| Foster Pepper’s Greg Guedel Presented with KCBA Young Lawyers’ Outstanding Mentor Award |
| February 8, 2010 – The King County Bar Association’s (KCBA) Young Lawyer Division has awarded Foster Pepper attorney Greg Guedel with its Outstanding Mentor Award for 2009. The Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Board of Trustees’ selection is based on substantial contributions to the teaching, training, or professional development of one or more young lawyers of a legal or non-legal nature. Greg’s continued work as an advocate for Foster Pepper’s pro bono program, especially as it relates to the firm’s Native American Legal ... |
| Avoiding Pitfalls in Commercial Real Estate Loan Workouts by Bill Lynch, Attorney, ... |
| [To view, print or e-mail a copy of this News Alert in PDF, please click here.] February 5, 2010 - Adverse comments and diversity in practice among federal regulators examining workouts of commercial real estate (CRE) loans have significantly affected many banks and credit unions. Attempting to clarify their standards for examinations, these regulators published a new Policy Statement on Prudent Commercial Real Estate Loan Workouts late last year, updating guidance they issued in 1991. The statement expresses ... |
| Foster Pepper Clients Win Landmark Ruling on Public School Funding in Washington |
| February 4, 2010 - Today the trial court issued a long anticipated ruling in the McCleary v. State case – holding that the State’s underfunding of its public schools is so severe that it violates Article IX, section 1 of our State Constitution. Foster Pepper’s Tom Ahearne was the lead trial counsel in this suit. Washington’s constitution mandates that “It is the paramount duty of the State to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders”. The McCleary plaintiffs filed their suit in ... |
| Issuers of Build America Bonds to Receive IRS Compliance Check Questionnaires in 2010 |
| February 1, 2010 - The IRS has publicly announced that it expects to issue in 2010 a “Compliance Check Questionnaire” to every governmental unit that issued “direct pay” Build America Bonds in 2009. The compliance check questionnaires will, among other things, assess the extent to which issuers have adopted post-issuance federal tax compliance policies and procedures. See Foster Pepper’s 2008 E-Alert about similar prior IRS compliance check initiatives. “Build America bonds” were authorized under new Section 54AA(d) of ... |
| Foster Pepper Ranked 1st in Nation for Municipal New Issues in 2009 – Bond Counsel ... |
| January 29, 2010 – For the second consecutive year, Foster Pepper PLLC has been listed by Thomson Reuters as 1st in the nation for “U.S. Municipal New Issues – Bond Counsel Competitive”, with $3.17 billion in 2009. Rankings and volume totals include all long-term municipal new issues underwritten during the full year of 2009, and do not include short-term, preliminary, private placement or rank ineligible issues. Foster Pepper’s bond counsel group, based out of its Seattle and Spokane offices, is nationally recognized ... |