Kenneth Roberts

Ken’s advice to clients draws upon over 40 years of a diverse public finance practice involving multiple States and sectors. His work includes extensive experience with the authorization, documentation, funding and administration of state financing programs and with the development of related legislation, administrative regulations and industry standard practices. He has particular expertise with loan and savings programs to fund higher education costs and with financing educational, cultural and research facilities and state employment-related payment programs.

Ken’s general finance-related experience includes a broad range of portfolio, project and system financings and public procurement and contracting matters, as well as in federal and state legislative, administrative rulemaking and ruling, insolvency and litigation matters. He has advised clients on issues ranging from initial program authorization and documentation to program restructuring and termination.

His transactional law experience includes primary responsibility for over $12 billion of publicly marketed financings by public student loan programs in over twenty States and for the launching or relaunching of several state qualified tuition programs; primary responsibility for public or private conduit, direct and developer-based financings for higher education or other nonprofit facilities in eight States and the District of Columbia; substantial participation in the authorization and financing of employment-related benefit reform programs in several States; and substantial participation in financings in several States for each of resources recovery, turnpike and public power purposes.

Ken received the National Association of State Treasurers 2008 Corporate Affiliate Award for his representation of NAST as an amicus party before the United States Supreme Court in the Kentucky v. Davis case, which confirmed that a State may support the market for its public debt by exempting only its public debt from its taxes upon interest, while taxing interest upon public debt of other States. He has also assisted NAST, the National Association of Bond Lawyers, and other industry groups in responding to certain aspects of the Dodd-Frank reforms, in the development of voluntary disclosure standards and in the development of laws and regulations to implement a number of higher education funding and other public finance programs.