William Rhodes > Ballard Spahr LLP > Philadelphia, United States > Lawyer Profile

Work Department

Public Finance

Position

Partner, Leader of Education Industry Group, Leader of Municipal recovery Initiative 

Career

William C. Rhodes leads the firm’s Education industry group and its Municipal Recovery Initiative. Bill regularly represents issuers, broker-dealers, and investors in all areas of public finance, with an emphasis on the offering of high-yield (unrated) municipal securities.

Bill represents clients in the financing of public infrastructure, transportation, economic development, and public purpose facilities for governments and their authorities. His clients also include public and private secondary schools, colleges, and universities; health care systems; cultural institutions; and municipal- and investor-owned water, wastewater, and energy utilities. He also has extensive experience in affordable housing, including single-family mortgage finance and multifamily, military, and senior housing projects.

Awards:

The Best Lawyers in America, public finance law, 2015-2019

Admissions:

Colorado

Pennsylvania

Memberships

Colorado Bar Association

Philadelphia Bar Association

National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL)

Pennsylvania Association of Bond Lawyers (PABL) Pennsylvania Economy League, Inc., Board Member

Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, LLC, Board Member

Past board member and former President, Elfreth’s Alley Association, a 501(c)(3) corporation that preserves and interprets Elfreth’s Alley, the nation’s oldest continuous residential street and a National Historic Landmark in Philadelphia

Education

Dickinson School of Law of Pennsylvania State University (J.D. 1991)

Member, Dickinson Law Review

Swarthmore College (B.A. 1987, cum laude)

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): municipal

The Ballard Spahr LLP practice specializes in bonded debt, and benefits from the firm’s expertise in local and labor tax. Vincent Marriott, based in Philadelphia, leads a team that is experienced Chapter 9, acting for indenture trustees, credit enhancers and borrowers. Public finance specialist William Rhodes, also in Philadelphia, is head of the firm’s municipal recovery initiative. The department represented the National Federation of Municipal Analysts in the preparation and submission of an amicus curia brief at the First Circuit. The matter relates to a ruling at the US District Court for the District of Puerto Rico against the holders and insurers of special revenue bonds issued by the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority; associate Chantelle McClamb was heavily involved in this case. In another highlight, the practice is representing Wells Fargo, as indenture trustee, in the default and bankruptcy of a multi-hospital health system in California that has multiple series of municipal bonds outstanding. Adding strength to the national finance and bankruptcy bench are William Wassweiler, who joined the team in Minneapolis after the firm merged with legacy firm Lindquist & Vennum LLP; and David Fernandez, who arrived in the New York office from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.