Bracewell Adds 4 to Public Finance Team in SA

DALLAS — San Antonio city attorney Michael D. Bernard will join the public finance team at Bracewell & Giuliani as one of four new hires at the San Antonio office, the firm said.

Bernard has been city attorney since 2005. He will focus his practice on public law, public finance, energy, and litigation.

Also joining the firm is a former San Antonio city attorney, Jane H. Macon, chair of Siebert Financial Corp., who will specialize in public finance, real estate, and public law, the firm said. She was city attorney from 1977 to 1983, the first woman to hold the job.

Blakely L. Fernandez, formerly partner in the firm Tuggey Fernandez in San Antonio, will become a partner at Bracewell & Giuliani specializing in public finance and corporate law.  Fernandez is experienced in traditional bond financings and corporate financings and acts as general counsel to public and private entities, the firm said.

William T. Avila joins Bracewell as a partner specializing in public finance law. Avila, formerly of Norton Rose Fulbright, has closed approximately 1,000 transactions, totaling more than $50 billion in aggregate principal amount of municipal bond transactions as bond counsel, underwriters’ counsel, issuer’s counsel, and trustee’s counsel for a variety of public infrastructure and improvement projects.

“The addition of Jane, Michael, Blakely, and Bill will strengthen our public entities practice as well as the San Antonio office,” said Bracewell managing partner, Mark C. Evans. “Each of them brings tremendous experience.”

Bracewell’s public finance group has seen brisk growth since 2012, when it absorbed the public finance attorneys from Vinson & Elkins.

Bracewell public finance now has 30 lawyers, including partners in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and Washington, D.C. The attorneys serve as bond counsel for issuers in Texas and the Southwest and represent underwriters, trustees, third-party credit providers, and borrowers in conduit financings.

The San Antonio office, which recently moved and expanded into the Bank of America building at 300 Convent St., has practitioners focused on labor, litigation, immigration, public law, corporate law, and public finance. The addition of Macon, Bernard, Fernandez, and Avila expands the number of partners in the San Antonio office to 12, the firm said.

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