CHICAGO - Veteran Chicago-based public finance attorney Chuck Katz has joined Polsinelli PC as the firm continues to build its business nationally across legal practices.
Katz joined the firm as a shareholder, according to a statement announcing his hire. He joins a national public finance team of six, with two lawyers in Chicago, two in Los Angeles, and two in Kansas City. Katz was among three new attorneys hired for the Chicago office; the others practice in other legal areas.
The firm opened its Chicago office in 2006 with six attorneys, primarily in financial services and expanded to 90 lawyers working in 12 practice areas. The firm has offices in 18 cities and employs more than 695 attorneys.
"Our growth is strategic and deliberate," Polsinelli's Chicago Managing Director Anthony J. Nasharr said in the statement. "We continue to add attorneys who can meet our clients' needs, offering practical legal guidance for better business decisions."
Katz is a 27-year veteran of public finance and tax law serving in the roles of bond counsel, underwriters' counsel, borrower's counsel and tax counsel on issuance that has spanned 25 states. "I was attracted to the firm's commitment to quality growth, it's large and growing footprint and its entrepreneurial leadership," Katz said.
Katz most recently worked at Michael Best & Friedrick LLP. The firm hired him in 2011 to resurrect its public finance practice. Katz's career has focused on the interpretation and application of federal tax law for municipal bonds. He has also focused on recovery zone facility bonds, affordable housing, arbitrage rebate, private use and other tax analysis.
He previously spent three years as counsel at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Chicago. For six years beginning in 2002 Katz was a partner at Duane Morris LLP, and from 1994 to 1998 he was an associate at LeBoeuf Lamb & Greene & MacRae. His public finance career began in 1986 at the New York office of Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP.
