http://www.jhhw.com/ (World Wide Web Directory, 06/1995) Four Embarcadero Center, 19th Floor
San
Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 391-5780
(415) 391-5784
Telecopier
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JONES HALL HILL & WHITE was founded in 1978, thereby combining the four founders' decades of experience as bond counsel. The firm has since expanded to its present size of fourteen attorneys, all of whom practice exclusively in the area of municipal finance as bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, special tax counsel and rebate compliance counsel. This specialization allows us to orient our practice to the peculiar requirements of public finance, without the need to suit other, unrelated areas of the legal business.
General. All of the firm's attorneys and staff are devoted to the single goal of serving local government in connection with its financing needs. The result of the concentration in this area is a highly trained and skilled staff directly responsible to its municipal clients. Every financing receives the highest level of priority by our entire staff. Our success has been achieved by providing responsive service to all clients, whether their issues are very large or very small.
We are particularly proud of our Closing Department, which illustrates the flexibility the firm has in tailoring its practice to the requirements of the municipal bond business. Seven highly trained para-professionals, some with backgrounds in investment banking, assist the attorneys in all pre-closing, closing and post-closing logistics and greatly alleviate the stress and strain which is typical of many bond closings.
Our Technical Services Department, unique among law firms, provides arbitrage, escrow sufficiency, bid award and other computational services.
As a general matter, Jones Hall Hill & White does not employ associates and, therefore, each financing is handled on a day-to-day basis by a partner with many years of experience in public finance. This approach results in a level of personalization in our services that is unusual in today's world of institutionalized law firms. Additionally, there is no delegation to less qualified attorneys and none of the inefficiencies, nor added costs, of training new associates.
Jones Hall Hill & White is structured so as to provide the highest quality bond counsel services in the most effective and efficient manner possible. We believe that, as a result of our unique attributes, our clients are provided with significant advantages that are not obtainable elsewhere.
Experience. Jones Hall Hill & White is one of the most active municipal finance firms in the country. During each of the past four years, more local California agencies have used Jones Hall Hill & White as bond counsel on their long-term financings than any other law firm, based upon statistics compiled by the California Debt Advisory Commission.
Jones Hall Hill & White represents virtually every type of public agency in California, including cities, counties, school districts, special districts, redevelopment agencies and housing authorities. The depth and breadth of the experience of the firm's attorneys enables us to bring a level of knowledge and creativity to the structuring of financing transactions that is far greater than that of most bond counsel firms.
Federal Tax Matters. Jones Hall Hill & White has great experience in the federal tax aspects of municipal finance. Sharon Stanton White, the firm's senior tax partner, has long been a nationally recognized expert in the field. She is a recipient of the Bernard P. Friel medal for outstanding service in public finance and, as President-Elect and President of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, she represented all local governments in negotiating and implementing tax-exempt provisions included in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The firm's other tax partner, David Walton, was the attorney advisor on tax-exempt bonds for the United States Treasury Department prior to joining Jones Hall Hill & White. During his two years with the Treasury, Mr. Walton played a key role in drafting reimbursement, arbitrage and rebate regulations, and has been widely praised by the industry for helping to make tax-exempt bond rules simpler and more workable.
With Mrs. White and Mr. Walton, we believe that, relative to the number of bond lawyers they support, we have a greater depth of resources in the municipal finance tax area than any firm in the State.
