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State and Local Government

  • OVERVIEW
  • PROFESSIONALS
Thompson Coburn is a leader in public law among Midwest-based law firms, having a long tradition of representation of state and local governmental entities, and we pride ourselves on providing a one-stop array of legal services to public sector clients. We serve as general counsel or primary outside counsel and Village Attorney for a significant number of governmental entities throughout the country and particularly in Illinois and Missouri. Our service is further enhanced by the past and present involvement of members of the firm in public service activities on the local, regional and national levels.

Our attorneys have represented governmental entities effectively in a wide-variety of areas, including civil rights, employee benefits, construction, contracts, environmental, labor and employment, transportation, tax and utilities. In addition to a wealth of experience in public finance and state and municipal law, our attorneys bring a strong business and financial perspective to the representation of governmental entities in connection with transactional and special projects.

Public-Private Development Partnerships
We regularly counsel governmental entities, lenders and private developers in Missouri and Illinois, including the City of Chicago and the collar counties, in connection with real estate development projects. With decades of experience shepherding projects through the maze of agency review and approval, we establish public-private partnerships and utilize development incentives. We creatively implement strategies such as tax increment financing, tax abatement and tax credits, including the formation and/or use of community improvement and transportation development districts. We have also prosecuted, defended and advised clients on condemnation/eminent domain matters for more than 30 years. With our skillful guidance, government agencies and developers have accomplished complex community development projects.

Partners
Bonacorsi, Mary M.
Bond, Christopher S.
Citron, Bernard I.
Kotthoff, Sara E.
Lause, Michael F.
Meanes, Pamela J.
Mitchell, Steven B.
Rush, Deborah K.
Thomas, Rhonda C.
Thorp, Lisa K.
Wilson, Brandi M.
Associates
Schramm, Jessica M.
Tilghman, Alexandra R.
  • Brentwood School District
  • Chicago Transit Authority
  • City of Chicago
  • City of St. Louis Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority
  • City of Washington, MO
  • Francis Howell School District
  • Land Clearance Redevelopment Authority of the City of St. Louis
  • Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District
  • Missouri Health and Educational Facilities Authority (MOHEFA)
  • Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA)
  • Missouri State Employees Retirement System (MERS)
  • Pattonville School District
  • Saint Louis Zoo
  • Southeast Missouri State University
  • St. Louis County
  • St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority
  • University City School District
  • University of Missouri
  • Village of Addison, Illinois
  • Village of Bolingbrook, Illinois
  • Village of Hawthorn Woods, Illinois
  • Village of Palatine, Illinois
  • Village of Vernon Hills, Illinois
Public Finance

For more than 15 years, the firm has served as bond counsel to The University of Missouri, aiding in the formation of a pooled system of the University’s auxiliary facilities, including parking, student housing, dining and recreational facilities. We also assisted the University when it consolidated the financing of its hospital and clinic system into the system facilities.
Thompson Coburn lawyers served as bond counsel to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in matters involving the structuring, issuance and sale of $409,555,000 in alternate revenue bonds to build new schools and fund other capital projects.
The firm represented The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the nation’s second largest transit system, when it closed a Lease-Purchase Agreement to provide financing for the construction and purchase of 150 buses for CTA’s transit system. This bus lease-purchase was the first of its kind for the CTA and provided cost effective funding at tax-exempt interest rates. The firm served as special counsel to the CTA in structuring and documenting the financing, and was lead counsel in drafting the lease and other financing documents. Our attorneys also offered opinions as to the legality, enforceability and tax-exempt status of the financing, as well as to the perfection of security interests in the buses and other collateral that secured the transaction.
As bond counsel for The City of Columbia, Missouri, since 1980 Thompson Coburn has worked with this growing community to structure inventive bond financings that fund its mounting capital needs.

Real Estate Development

We served as bond counsel in the financing of the I-470 and 350 Transportation Development District transaction, a project located southeast of Kansas City and consisting of an approximately 722,000-square-foot “power” retail center known as SummitWoods Crossing. The firm drafted various financing documents related to the issuance of the bonds, reviewed inter-governmental agreements pertaining to the District’s imposition of a 1% sales tax and provided opinions as to the legality, enforceability and tax-exempt status of the bonds. Tax increment financing was also utilized in connection with this project.
Crossings Community Improvement District relied on Thompson Coburn as bond and disclosure counsel when the District provided financing for infrastructure and site improvements in connection with the Wildwood Town Center redevelopment project in Wildwood, Missouri. This financing was the first in Missouri in which a transportation development district utilized all three available sources of revenue (sales tax, real property tax and special assessments) to finance the costs of public improvements within the district.
Our lawyers served as underwriter’s counsel in connection with the construction of the Lake of the Ozarks Community Bridge. This matter involved the first issuance of Toll Revenue Bonds in the State of Missouri under the Transportation Corporation Act. As advisors to the underwriters, our lawyers played a pivotal role in structuring and implementing a financial plan to fund the required project costs and provide for construction reserves and interest on the bonds during the construction and start up of the Bridge operations. The firm served in a similar capacity in connection with the issuance of refunding bonds designed to restructure the financing after the Bridge project was completed.

Condemnation/Eminent Domain

Thompson Coburn has successfully represented regional agencies in major public works and transportation projects, including the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District and the Bi-State Development Agency (d/b/a Metro). The firm has worked on legal issues including eminent domain proceedings, real estate purchase and sale agreements, easement and license acquisition and negotiation, bond financing, construction and construction management agreements, environmental issues and remediation, and mechanics’ lien claims and construction disputes.
Our firm has represented developers and municipalities in a variety of TIF and Chapter 353 urban redevelopment projects, which have included property acquisitions for the Brentwood Promenade, a highly successful TIF project in St. Louis County.