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REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR THE 10th  ANNUAL TAX & SECURITIES LAW INSTITUTE

10th Annual Tax & Securities Law Institute, March 8-9, 2012 - Savannah, GA
The 10th Annual Tax & Securities Law Institute held March 8-9, 2012, will cover nearly 15 topics dealing with current issues of securities law, tax law, and ethics. Government participants will join many of the panels, offering attendees the most up-to-date views of industry regulators.

A highlight of the Institute will be “The Future of Public Finance,” a municipal finance market reform General Session on Thursday, March 8, featuring Commissioner Elisse Walter, Securities and Exchange Commission, John J. Cross III, Associate Tax Legislative Counsel, U.S. Department of Treasury, and George Friedlander, Managing Director and Senior Municipal Strategist, Citigroup. Commissioner Walter will discuss the latest regulatory and legislative disclosure initiatives of the SEC and Congress, while John Cross and George Friedlander will discuss the status of federal tax reform proposals generated by Congress and the U.S. Treasury.

Tax Track Session Highlights
Tax sessions will include a panel on distressed entities that will look into issues involving debt restructuring, long-term working capital, and other concerns that are of relevance to issuers and conduit borrowers in the current economic environment. And, of course, no public finance conference would be complete without a panel discussing arbitrage, rebate, and reissuance concerns, including matters presented by direct bank placements.

Securities Track Session Highlights
The Institute will explore the latest developments in the securities law area. In light of the rapid growth of direct purchase transactions involving banks, and other institutional investors, the Institute will feature a panel entitled “What Should You Know About Direct Purchases?” This panel will examine the interplay among accounting, banking, and securities laws impacting direct purchases. It will also analyze the distinction between “bank loans” and “municipal securities” and the consequences of such an analysis on financial advisors, placement agents, bank purchasers, and issuers, and discuss the potential effect of the Volcker Rule on direct purchases. Another session will showcase some of the finest municipal bankruptcy lawyers in the country discussing the potential impact of bankruptcy on the enforceability of bondholder covenants, rights, and remedies, as illustrated by such high profile Chapter 9 cases as Vallejo, Jefferson County, Harrisburg, Sierra Kings Health Care District, and Central Falls. The Institute will also offer an informative perspective on the concerns and requirements of investors in the current municipal debt market in a panel entitled “Tales from the Buy Side: An Investor’s Perspective on Disclosure and Other Issues.” This panel will include representatives from some of the largest purchasers of tax-exempt bonds in the country.

Joint Panel Highlights
A joint panel of tax and securities law attorneys will offer best practices for small and medium-sized issuers with particular focus on the adoption of a workable disclosure policy and post-issuance compliance procedures for those issuers who lack the resources, the personnel and the expertise of large municipal issuers.

Click here to register for the Institute.

SAVE THE DATE
2012 Fundamentals of Municipal Bond Law Seminar
April 18-20, 2012 • Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando, FL

PUBLICATION OF THE MONTH

Municipal Bankruptcy:A Guide for Public Finance Attorneys

Download the PDF

A NOTE FROM NABL'S PRESIDENT – KRISTIN FRANCESCHI

At the Bond Attorneys’ Workshop, I evoked the image of the “perfect storm” that could hit the municipal marketplace.  While the Super Committee has failed, the possibility that tax reform could affect the exclusion of interest on municipal bonds has far from evaporated.  Prominent Members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle have expressed the view that the tax code requires an urgent overhaul and have embraced a model that would lower rates and eliminate many so-called “tax-expenditures,” a category that includes the exclusion of interest on municipal bonds. On the securities law front, the SEC is expected to finalize its  examination of the municipal securities market, and to issue a new interpretive release and   recommend legislative changes that would require the use of basic disclosure templates for municipal bond offerings. Moreover, the GAO is currently working on its assessment (required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) of options for improving municipal securities disclosure. 

Through its Securities Law and Disclosure, Tax Law, and Municipal Law Committees, NABL is currently working on matters relating to “issue price,” drafting comments on elements of the proposed Volcker Rule, and addressing key components of pension disclosure that merit consideration in drafting Official Statements.

NABL is your most accurate resource for real-time information and analysis of all relevant tax, securities, and general municipal law developments, both legislative and regulatory.

You should have received a dues notice for 2012. Your continued support enables NABL to be your professional resource and to represent your interests within the municipal market. Thank you for your past and future support of our profession and association.