CHICAGO – Veteran Chicago-based public finance tax law specialist Scott Bremer has joined The Hardwick Law Firm LLC, a hire the minority-owned firm made to bolster its market position in Illinois and beyond.
Bremer joined the firm this month as a principal and will work in the firm's public finance and corporate practices, said firm founder and principal Herbert Hardwick.
Bremer will serve as tax counsel on public finance matters and assist in expanding the firm's work in the competitive Chicago market that is already home to a healthy number of larger firms and minority-owned ones. He joins Deniece Jordan Walker in the Chicago office.
"We wanted an established lawyer and it's always nice to have the additional benefit of having a good tax lawyer," Hardwick said. "He fits the bill on both."
Bremer most recently worked for Milwaukee-based Quarles & Brady LLP which he joined in 2011 to help the firm carve out business among Illinois-based issuers. His move to Hardwick marks a return to working for a smaller, minority-owned shop; he joined Quarles & Brady from Chicago-based Pugh, Jones, Johnson & Quandt PC.
Bremer joined Pugh Jones in 2001 after 10 years at the former Altheimer & Gray, where he was a partner. He previously had spent 15 years at Chicago-based Chapman and Cutler LLP.
Bremer's experience working for Chicago and Illinois and other area issuer clients crosses most public finance sectors including general government, utility debt, special assessment, refundings, housing, industrial revenue bonds, and health and higher education. He has worked in the role of bond counsel, underwriters counsel, special tax counsel, issuer's counsel and as counsel to credit-enhancement providers.
While the firm has steady business as a co-bond counsel among Illinois issuers, Hardwick said as the firm marks its 25th anniversary he has eye on securing more lead, single bond counsel positions in Illinois as it has elsewhere.
Hardwick launched the firm in 1991 from Kansas City. Shareholder Jean Matzeder joined the firm in 1996 and it began to expand its borders establishing offices in Illinois, Indiana, Connecticut, and New York. In addition to public finance, it offers legal service on transportation, real estate, development and corporate law. Bremer joins an overall team of six other attorneys.
The firm ranked 34th so far among bond counsel firms in the Midwest this year, credited by Thomson Reuters with eight deals valued at $265 million, and was ranked 58th nationally, credited with 18 issues valued at $1 billion. The firm finished last year in the 21st spot in the Midwest and 60th nationally. It placed second for the first half of this year in Missouri.
