WASHINGTON - The National Association of Bond Lawyers plans to present three of its members with awards when the group meets in Chicago next month.
Rick Weber of Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston will receive the Bernard P. Friel Medal recognizing distinguished service in the field of public finance, the group announced.
"Rick has been a leading figure in the field of public finance for many years and has ably represented the viewpoints of the bond bar to the broader market throughout his career," said NABL president-elect Tony Martini. "In addition to serving as NABL's President from 1991 to 1992, Rick has published extensively on public finance topics and has served as distinguished faculty at numerous educational offerings and conferences sponsored by NABL, the Government Finance Officers Association, the Securities Industry and
Financial Markets Association and its predecessors, as well as those of many others. Most recently, Rick provided invaluable service to the public finance industry by leading NABL's effort to solicit interpretive guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission on its municipal advisor rules. NABL is most appreciative of all that Rick Weber has done to serve in the public finance arena, and it looks forward to collaborating with him for many years to come."
Kristin H.R. Franceschi of DLA Piper in Baltimore and Perry Israel of the Law Office of Perry Israel, in Sacramento will each receive the Frederick O. Kiel Distinguished Service Award for extraordinary service to NABL over an extended period of time.
"Kristin has been, and remains, a tireless and invaluable contributor to all of NABL's endeavors," Martini said. "She has devoted herself with seemingly inexhaustible energy and enthusiasm to a range of substantive legal projects involving tax, securities and state law matters, to the realignment of NABL's offices and the reorganization of its senior staff, to the organization of its educational seminars, to the running of NABL's day-to-day business affairs and to countless other aspects of NABL's mission. In all of this, and over so many years, Kristin has provided the very best example to us of what service to NABL's membership can and should be."
"By the same token," Martini continued, "Perry has shown NABL members what it means to be the very best as a leader and teacher. Perry has never said no to a NABL assignment. He was the organizing force and first-ever editor of NABL's Federal Taxation of Municipal Bonds, an invaluable reference resource and scholarly treatise for so many of NABL's members. He has served as faculty at innumerable NABL seminars; he served as Chair of Bond Attorneys' Workshop in 2012. He has participated on countless projects of NABL's Tax Law Committee. In all of this and much more, Perry has been a natural 'thought leader' for NABL on bond-related federal tax law issues."
All three attorneys will receive their awards Sept. 17 in conjunction with NABL's Bond Attorneys' Workshop.
