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ATTORNEYS
[ Richard A. "Ad" Eichner, Esq. ]__ [ R. Wade Norris, Esq. ] __ [ Kent S. Neumann, Esq.
]
[ Randal S. Putnam, Esq. ]__
[ Ryan L. George, Esq. ]__
STAFF
[ Adele M. Hook ]__ [ Andrew C. Robertson ]__
[ Andrea Nakazawa ]
Richard A.
("Ad") Eichner, Esq.
Richard A. ("Ad") Eichner
has been a partner at Haynes & Miller, Executive Committee designee of
the public finance practice group of Arter Hadden Haynes & Miller, and
a co-founder of the Washington, D.C., public finance law firm Eichner &
Norris PLLC.
Mr. Eichner has a broad
practice in public finance, representing underwriting clients in both new
issue structured financings and in secondary market offerings. He has
represented municipalities as bond counsel and special tax counsel, has
advised mortgage bankers and real estate developers in tax-exempt and
taxable financings and has represented numerous banks and investment banks
in municipal financings. His background also includes substantial corporate
and securities transactions, including limited partnership offerings,
spin-offs, mergers, tender offers and proxy fights.
Mr. Eichner has played a
leading role in the development of new structures for housing bonds, and
throughout his career has had extensive experience in virtually all major
types of tax exempt financing involving multifamily housing and single
family mortgage revenue bonds. He has lectured on various aspects of public
finance at numerous housing finance seminars and has been a frequent
panelist at the annual Chicago workshop for the National Association of
Bond Lawyers.
A 1975 graduate of Cornell
University, Mr. Eichner received MBA and J.D. degrees from the Colgate
Darden School of Business Administration and the School of Law,
respectively, at the University of Virginia in 1980, where he was an editor
of the Virginia Law Review.
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R. Wade Norris, Esq.
R. Wade Norris has been a
partner at Eichner & Norris PLLC since September, 1993, having joined
the firm after three years as a partner at Jones Hall Hill & White in
San Francisco, California, and ten years as a partner at Haynes &
Miller in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Haynes & Miller in 1980,
Mr. Norris was a corporate securities and public finance lawyer for six
years with the firm of King & Spalding in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mr. Norris is widely
recognized as one of the country's leading experts in the field of
multifamily housing bond finance. Since 1977, Mr. Norris has been involved
in over 1,500 multifamily housing bond financings, totaling billions of dollars
in almost every state in the United States. Mr. Norris has also served as
underwriters' and/or special tax counsel on secondary tax-exempt bond
reofferings, and as underwriters' counsel or special disclosure counsel in
a wide variety of general and revenue bond obligation financings. While a
corporate securities lawyer at King & Spalding, Mr. Norris served as
issuer's or underwriter's counsel in numerous hospital revenue bond
financings and in various types of corporate debt and equity financings, including
initial public offerings, spinoffs and merger/acquisition transactions.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Norris
played a major role in the development of a financing program using a
combination of FHA mortgage insurance and municipal bond insurance from MBIA
which provided over $1.1 billion of financing for over 200 low-income
housing projects throughout the United States. In 1985, he was the
responsible partner on over 100 multifamily housing bond financings
totalling well over $1 billion. In 1986, Mr. Norris was among the first
practitioners in the country to develop standards for default refundings
and other work-out refinancings of distressed multifamily housing
properties, and in 1989, he was a principal architect of HUD's 11(b)
refunding program which has resulted in refinancings of hundreds of
multifamily housing projects saving the federal government hundreds of
millions of dollars. In 1994, Mr. Norris was engaged by HUD to serve as its
private consultant on a comprehensive analysis, compilation and revision of
HUD's policies on all types of bond refunding transactions. This engagement
culminated in the publication on January 18, 1995 of HUD Notice H-95-7
"Summary of HUD Policies on Multifamily Bond Refunding Transactions
and Announcement of Certain Changes and Clarifications," prepared for
HUD by Mr. Norris. In 1996 and 1997, the firm, through Mr. Norris, was
engaged to serve as outside counsel to HUD in connection with the
disposition of a substantial portion of its multi-billion dollar portfolio
of HUD-held multifamily mortgage loans and properties. In the past five
years, Mr. Norris has also served as underwriter's counsel on numerous
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA/Ginnie Mae credit-enhanced issues,
employing both fixed and variable rate structures, and in 2000-2003 Mr.
Norris played a leading role in the development of several new state-of-the
art securitization structures for unrated, noncredit-enhanced pools of
tax-exempt bonds.
Mr. Norris has been a speaker
at numerous seminars on multifamily housing bond finance over the past 15
years, and has been a frequent panel leader on multifamily housing bond
finance at meetings of the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Mr.
Norris' frequently updated paper entitled "Introduction to Tax Exempt
Multifamily Housing Bonds" is widely regarded as the industry's
leading introductory article on tax exempt multifamily housing bond
finance, and Mr. Norris has authored a number of other papers on various
aspects of tax-exempt multifamily housing bond finance. A number of these
papers are available here.
