| UPDATE – Continued Volatility in Municipal Bond Insurer Ratings May Require Action by ... |
| May 8, 2008 - On February 7, 2008, Foster Pepper distributed a News Alert on the topic of Bond Insurer ratings. (Click here to view the previous News Alert.) Since that time, Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings have downgraded or withdrawn their ratings of several municipal bond insurers. This could require action by state and local governments, bond issuers and conduit borrowers of bond proceeds. There are three areas of particular concern: (1) permitted investments of idle ... |
| Foster Pepper and UW Provide Legal Education to Navajo Nation |
| May 1, 2008 - This week Foster Pepper teamed up with the University of Washington School of Law to conduct a series of legal seminars for attorneys of the Navajo Nation and law students in the University’s Tribal Defense Clinic. The three-day program provided instruction on litigation skills, the Navajo judicial system, the study of traditional and codified Tribal law, and featured unparalleled cultural education at numerous historic sites throughout the Nation’s 27,000 square miles of territory in Arizona and New ... |
| Post-Issuance Tax Compliance Policies for Tax-Exempt Bonds |
| April 25, 2008 - In 2007, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) sent a “Compliance Check Questionnaire” to over 200 nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations to determine whether those organizations have in place written policies and procedures for ensuring that federal tax requirements applicable to their tax-exempt bonds are met. In a speech on April 1, 2008, the IRS Commissioner for Tax Exempt and Governmental Entities said that a similar questionnaire will be prepared and sent to 200 to 500 governmental bond issuers to ... |
| Deborah Crabbe Named Co-Chair of ABI’s Business Reorganization Committee |
| Seattle – April 18, 2008 – Foster Pepper PLLC is pleased to announce that Deborah Crabbe, Member in the firm’s Creditor’s Rights and Bankruptcy group, has been appointed co-chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) Business Reorganization Committee. With more than 11,500 members, the American Bankruptcy Institute is the largest multi-disciplinary, non-partisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. Founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased ... |
| Foster Pepper Ranked 1st in Nation for Municipal New Issues – Bond Counsel Competitive |
| Seattle – April 14, 2008 – Foster Pepper PLLC has been listed by Thomson Financial as 1st in the nation for “U.S. Municipal New Issues – Bond Counsel Competitive”, with $938 million in the first quarter of 2008. Rankings and volume totals include all long-term municipal new issues underwritten during the first quarter of 2008, and do not include short-term, preliminary, private placement or rank ineligible issues. Foster Pepper’s bond counsel group is nationally recognized in the municipal securities industry, and has ... |