Poffenberger, J. Dwight

J. Thomas Francis is a Partner in the Birmingham, Alabama office of Balch & Bingham LLP, where he has engaged in a broad public finance practice during the past 27 years. Tom specializes as bond counsel in the areas of housing, industrial development and education, and also participates in general governmental and non-profit financings for entities such as municipalities, counties, water authorities and Section 501(c)(3) organizations. Tom also serves as counsel to underwriters and banks in connection with public and private finance transactions and to new and expanding businesses with respect to realizing state and local tax benefits. Among other transactions, Tom has served as bond counsel with respect to:

·        Almost all of the multi-family housing bonds issued by Alabama Housing Finance Authority since the late 1980s, as well as several other financings for agencies and instrumentalities of the State of Alabama;

·        The Madison County Board of Education and the Jefferson County Board of Education, two of the State's largest school systems;

·        Alabama Public School and College Authority's Qualified School Construction Bonds in the amount of $300,607,000;

·        Warrants issued by the City of Montgomery to finance Montgomery's Riverfront Stadium, home of the "Biscuits", a AA major league baseball team affiliated with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays;

·        Tax-exempt bonds and taxable notes secured by bank letters of credit;

·        Improvement district special assessment bonds to finance residential development public infrastructure; and

·        Numerous bond issues to finance manufacturing facilities throughout the State.

Tom is a member of the American College of Bond Counsel. He also is a member of and frequent panelist at seminars sponsored by the National Association of Bond Lawyers ("NABL") and served a three year term on the Bond Attorneys' Workshop Steering Committee of NABL, chairing its Tax Due Diligence and Documentation section. He was recognized as an Alabama Super Lawyer, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 in Bonds and Government Finance and was named Birmingham Business Journal's Best of the Bar 2007 in Public Finance.

Prior to law school, Tom worked for three years at Virginia National Bank in Norfolk, Virginia, where he sold municipal and United States Treasury obligations and assisted with the management of the Bank's portfolio of securities.