Mr. Norris attended Duke
University where he received his B.A. degree in Economics with distinction
in 1969 and served as Student Body President during his senior year. Mr.
Norris received an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business
in 1971, with a concentration in systems analysis and finance. Mr. Norris
received his law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1974, where
he graduated with distinction and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Duke Law
Journal during his final year. He was admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1974
and is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the American Bar Association,
and the National Association of Bond Lawyers.
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Kent S. Neumann, Esq.
Kent S. Neumann started as an
associate at Eichner & Norris PLLC in June, 1998 and became a partner
in January, 2006. Mr. Neumann graduated magna cum laude from the University
of California, San Diego, where he received a B.A. degree in Psychology in
1995. He graduated magna cum laude from Tulane Law School in May of 1998
and is a member of both the California and the District of Columbia Bars.
He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the National
Association of Bond Lawyers.
Mr. Neumann has served as
underwriter's counsel and has also advised issuers and other clients on the
legal and financial aspects of a wide range of tax-exempt housing and
healthcare bond financings. These include financings using municipal bond
insurance with all the major bond insurers (e.g., MBIA, AMBAC, FSA, FGIC,
Asset Guaranty, ACA), bank letters of credit, insurance company guaranties,
credit enhancement provided by FHA, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac,
the Federal Home Loan Banks and other institutions as well as unrated
and/or uncredit-enhanced bond deals. Many of these transactions have been
multiple-tier financings utilizing senior/subordinated and other structures
to achieve an optimal securitization of project cash flows including
Section 236 IRP "decoupling" transactions, Section 202 prepayment
transactions, Section 8 transactions, Hope VI financings and Build America
Bonds.
In addition, Mr. Neumann has a
unique level of expertise in and knowledge of cashflow modeling, rating
agency requirements, credit enhancement programs, financial structures and
other critical variables affecting tax-exempt bond financings.
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Randal S. Putnam, Esq.
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Randal S. Putnam has been of
counsel with Eichner & Norris PLLC since February, 2005. Prior to
joining the firm, Mr. Putnam was associated for twelve years with Kutak
Rock LLP in Omaha, Nebraska, where he was a partner for six years.
Mr. Putnam graduated from
Northwestern University, where he received a B.A. degree in Philosophy in
1989. He graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1992. He
is a member of both the Nebraska and New York Bars.
Mr. Putnam has served as
underwriter’s counsel in connection with the issuance of tax-exempt bonds
financing multifamily housing with an emphasis on financings
credit-enhanced by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and various bank issued letters
of credit. He also has substantial experience with bonds credit enhanced by
FHA/GNMA.
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Ryan L. George, Esq.
Ryan L. George has been an
associate at Eichner & Norris PLLC since May 2001 and became a contract
attorney as of July, 2006. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. George served as
a senior tax consultant with Ernst & Young LLP in McLean, Virginia. His
experience includes the federal tax treatment of domestic and foreign
corporations and Section 501(c)(3) entities.
Mr. George attended Washington
& Jefferson College where he received is B.A. in Biology. Mr. George
received his law degree and M.B.A. (with a concentration in corporate
finance) from the University of Pittsburgh in 1998 and his LL.M. in
taxation from Georgetown University School of Law in 2002. He was admitted
to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1999 and the District of Columbia Bar in 2001
and is a member of the American Bar Association and the National
Association of Bond Lawyers.
Mr. George has served as
underwriter's counsel on a wide-variety of tax-exempt financings including
financings credit-enhanced by letters of credit, municipal bond insurance,
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA/GNMA, as well as noncredit-enhanced
financings.
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Adele M. Hook
Adele M. Hook has been the
Firm Administrator for Eichner & Norris PLLC since 1991. Ms. Hook
earned an Associates Degree in Business Administration from Anne Arundel Community
College in 1990. Prior to becoming Firm Administrator, she worked with
Messrs. Eichner & Norris since 1981, both as a legal secretary and
paralegal. Ms. Hook oversees or handles directly all managerial aspects of
Eichner & Norris PLLC and is familiar with all aspects of the firm's
practice. She also works directly with Mr. Eichner on various housing
transactions.
Ms. Hook is a member of the
Capital Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators and the National
Association of Bond Lawyers Legal Assistants Group.
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Andrew C. Robertson
Andrew Robertson joined
Eichner & Norris PLLC as a Legal Assistant in June of 2005. Mr.
Robertson graduated from the University of Virginia in May of 2005 with a
double major in Economics and Music. Additionally, he received a
Departmental Recognition award and the Brander Wyatt Morrison Prize for
outstanding work and contributions as a music major.
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Andrea Nakazawa
Andrea Nakazawa joined Eichner
& Norris PLLC as a Legal Assistant in July of 2007. Ms. Nakazawa
graduated from the University of Virginia in May of 2007 with a double
major in Economics and Psychology. She was a research assistant at UVA's
Early Development Laboratory during her senior year. Additionally, she
participated in varsity swimming at UVA and was a member of the 2003 ACC
Women's Swimming and Diving Championship team.
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