Orrick Names Three Public Finance Lawyers to Partner

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LOS ANGELES — Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has promoted three public finance attorneys on the West Coast to partner.

Brandon Dias in Sacramento, John Palmer in San Francisco, and Christine Reynolds in Portland were among 18 lawyers promoted to partner effective Jan. 1.

"We're thrilled to welcome these three rising stars, resident in three different offices, to our partnership," said Justin Cooper, co-chair of Orrick's public finance department and chair of the housing financing group. "All three have spent their entire law firm careers at Orrick and truly embody the quality and character that we look for in our partners."

Orrick has averaged one new partner in public finance a year nationally for a total of 15 since 2005, Cooper said.

Palmer was named a Rising Star in the Bond Buyer's inaugural program honoring municipal bond participants under 40.

He counsels cities, counties, school districts and community colleges, among others, on revenue and tax-supported bond transactions in a variety of financing structures. He worked on Senate Bill 222 that secures revenues on general obligation bonds in California and an opinion that convinced rating agencies to view California school district debt more favorably.

He earned his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law and his bachelor degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Palmer served for four years on the board of trustees for the Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley and serves on the board of managers of the Embarcadero YMCA and the board of the Charles Houston Bar Association.

Dias works on tax-exempt and taxable financing transactions in California and nationally. In California, his practice focuses on special tax and assessment financings, general fund financings and water, sewer, power and other revenue based financings for cities, counties, municipal utility districts, and other local agencies.

Nationally, Dias advises on financings for nonprofit healthcare institutions. He also counsels clients in the emerging property assessed clean energy finance sector. He earned his law degree from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law and his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Reynolds is experienced as bond, disclosure and underwriter's counsel on financings for state and local governments in the Pacific Northwest, as well as on transportation, health care, water, public power and other infrastructure financings. As counsel to the State of Oregon, she has advised on its Department of Transportation Highway User Tax Revenue Bond Program and on the development of its general obligation bond program through the Department of Education benefiting K-12 schools.

"Chris has both a geographic practice in Oregon focused on transportation and a high-end marquee client practice up and down the west coast," Cooper said.

Outside of Oregon, Reynolds works for clients such as the Bay Area Toll Authority, as well as global and regional investment banks where she provides counsel on general obligation, special tax and revenue bond financings.

She serves on the Oregon Municipal Debt Advisory Commission, is a founding committee member of the Pacific Northwest Women in Public Finance Chapter, where she currently serves as vice president for membership, and is the immediate past chair of the board of directors for non-profit Children First for Oregon. She began her career at Orrick following a clerkship for the Hon. Henry Breithaupt of the Oregon Tax Court. She earned her law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School and her B.A. from the University of Washington.

"Orrick is doubling down on public finance and we are glad to have all three of them as part of the partnership," Cooper said. "Orrick's strategy has always been to grow strength on strength. The firm has always been highly-ranked in public finance."

The firm has worked on State of California GO sales at least since World War II, Cooper said.

The law firm continued to far outstrip all others for the spot atop the Far West region's bond counsel rankings for the first half of 2016, credited by Thomson Reuters for deals valued at $16.6 billion.

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