Since the 1920s, municipal law has been a primary focus of the firm. We regularly provide special counsel services to states, counties, cities, school districts, housing authorities, public hospital districts, and other municipal entities throughout the Northwest. Our lawyers have been actively engaged in all aspects of the law pertaining to governments in Washington state, and are the most active in affordable housing finance in the state. We view ourselves as our clients' adjunct legal department. Foster Pepper provides depth and knowledge to address a time-consuming, difficult, or in some cases, politically sensitive legal issue.

Foster Pepper’s bond counsel group, based out of its Seattle and Spokane offices, is nationally recognized in the municipal securities industry, and has been for 70 years. Foster Pepper lawyers are well known to issuers, underwriters, rating agencies, and bond insurers, and were involved in the formation of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and the American College of Bond Counsel.

Foster Pepper PLLC’s public finance group has been listed by Thomson Reuters as first in the nation for “Top Bond Counsel – Competitive,” with 27 issues at $4.3 billion for the full 2012 year. Additionally, the group ranked fourth in the nation for “Top Disclosure Counsel” with 27 issues at $4.9 billion. Finally, the group also ranked ninth overall for “Top Bond Counsel” with 112 issues at $7.1 billion. The 2013 U.S. News/Best Lawyers survey also listed the firm's public finance group as a Seattle Tier 1 practice. 

We respect the ability of our municipal clients' elected and appointed officials and staff to make good decisions. Our goal is to help our clients better analyze their own concerns and goals in light of a clear understanding of the relevant law, thereby allowing our clients to make decisions that are right for them. The negotiation and drafting of intergovernmental contracts is an increasingly significant aspect of municipal law. Our attorneys have drafted numerous inter-local contracts, joint operating agreements, and other arrangements among governmental entities on a wide range of topics and legal issues. We have prepared numerous cooperative agreements for water, sewer, and solid waste facilities. By further example, we recently facilitated the development of the 800Mhz cooperative agreement to enhance public safety communication within Snohomish County.

As participants in the civic life of the region, we are intimately familiar with the public policy context for efforts to develop infrastructure projects. Our attorneys have served on state-wide and local boards and committees charged with studying or advancing various aspects of transportation and infrastructure projects, including the Governor's Competitiveness Council, the High Speed Ground Transportation Commission, the Transportation Policy and Growth Management Boards of the Puget Sound Regional Council, various committees charged with helping Sound Transit develop and win voter approval of a Regional Transit Plan, Sound Transit's North Corridor Task Force, the King County Design Commission, and the Metro Citizens Transit Advisory Committee