The Essentials: Virtual 2020 offers a comprehensive overview of the core areas of public finance. Newer bond lawyers and other market participants will receive a straightforward introduction to fundamental laws relevant to the practice, and attendees with multiple years of experience will continue to build the broad expertise necessary for a full, sound practice in public finance.

Chair Barbara Jane League Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Houston, TX

Vice Chair Sani A. Williams Bryant Rabbino LLP New York, NY

Benefits of Attending

• Bolster your knowledge of tax, securities, state law, and structuring concepts inherent in public finance.
• Receive comprehensive, up-to-date resource materials to facilitate your day-to-day practice.
• Earn up to 15 hours of CLE credit, including ethics credit.

Who Should Attend? Are you:

• A bond lawyer wanting a more comprehensive understanding of the practice?
• A lawyer in your first few years in the field? 
• An issuer or industry professional wanting to further your knowledge of public finance?
• A paralegal looking to deepen your understanding of public finance?
• A lawyer seeking a general understanding of municipal finance law?

The Essentials: Virtual 2020 is specifically designed to cover all core elements of public finance law and practice. It is designed for attorneys, paralegals, government officials and employees, broker-dealers, financial advisors, trustees, and other market participants.

This virtual conference is open to both NABL members and non-members. Repeat attendees are strongly encouraged to sign up. In fact, repeat participants report substantial benefit from attending multiple years of the conference.

Of particular interest to returning attendees, the “Real World Examples” sessions apply the law to hypothetical fact patterns designed to address current issues commonly faced by bond lawyers. 

Registration closes at 12:00pm Eastern on Monday, June 8, 2020

NOTE: LOGIN TO THE WEBSITE FIRST (top right), THEN CLICK ON "REGISTER ONLINE"

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Registration Fees (NABL membership is by individual, not by firm.)

•  $725.00 Members (Join NABL and save over $150 on the registration fee.)
•  $1,375.00 Non-Members
• $725.00 Federal/State/Local Government Employees (Please email your registration form to registration@nabl.org to receive the government rate.)
• Fundamentals of Municipal Bond Law Book NOW FREE with your virtual registration ($200 value). The book will be shipped after The Essentials: Virtual 2020 conference.

Accessing the conference: Prior to the start of the conference, registrants will receive an email invitation to access The Essentials mobile/online app. Within the app, NABL will have a schedule of panel sessions which will include individual links to each Zoom live virtual conference session. Simply click on the link in each session you want to attend and type your name and email address that you used to register for the conference to gain access. Registrants will have the ability to view the panelists in real time, follow along with the PowerPoint presentations, and ask questions during and after each panel session.

Registration Cancellation Policy

By 5/15 - full refund

Between  5/16 - 5/28 - 50% refund

After 5/29 - no refund

Cancellations must be received via email. Substitutions of attendees are permitted up to the first day of The Essentials: Virtual 2020.

All registrants will receive electronic versions of the outlines and PowerPoints for each session. 

As an added bonus, registrants will receive electronic and printed copies of NABL’s reference "Blue Book", The Fundamentals of Municipal Bond Law ($200 value). The “Blue Book” contains valuable reference material on tax, securities, and other laws applicable to municipal finance. A printed version of the book will be shipped to all registrants after the virtual conference. 
 

In addition, registrants will receive a complimentary electric version of either the LexisNexis Federal Taxation of Municipal Bonds Deskbook (valued at $245) or the Federal Securities Laws of Municipal Bonds Deskbook (valued at $175). Registrants will receive an email with an individual code to redeem the LexisNexis deskbook of your choice after the conference.  

The Essentials: Virtual 2020 begins with three General Sessions and ends with a Closing General Session that all participants are encouraged to attend:

1. Structuring and Financial Aspects of a Municipal Bond Transaction. This will cover the central structural elements, documentation, and financial aspects of a municipal bond transaction.

2. General Tax Law. This will introduce federal tax laws governing municipal bonds.

3. General Securities Law. This will address federal securities laws applicable to municipal bonds.

4. Closing General Session | Friday, June 12, 4:00pm - 5:15pm

The Essentials: Virtual 2020 concludes with a fourth General Session entitled “Tying It All Together.” This popular session takes attendees through a typical bond issue - from the initial client call to closing - using an interactive, informal platform that incorporates concepts from across the General Sessions and Breakout Sessions. Panelists play the roles of issuer, underwriter, bond attorney, and tax attorney as they navigate through a bond transaction from start to finish. Along the way, they encounter, explain, and resolve issues typically encountered in public finance transactions.

