Travis Gibbs

Practice Areas

Travis Gibbs is a partner in the Public Finance group whose practice relates to the tax law requirements attendant to tax-exempt debt. His client base and experience include the entire spectrum of tax-exempt debt types and structures and related instruments, including revenue bonds, general obligation bonds, certificates of participation, tax and revenue anticipation notes, tax assessment bonds and interest rate swaps and other derivative products.

I am responsible for the tax law aspects and concerns of each category of client for which we work in the municipal finance arena, including general governments (cities; counties; and school, college and hospital districts), proprietary governmental agencies (maritime ports; airports; and water, electric and sewer utilities), conduit issuers, conduit nonprofit borrowers and underwriters. Within that broad range of activity, my practice has recently involved significant activity in the following areas.

DIRECT PURCHASE BONDS

I have been involved as bond counsel or borrower’s counsel in a number of transactions structured as direct purchases by financial institutions. Many of these transactions involve nonprofit borrowers but also include governmental entities.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Our team and I have recently been involved in a significant number of transactions relating to the financing of general infrastructure, ranging from surface transportation, mass commuting, airport and port, and water and electric utility infrastructure.

TAX LAW COMPLIANCE

As a result of increased initiatives and audits by the IRS, I have been recently involved with assisting issuers and borrowers with crafting procedures for ensuring compliance and with training. We have also been active in assisting with audits and voluntary compliance agreements where there has been inadvertent noncompliance.

The need to address our aging infrastructure will result in continued and increased activity in the financing of infrastructure projects, including continued interest in identifying opportunities for joint efforts with the private sector.

In addition, the post issuance compliance focus will continue for some time, both in the context of training and compliance procedure development and in enforcement actions such as audits.

Career

University of Texas at Austin, J.D.

University of Florida, B.A.

Professional Memberships

American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, Tax-Exempt Committee (Past Secretary)

Steering Committee for the Bond Attorneys Workshop sponsored by the National Association of Bond Lawyers (Past Member)

National Association of Bond Lawyers