Veteran bond attorney Wayne J. Neveu has joined Butler Snow LLP in its New Orleans office as part of the firm’s expansion effort in Louisiana.
Neveu, who has more than 35 years of experience with an emphasis in affordable housing finance, will work in the firm’s public finance, tax incentives and credit markets group.
“Wayne will be a tremendous asset to our firm and to our public finance group, and we are thrilled he has joined our team,” said Christopher R. Maddux, the firm’s chairman. “He is nationally recognized as an excellent bond attorney, and for the last 35 years has applied his knowledge and passion to provide safe and adequate housing throughout Louisiana.”
Most recently Neveu worked at the Foley & Judell law firm in New Orleans, said Butler Snow spokeswoman Sherry Vance Allen, who added that he has “developed an outstanding reputation in housing public finance, among other expertise.”
Neveu has served as bond and special counsel to a range of government entities and public instrumentalities, including the Louisiana Housing Corp. and its issuance of tax-exempt bonds for single and multifamily housing.
He has been bond counsel on more than $5 billion of single-family mortgage revenue bonds and multifamily housing revenue bonds for state and local housing finance agencies, according to his biography.
Neveu was also lead bond counsel to the New Orleans Aviation Board in connection with more than $990 million of general airport revenue bonds to finance a new terminal, which opened at the Louis Armstrong Airport Nov. 6, 2019.
As bond counsel to the Orleans Parish School Board, he worked on the issuance of more than $750 million of general obligation and revenue bonds, and revenue anticipation notes. He was also the board’s special counsel in connection with public-private partnerships using new market and historic tax credits to construct and renovate schools.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1972, he received a law degree from Columbia University School of Law. He is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and has served on several local housing committees.
In the last two years, Butler Snow has added several other public finance attorneys to its offices in Louisiana, including Michael J. Busada in Shreveport, Thomas G. Hessburg in Baton Rouge, and former U.S. Sen. David Vitter in New Orleans.
The firm is continuing to expand in Louisiana, Allen said.
Butler Snow has more than 40 attorneys in the firm’s public finance, tax incentives and credit markets group. The practice includes work on all forms of state and municipal bonds and obligations to finance and refinance governmental debt as well as industrial and economic development financing, defaults and workouts.
Butler Snow ranked seventh in the Southeast region as bond counsel in the first half of 2019, credited with $1.15 billion in financings, according to Refinitiv.
