3 public finance attorneys become partners at Ballard Spahr

Ballard Spahr has promoted three public finance attorneys to partners the firm announced.

The public finance lawyers include Charles Treece, Azer Akhtar, both in Washington, D.C., and Jennifer Santangelo in Philadelphia. They were among the seven attorneys Ballard Spahr elected to the firm’s partnership on July 1.

Treece’s practice focuses on representing government-sponsored enterprises and their networks of sellers, servicers and lenders in financing affordable multifamily housing development throughout the United States.

Financing involves tax-exempt debt and low-income housing tax credits, and he routinely structures, negotiates, and advises on transactions involving the credit enhancement on a primary- or secondary-market basis, securitization and direct placement of debt.

Treece returned to Ballard Spahr in 2019 from Fannie Mae, where he was associate general counsel in the multifamily division.

“What I do is largely tax-exempt financing relating to multifamily affordable housing, deeply affordable housing,” Treece told The Bond Buyer. “We do those deals all over the country. We also do a lot of propriety tax-exempt securitization work.”

Because Ballard’s public finance department is “very strong,” he said, “to make partner in this group and to know that the existing partners and the people that we’ve worked with for all of these years is in part an acknowledgement on their part that they think we’re good at what we do and that we can take the next step,” he said.

Akhtar, who joined Ballard Spahr in 2015, represents lenders in the financing of multifamily properties. He represents lenders and GSE loan servicers in the origination, sale, and servicing of commercial real estate loans under Freddie Mac’s capital markets execution and targeted affordable housing product lines; Fannie Mae’s delegated underwriting and service and multifamily affordable housing product lines; and proprietary bridge loan products.

He has closed on transactions that include conventional and affordable originations and has experience with financings involving low-income housing tax credits, housing assistance payment contracts, preferred equity, ground leases, payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) and tax abatements.

Most of his practice revolves around representing GSE lenders, Akhtar told The Bond Buyer

Historically in his housing work the split was about 75% conventional financings and 25% of affordable housing deals, he said.

“As the overall economy has slowed down in the past six months, we seen the agencies slow down a little bit and we’ve seen a change in the percentages of the work I have. Now I’m seeing a lot more affordable work come in — so now it’s about a 60%-40% split.”

The economic concerns at this time makes this class unique, especially in their area of practice, he said.

“There have been challenges in the past few months,” Akhtar said. “And I’m seeing other challenges on the horizon. So I think it’s going to be interesting to be on the front lines and facing this head-on and be part of this national practice.”

Santangelo has more than 25 years of experience and her clients include financial institutions and private equity firms.

She advises on cash flow and asset-based loans; syndicated loans; real estate financing transactions; equipment leasing transactions; senior, subordinate, and mezzanine debt financing transactions for mergers, acquisitions, and purchases and sales of businesses; subscription lines of credit; and forbearance, workout, and restructuring of troubled loans.

Santangelo also handles acquisition, construction, and receivables financing for timeshare projects across the nation.

Corporate attorneys named as partners include:

Lorene Boudreau in Philadelphia, who works on environmental litigation matters and provides environmental counsel on regulatory and transactional matters. She is a co-leader of the firm’s environmental, social, and governance team, with experience advising firms on climate change issues.

Christopher Jones in Philadelphia, where he co-leads the firm’s real estate team.

Elizabeth McManus in Philadelphia, where she represents businesses and organizations nationwide, including global banks, consulting firms, major league sports teams and health systems.

Charles Nelson in Minneapolis where he assists clients with issues related to bankruptcy, debtor-creditor rights, commercial financial disputes, real estate and construction disputes, probate and trust administration disputes, and pre- and post-judgment collection.

“These attorneys exemplify the highest values of our firm,” chair Mark Stewart said. “When I look at them, I see excellence, ingenuity, and unparalleled dedication to clients. They have made tremendous contributions to the success of our firm, and we are immensely proud to congratulate them on their promotion.”

Ballard Spahr, headquartered in Philadelphia, is an Am Law 100 law firm with more than 600 lawyers in 15 U.S. offices and serves clients across industries in litigation, transactions, and regulatory compliance.

In the municipal finance area, the company consistently ranks in the top 25 of bond counsel firms. In 2023, it was 23rd with 74 deals worth $3.755 billion; in the first half of this year it ranked 22nd with 20 deals worth $2.011 billion.