Stephen J. Adnopoz
Partner
New York
Biography
Stephen J. Adnopoz represents public authorities, underwriters, and purchasers of municipal securities, borrowers, and providers of credit enhancement and trustees, as well as serving as bond, transaction, and disclosure counsel in hundreds of financings aggregating in excess of $20 billion. He has substantial experience with non-profit, senior living, multi-family housing, pooled security, private activity, higher education, and taxable economic development financings, as well as other revenue bond and general obligation financings. His experience includes public and intrastate offerings, primary and secondary private placements, taxable and tax-exempt securities, construction loans, permanent financings, workouts, and reorganizations in a broad range of financing purposes, methods and structures. He has also assisted clients in drafting legislation.
Mr. Adnopoz has particular knowledge of and appreciation for the internal processes of investment banks from his experience as in-house counsel to the municipal securities group of a leading bulge bracket broker-dealer. He is experienced with controlling risk by advising on transaction structures and related legal, regulatory, and reputational considerations.
He has served as counsel in transactions across the country, from Maine to Florida to California, as well as many other states and territories. Mr. Adnopoz has devoted a substantial portion of his practice to New York State issuers, particularly in serving as bond counsel to more than 17 industrial development agencies, including the New York City Industrial Development Agency and bond counsel or underwriter’s counsel for issues by various New York authorities, such as Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority, New York State Thruway Authority, New York State Housing Finance Agency, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation, State of New York Mortgage Agency, New York City Transitional Finance Authority, New York Local Government Assistance Corporation, and Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. He is also one of the primary Special Counsel for State Debt for the New York State Office of the State Comptroller and one of the primary Disclosure and Public Finance Counsel for the New York State Division of the Budget.
Mr. Adnopoz is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, American Bar Association (ABA), the Municipal Forum of New York, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has served as a faculty member for ABA CLE programs on the impact of the Stimulus Act and currently serves as Chair of the Public Finance Committee and as Budget Officer of the State and Local Government Section of the ABA. Mr. Adnopoz has been a panelist at workshops and seminars on municipal bonds in the areas of non-profit financings, taxable obligations, and pooled security/bond banks. He has also been active in assisting states and municipalities in creating economic development programs. His most recent publication is “Discrimination Remediation Done Right, Taxation Recalibration a Fright” in Inside the Minds: Navigating Public Finance Trends and Regulations (pp 27-40), Thomson Reuters/Aspatore, 2014.
Mr. Adnopoz received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and an A.B., cum laude, with distinction, from Dartmouth College. He is admitted to practice in New York and Connecticut.
Education & Bar Admissions
Education
- University of Virginia School of Law, J.D.
- Dartmouth College, A.B., cum laude, with distinction
Bar Admissions
- New York
- Connecticut
