Overview
Amy Cobb Curran is a partner and member of Chapman’s National Public Finance Department and the ESG Finance and Impact Investing cross-disciplinary team. Amy’s practice centers on social finance across multiple sectors, including public finance for nonprofit hospitals, health care systems, senior living communities, continuing care retirement communities, universities, and infrastructure projects and ESG finance and impact investing for both nonprofit and for-profit clients in a variety of impact areas. She has served as bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, and borrower's counsel in dozens of financings and related transactions and has structured, negotiated, drafted, and implemented fixed rate, variable rate, multimodal, and put bond financing structures.
Amy also represents social service providers, investors, municipal entities, and intermediaries in Pay for Success financings for early childhood education, homelessness reduction, juvenile services, and recidivism reduction projects.
In addition, Amy advises clients regarding post-issuance compliance with tax-related statutes and regulations, disclosure requirements and bond document covenants and prepares and reviews clients’ ESG investing policies.
Amy serves on Chapman's governing Policy Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee supporting non-partner attorney matters. Amy also chairs the Professional Personnel Committee, which is responsible for reviewing and supporting the performance, growth, and advancement of associate, counsel, senior counsel, and staff attorneys. She is a past chair of the firm's Employment Committee and Professional Development Committee.
Prior to joining Chapman, Amy practiced in the health care group at Jones Day.
Practice Focus
Memberships
National Association of Bond Lawyers
Women in Public Finance
Impact Investing Legal Working Group
Honors & Awards
Ranked by Chambers USA as a leading lawyer for Public Finance in Illinois (Band 1)
Recognized by Best Lawyers in America in Public Finance Law
Chicago-Kent College of Law Distinguished Alumna Service Award, 2023-2024
Chicago-Kent College of Law Student Bar Association Alumna of the Year, 2020-2021
Admitted
Illinois
Minnesota
Education
Chicago-Kent College of Law, J.D., high honors, 2001
The University of Oklahoma, B.A., summa cum laude, 1998
Notable Engagements
- First US Pay for Success Financing Supporting Veterans with PTSD
Chapman represented three investors in the first US Pay for Success financing that supports unemployed or underemployed veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in attaining competitive and compatible employment. The $5.1 million Veterans Coordinated Approach to Recovery and Employment (Veterans CARE) initiative is a partnership of Social Finance, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, local governments, and impact investors, and is the first multi-state project of its kind.
- Social Impact Fund Formation
Chapman served as counsel to a social impact fund managed by Local Initiatives Support Corporation that provides project loans to acquire, preserve, and improve affordable housing in the Detroit metropolitan area. Chapman assisted in the formation of the fund, which involved raising capital through multiple credit facilities with local, regional, and national financial institutions.
- First-of-Its-Kind Green Bond Financing
Chapman served as counsel to the underwriter in a $297 million first-of-its kind tax-exempt green bond financing of a senior living facility. The Zen-inspired life plan community is designed to achieve net zero energy status, will be built using sustainable construction materials, and will feature food recycling and other sustainability-minded upgrades. In addition to market-rate independent living apartments, the community will incorporate low- and moderate-income housing, as well as assisted living and memory support units.
- First-of-Its-Kind Financing for Asthma Reduction Project
Chapman represented a financial services company in the Pay for Success financing of a new social impact project that aims to address the underlying causes of asthma by providing in-home asthma care and environmental interventions to low-income New Yorkers. The project is the first of its kind to use private sector investment to fund preventative asthma care services.
- Denver Supportive Housing Financing
Chapman served as counsel to Northern Trust Corporation in a new Pay for Success financing initiative by the Denver Housing to Health (H2H) program that provides housing and wraparound services for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
Insights
Publications
- Impact Investing – Elevating Racial Equity in the Municipal Bond Market, Chapman Insights, February 24, 2022
- ESG Investing to Continue Growth in 2021 Under Biden Administration, Chapman Insights, March 2, 2021
- The Results Act: Federal Funding Available to Tackle Social Challenges, Social Impact Perspectives, April 2019
- Inroads to Innovation: State Adoption of Pay for Success Legislation, April 2017
- IRS Provides Guidance Regarding Written Post-Issuance Compliance Procedures for Tax-Exempt Bonds, August 2011
- IRS TEB Publishes Final Report On Post-Issuance Compliance Survey, reprinted in Health Lawyers Weekly, July 22, 2011
Presentations
- Panelist, "Pay for Success Financing," The Healthcare Roundtable for Chief Financial Officers, September 7, 2023
- Panelist, "ESG Investing and Municipal Bonds," and "Tax-Exempt Financing Basics for 501(c)(3) Organizations," The Healthcare Roundtable for Chief Financial Officers, September 8, 2022
- Panelist, "Debt Management During a Crisis," Warbird Consulting Partners, October 8, 2020
- Panelist, "A Career in Public Finance," Chicago Summer Business Institute, July 24, 2020
- Guest Lecturer, “Pay for Success Financing,” Lawyers as Social Innovators class at Chicago-Kent College of Law, November 28, 2018
- Panelist, "The Early Years: The Evolution of Impact Bonds," Legal Issues in Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing in the US and Beyond, June 5-6, 2018
- Guest Lecturer, “Pay for Success Financing,” Lawyers as Social Innovators class at Chicago-Kent College of Law, November 8, 2017
- Panelist, "Pay for Success Social Impact Bonds," National Association of Bond Lawyers 41st Annual Bond Attorneys' Workshop, October 19-21, 2016
- Panelist, "Moving from PFS Feasibility to PFS Construction," 3rd Annual Conference of the Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors, June 22-24, 2016
- Moderator, "Pay for Success Financing," The Bond Buyer's Midwest Municipal Market Conference, May 17, 2016
- Presenter, "Pay for Success Financing," Chicago Nonprofit CFO Roundtable, October 14, 2015
- Panelist, "Pay for Success Social Impact Bonds," National Association of Bond Lawyers 40th Annual Bond Attorneys' Workshop, September 9-10, 2015
- Panelist, "Structuring a Transaction: The Nuts and Bolts of Contracting, Negotiations, and Getting to Launch," 2nd Annual Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors Conference, April 28, 2015
Community
United States Soccer Foundation
- Chicago Leadership Council