The law firm Ballard Spahr promoted William C. Rhodes to lead its public finance department as chairman.
Rhodes, a 19-year veteran at the firm whose work has focused on utilities, 501(c)(3), and government bonds, will move to expand the firm’s presence geographically, across sectors, and within its existing markets. Ballard Spahr aims to boost its bond presence at some of its existing offices through lateral hires and new-associate hires.
“We’re looking to expand into new regions,” Rhodes said. “It’s incremental growth for us. Certainly, expanding in the West, the Southeast, and into New York will be our near-term goals. Some of those western offices should include California and Nevada.”
In New York, the firm does public finance work in “niche areas” within different sectors for a large number of clients, he added. And it has identified new areas for growth in the city.
“We do a lot of work already in New York across the different sectors of public finance,” Rhodes said. “It will be the easiest department to manage the growth when it occurs.”
Ballard Spahr is a national firm based in Philadelphia with more than 500 lawyers in 13 offices in the United States. Though its public finance work spans the country, offices in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, Del., staff the largest concentration of municipal bond attorneys.
Rhodes will lead the firm’s more than 50 attorneys that represent state and local governments, as well as authorities, nonprofit organizations, and financial institutions in bond transactions.
Roughly three years ago, Rhodes helped launch Ballard Spahr’s municipal recovery initiative. Through the initiative, public finance, labor and bankruptcy attorneys work with municipalities to help them figure out how to return to a state of financial health.
He is also a member of the firm’s pro bono committee, through which he coordinates pro bono engagements within the public finance department.
“A lot of our clients are working with tight budgets, particularly governments and non-profits,” Rhodes said. “We’re very mindful of the financial situation that many of them are in. Most important, some of our distressed municipal clients need to look at new ways to do things that they used to do, but can’t afford to anymore.”
Rhodes succeeds Blake Wade, who became managing partner of the firm’s Salt Lake City office, and will maintain his practice.
