Overview
Larry White is a partner in the Illinois Public Finance Department at Chapman and Cutler LLP and has been practicing law since 1990. He serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter’s counsel to governmental entities and underwriters on a wide variety of governmental financings. Larry also counsels investment banks, commercial banks and financial advisors on a wide variety of government related topics, including public offering disclosure and regulatory compliance. In addition, Larry is a frequent speaker on public finance and related regulatory topics.
Larry has focused his public finance practice on general obligation and revenue bond transactions, including financings for cities, villages, school districts, park districts, counties, libraries and fire protection districts. In addition, he is one of the lead attorneys in the firm’s bond counsel representation of each of the City of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois.
Larry was previously named one of the 40 Under Forty Lawyers to watch in Illinois by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company.
Practice Focus
- Bond Counsel
- Cities and Villages
- Counties
- Disclosure Counsel
- Double-Barreled Bonds
- ESG Counsel and Sustainable Finance
- Fire Protection Districts
- Forest Preserve and Conservation Districts
- General Obligation Bonds
- Governmental Revenue Bonds
- Leases, Installment Contracts and Debt Certificates
- Libraries
- Municipal Building Authorities and Public Building Commissions
- Park Districts
- Primary and Secondary Education
- Public Finance
- Sanitary Districts
- School Districts
- Special District Bonds
- Student Loan Revenue Bonds
- Swaps, Derivatives and Synthetic Structures
- Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes and Warrants
- Tax Increment Bond Financings
- Townships
- Underwriter's Counsel
- Water, Sewer and Other Districts and Agencies
Memberships
National Association of Bond Lawyers
Illinois Government Finance Officers Association
Illinois Tax Increment Association
Admitted
Illinois, 1990
Education
University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D., 1990
University of Texas, B.B.A., Accounting, High Honors, 1987
Notable Engagements
Illinois’s First C-PACE FinancingChapman served as special counsel to an Illinois county in the state’s first transaction under a commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing program, which allows property owners to obtain upfront financing from private capital providers for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in new and existing buildings. Funding is secured by a special assessment lien on the property and is repaid as a line item on the owners’ property tax bill. The financing, which closed on August 30, 2019, provided for a roof replacement and solar installation for a commercial property in DuPage County.
Innovations in Broadband AccessChapman served as underwriter’s counsel in a series of bond transactions that financed the expansion of business and residential broadband access in Utah, particularly in underserved rural areas, by a community-owned open access fiber optic network. The bond financings provided the community-owned network with the funds to build the fiber infrastructure, which is then accessed by independent internet service providers in a competitive marketplace. This innovative open access network model helps new service providers enter the market, lowers high-speed internet costs for users, and promotes economic development. Future expansion within Utah is planned.
Insights
Publications
- "The Federal Debt Limit's Impact on Your Bond Refunding Escrow," The Dispatch (October 2017): 6.
- "Governing Law for Municipal Bankruptcy in Illinois," Pratt's Journal of Bankruptcy Law (January 2014): 16-21.
- "Home Rule in Illinois: A Modern Controversy Reignites an Old Debate," The Dispatch (Late Winter 2014): 6-8.
- "Issuing School Bonds: Standards of Care in a Heightened Regulatory Environment," The Journal of School Business Management, Illinois Association of School Business Officials 24.2 (Fall 2012): 10-18.
Recent Presentations
- "Addressing Pension Challenges—Is Now the Time to Issue Pension Obligation Bonds?" Illinois Government Finance Officers Association Virtual Roundtable, December 2021
- "The Federal Infrastructure Bill: What's in It for Your Municipality?," Illinois Municipal League's 108th Annual Conference, September 2021
- "Issuing Bonds—Hot Topics in Public Finance," Illinois Government Finance Officers Association Annual Conference, September 2021
- "Continuing Disclosure," Illinois Association of School Business Officials Bookkeepers Conference, March 2021
- “COVID-19—Local Government Liquidity Challenges and Short-Term Borrowing Options,” Illinois Government Finance Officers Association, May 2020
- "Borrowing with Bonds: New SEC Developments and Related Practical Considerations," Illinois Government Finance Officers Association Annual Conference, September 2019
- "To Borrow or Not to Borrow? Making Sense of Issuing Bonds in Today's Uncertain Illinois Bond Market" (Webinar), Illinois Government Finance Officers Association, October 2017