Arbitrage & Rebate: Overview of general arbitrage concepts, arbitrage rebate requirements, and the application of the various exceptions to the arbitrage rebate rules.

Arbitrage & Rebate (Real World Examples): Discussion of hypotheticals that involve the application of certain federal tax laws relating to arbitrage rebate and the exceptions to arbitrage rebate.

Avoiding Private Activity: Overview of the private activity bond rules applicable to tax-exempt municipal bond transactions.

Avoiding Private Activity (Real World Examples): Discussion of hypotheticals that involve the application of certain private activity bond rules to tax-exempt municipal bond transactions.

IRS Issues & Enforcement: Overview of IRS enforcement of tax-exempt municipal bonds, including compliance questionnaires, voluntary closing agreement program (“VCAP”), and audits. A look into how the IRS is organized, what constitutes “guidance” from the IRS and how is it  issued, how to obtain a private letter ruling, how to participate in VCAP, rights and remedies of issuers of tax-exempt municipal bonds in the event of an audit, and other issues related to IRS enforcement.

Qualified 501(c)(3) Bonds: Introduction to the rules applicable to the issuance of 501(c)(3) bonds, including ownership and use requirements and issues specific to hospital, residential housing, and school financings as well as commonly used financing structures.

Qualified Small Issue & Exempt Facility Bonds: Overview of the rules applicable to qualified small issue bonds, including qualifying projects, prohibited and restricted uses and maximum amounts, and the rules relating to qualified exempt facility bonds.

Refunding & Reissuance: Introduction to the legal and tax aspects of refundings and the tax concepts of a reissuance.

Refunding & Reissuance (Real World Examples): Discussion of hypotheticals that involve the application of certain federal tax laws relating to refundings, including the repeal of tax-exempt advance refundings as well as reissuance.

Bank Direct Purchases: Discussion of direct purchases (private placements) by banks of bonds, including why issuers want this product, why banks provide this product, documentation requirements, and associated securities law issues.

Practical Due Diligence/Drafting the Disclosure Document: Overview of the due diligence process with which practitioners should be familiar in municipal bond transactions and practical guidance for preparing disclosure documents.

The Role of Underwriter’s Counsel: Overview of the role of expectations imposed on underwriter’s counsel in a municipal bond transaction.

Underwriting: Behind the Scenes: Introduction to and discussion of the underwriting process, including all aspects of structuring the deal through taking the municipal bonds to market.

Closing Logistics: An overview of the logistics of closing a bond transaction, including drafting of various closing papers, preparing the Form 8038G, and DTC’s role prior to, during, and after a bond closing.

Conduit Issues & Issuers: Introduction to state law creation of and limitations on conduit bond issuers, the roles of counsel, multi-state issuers, and many other issues unique to conduit bond issues.

Deal Gone Bad: This panel covers the essentials any lawyer must be aware of when facing a troubled financing post- closing. We will explain transactional tools utilized in the early stages of a distressed situation including: rights and remedies of bond holders and how financing structures, bond insurance, bond mechanics, and elements of state law can dictate or limit enforcement of remedies. The discussion also covers the relevant mechanics of bankruptcy law when early remedial efforts are unsuccessful.

Ethics for Bond Attorneys 101: This session will address, in an interactive format, some of the ethical and practical issues related to legal representations in municipal finance, including: engagement letters, delivery of opinions and conflicts of interest, and a discussion of applicable ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. This session is anticipated to qualify for CLE ethics credit.

Leases & Other Non-Traditional Financings: Overview of certain transactions that do not fit typical structures but are common such as leases, installment payment contracts, pool programs, and others.

State Law Issues: Discussion of common state law issues that need to be addressed throughout the structuring of a municipal bond transaction and related disclosure issues.

State Law Issues (Real World Examples): Discussion of hypotheticals involving the application of certain common state law issues to be addressed throughout the structuring of a municipal bond transaction and related disclosure issues.

The Essentials: Virtual 2020 format offers registrants more CLE hours than the in-person conference! Registrants in states with a 60-minute CLE hour can earn up to 20 hours of live CLE credit, and registrants from states with a 50-minute CLE hour can earn up to 24 live CLE hours. Included in the total hours is one 75-minute session for ethics/professionalism credit. All of the panel sessions will be recorded and available for paid registrants to access after the conference ends. NABL will apply for on-demand CLE credit in all states that approve it, which will offer registrants the opportunity to earn additional credit for any sessions that they could not attend live.

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