Company Overview
Founded in 2017, Norris George & Ostrow PLLC is a Washington, DC law firm that specializes in all aspects of tax-exempt municipal bond finance and in certain types of taxable structured debt financings.
Our ten attorneys and seven financial analyst/paralegals have degrees in law as well as business and finance. They have a combined 200 years of experience serving as counsel on a wide range of municipal bond financings. In its practice, the firm provides cash flow analyses, rebate and defeasance computations and yield proof calculations and reports, as well as opinions and calculations required in bankruptcy and debt defeasance transactions.
Our Expertise
Our lawyers have been involved in every major type of debt financing structure the market has seen for tax-exempt multifamily rental affordable housing in the past 45 years. These financings have involved FHA, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac (one of our lawyers, Kim Griffith, was head of Freddie Mac’s targeted affordable multifamily housing program from 2003 through 2015), the Federal Home Loan Banks, municipal bond insurance, bank letters of credit, insurance company guaranties and credit enhancement devices provided by other institutions. Our lawyers pioneered the development of short-term “cash-backed” tax-exempt bond financings, bank private placement and Freddie Mac tax-exempt loan or “TEL” financings, Fannie Mae “M.TEBs” financings and “total return swap” financings. Many of these financings have been multiple-tier financings utilizing a combination of senior and subordinate debt and other structures to achieve an optimal securitization of project cash flows.
Our Philosophy
Norris George & Ostrow's philosophy is that our clients and their relationships come first. Whether our client is an underwriter or a bank, the project owner or the lender, our principal goal is to work with them to develop and implement the optimal debt financing structure for the project. In the long run, we gauge our success by how effectively our role in transactions on behalf of our client strengthens and expands our client’s long-term relationship with its primary counterpart. In the case of an underwriter, bank or lender, that means its borrower client; in the case of a borrower, that means the underwriter, bank or lender, as well as the issuer and bond counsel firm with which it is working. In these representations, nothing else transcends our goal of building and strengthening our client’s relationships.
Diversity and Inclusion
Firm Statement on Diversity and Inclusion
At Norris George & Ostrow PLLC, we are committed to fostering diversity at our firm, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because we believe that having attorneys with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives enhances the quality of the service we provide to our clients. We strive to create a welcoming and inclusive work environment where all individuals may succeed and feel seen and heard.