agfs.comAGFS® Welcome to AGFS® - Robert Doty

Welcome to AGFS SPECIAL DOCUMENT Managing Your Municipal Advisory Relationships--Fiduciary Duties of Municipal Advisors (and Counsel) AGFS MUNICIPAL BOND EXPERT WITNESS SERVICES & CONSULTING WITH LAWYERS Telephone: (916) 761-3432 E-mail: Robert.Doty@AGFS.com Robert Doty provides municipal bond litigation consulting, forensic analysis, and municipal bond expert witness services to legal counsel relating to a broad spectrum of issues concerning the municipal securities market. The issues include, among other things: the structure, documentary terms, implementation and constitutional, statutory, and documentary priority of a wide variety of state and local government securities (*see examples in the Note below of varying types of municipal securities); state, local and private projects and programs funded with municipal securities; federal and state assistance programs; municipal bond market customs, practices and standards of care; disclosure, due diligence, fiduciary and regulatory roles and responsibilities of parties in primary offerings, the secondary market, workouts and other transactions in municipal securities; municipal securities law and regulation; and municipal finance in general. *Note: Various categories of municipal securities include, among others, the following: limited and unlimited tax-, assessment- and revenue-secured municipal bonds, notes, special revenue obligations, senior and subordinated obligations, leases, appropriation obligations, moral obligations, general fund obligations, certificates of participation, variable interest rate obligations (VRDOs and VRDNs), installment purchase agreements, pooled securities, and obligations of public-private partnerships. With the advent of municipal advisor regulation in 2010 pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the statutory fiduciary duty of municipal advisors to municipal bond issuers under federal law, and the fiduciary duty of municipal advisors to municipal bond issuers and obligated persons under state common law, have gained significantly enhanced focus and emphasis in the municipal bond market. The overall fiduciary duty concept includes, among other things, the fiduciary duty of care and the fiduciary duty of loyalty, together with related fiduciary duties. In that connection, it is noteworthy that municipal advisors generally serve their clients in agency capacities, providing advice and representing the clients' interests in dealings with numerous third parties in the conduct of bond issues. Further, the Dodd-Frank Act contains a statutory antifraud prohibition for municipal advisors. Moreover, MSRB Rule G-17 contains a fair dealing mandate for municipal advisors and prohibits "any deceptive, dishonest, or unfair practice" in "the conduct of ... municipal advisory activities." MSRB Rule G-42 adds numerous important specific mandates and prohibitions applicable to municipal advisors. As a former financial and municipal advisor for more than 20 years, and as a lawyer who has taught and studied fiduciary duty at many points throughout his career, Mr. Doty is well-qualified to assist counsel, who may not always be intimately familiar with key nuances of fiduciary duty and agency principles, in understanding the roles and responsibilities of financial advisors and other municipal advisors. As a municipal advisor expert witness and litigation consultant, Mr. Doty is familiar with the Dodd-Frank Act, MSRB rules and key market resources that provide substantial guidance to counsel in this complex area. Over a 30-year period, Mr. Doty has provided municipal securities litigation consulting and municipal bond expert witness services for counsel relating to disputes in almost three dozen states. Mr. Doty has participated in approximately 160 municipal and corporate securities cases, and has testified as a finance industry expert witness in depositions and at trial approximately 80 times. Mr. Doty and his business, AGFS®, are located in Annapolis, Maryland. Mr. Doty, President and Proprietor of AGFS, participated for more than 45 years in billions of dollars of successful transactions in municipal bonds, municipal securities offerings, workouts of defaulted and other troubled municipal bond issues conducted by others, and corporate finance transactions benefiting local governments and private corporations in approximately two dozen states across the nation. Mr. Doty continues to serve as consultant to, and municipal bond expert witness on municipal finance in consultation with, legal counsel to municipal securities issuers, underwriters, municipal advisors, bond counsel, trustees, investors and governmental agencies. AGFS no longer provides financial advisory services to state and local governments or obligated persons involved in municipal securities offerings. In his litigation consulting work with attorneys, Mr. Doty and AGFS emphasize municipal bond industry customs, practices and standards of care and the roles and responsibilities of market participants. Mr. Doty has an extensive familiarity with a wealth of recognized and authoritative industry literature, data, analysis and guidance published by leading municipal bond market commentators, regulators, databanks, and market organizations representing issuers, investors, underwriters, municipal advisors and legal counsel. Those resources often provide important qualitative and quantitative support for Mr. Doty's expert opinions, which he uses actively in forming his opinions and in preparing his reports. In his work, among other things, Mr. Doty provides to counsel financial information and consultancy services, including among other things, financial information and consultancy services relating to municipal bonds and municipal finance; financial advice and consultancy services relating to state and local:// government loan programs for consumers, homeowners and businesses; and financial consultation in the field of state and local government securities transactions. Mr. Doty is a member of the Securities Experts Roundtable . For infomation regarding Mr. Doty's consultation approach, go to his Lawyers Monthly Interview . For information regarding Mr. Doty's qualifications, publications and municipal bond market participation, go to Robert Doty , Experience Highlights , Financing Experience , and Curriculum Vitae , and for information regarding Mr. Doty's litigation consultation and municipal bond expert witness services and experience, go to Consulting with Lawyers . Mr. Doty has published more than 80 articles and several books on municipal bonds. Mr. Doty’s publications have been cited favorably by the Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA and in judicial decisions on municipal securities law. Mr. Doty's most recent book is EXPANDING MUNICIPAL SECURITIES ENFORCEMENT: PROFOUND CHANGES FOR ISSUERS AND OFFICIALS (International Municipal Lawyers Association, 2016). The book is available at IMLA [Click Here] . The book discusses significant expansion from early 2013 to 2016 in the enforcement activities of the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to municipal bond issuers and officials. Not only did the scope of securities law enforcement actions increase greatly during that period in terms of number and subject matter, but today the sanctions imposed are substantially more exacting for both municipal issuers and issuer officials, as well as for underwriters, municipal advisors and other market participants. Mr. Doty is the author of MUNICIPAL SECURITIES LAW & PRACTICE: REGULATION, DISCLOSURE AND ENFORCEMENT , 212 Securities Practice Series (Bloomberg BNA 2014, rev. 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), which discusses the pattern of securities regulation in the municipal securities market and enforcement actions over the past 45 years. Mr. Doty also is the author of the BLOOMBERG VISUAL GUIDE TO MUNICIPAL BONDS (John Wiley & Sons and Bloomberg Press, 2012). The book is available at Amazon , John Wiley & Sons , and Barne...