Overview
Larry White is a partner and member of Chapman’s Illinois Public Finance Department. He serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter’s counsel to governmental entities and underwriters on governmental financings in Illinois and around the country. 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 topics.
Larry focuses much of 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.
He also devotes a significant amount of his practice to new and developing areas of finance, including broadband finance and property assessed clean energy (PACE) finance.
Representative Matters
Broadband Finance
- 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
- Underwriter’s counsel on a first-of-its-kind limited public offering, the proceeds of which were used to support commercial and residential broadband expansion in Bozeman, Montana and surrounding areas
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Finance
- Bond counsel on a commercial PACE financing to finance water and energy efficiency measures in a new multifamily housing development
- Bond counsel on a commercial PACE financing to finance the conversion of a 135,000 SF former warehouse into a hydroponic vertical farm facility
- Bond counsel on a commercial PACE transaction to finance the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of a group of buildings centered around a historic theatre in the City of Chicago
- Special counsel to an Illinois county in the state’s first transaction under a commercial PACE financing program, which provided for a roof replacement and solar installation for a commercial property
Practice Focus
- Bond Counsel
- Broadband Finance
- 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
- PACE Financing
- Park Districts
- Primary and Secondary Education
- Public Finance
- Sanitary Districts
- School Districts
- Special District Bonds
- Student Loan Revenue Bonds
- 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 C-PACE financing program.
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.
Historic Theater RenovationChapman served as bond counsel for the C-PACE financing of a historic theater rehabilitation in Chicago.
Hydroponic Farm FinancingChapman served as bond counsel on the C-PACE financing of a hydroponic vertical farm facility. Once completed, the project will be among the nation’s largest indoor vertical farms.
Green Housing DevelopmentChapman served as bond counsel for a C-PACE financing of water and energy efficiency measures for a new multifamily housing development.
The Bond Buyer's 2022 Small Issuer Financing Deal of the YearChapman served as underwriter's counsel in a first-of-its-kind limited public offering for commercial and residential broadband expansion in Montana.
2024 PACESetter Innovative Deal of the YearChapman served as initial purchaser’s counsel on a $172 million commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing of the PG&E corporate headquarters in Oakland, California. The transaction marked the largest C-PACE loan for an office property in the United States to date and was named the 2024 PACESetter Innovative Deal of the Year ($50M+) by PACENation.
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
