsel etc.) in which a government finance attorney might serve, it also provides those services in every substantive area.
In our attempt to understand the business of our clients, we always recognize it is incredibly important to those clients that we be just as responsive as those who serve the public. Therefore, we make every effort to respond to inquiries promptly. Because we provide a breadth and depth of experience across the public finance spectrum, we have people available—regardless of schedules or vacation—to address time sensitive issues in a courteous and effective manner.
Given the history of the Firm, we also provide many legal services to governments in a fashion that is unusual in its scope. We can literally say we have over 100 lawyers who work for governments daily. Who better than us to work on a disclosure matter regarding employee benefits when we have both nationally recognized public finance and public employee benefits practices? Who better to serve a client in a complex environmental matter when we have such depth in both redevelopment and compliance with environmental regulations? And, who better to serve a government in defending against litigation or challenging a process, project or program than a Firm with attorneys who have represented clients in almost every area governments are involved, not on a one-off basis, but throughout their careers?
While statistics are 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 by a national publication, approving up to 433 issues per year as bond counsel with up to $7.8 billion annually in principal amounts. Over the last decade, we have served as bond counsel on more than 3,100 issues with a total principal amount of over $55,000,000,000.