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Ann D. Fillingham

Senior Counsel

Ann Fillingham's name does not appear on buildings, roads, schools, or parks. She doesn't personally deliver the essential services that people expect from state and local governments. But across the State of Michigan, there are countless projects, programs, and facilities that likely would not exist but for Ann's innovative and committed lawyering on matters related to public, structured, and infrastructure finance.

With a practice that also includes substantial transactions work for underwriters and financial institutions, Ann has earned a reputation for her creative financing solutions for governmental entities that consistently try to do more with less.

Ann brings a wealth of experience to her work with public sector clients who value her sound counsel, consensus-building acumen, and understanding of their unique pressures and priorities. Ann's hard work and inventive approach have led to many first-of-their-kind financing arrangements that have facilitated infrastructure projects from Marquette to Detroit.

In the public finance area, Ann serves as bond counsel and underwriter's counsel to numerous state and local issuers. She serves as an integral part of many of her client's most important financial restructurings and has worked extensively with the State of Michigan and its various departments and authorities on both taxable and tax-exempt issues.

Additionally, Ann has served as bond counsel or underwriter's counsel on many county, municipal, school, and local authority bond issues and many conduit transactions for acute care and continuing care facilities and economic development projects.

Ann works extensively with financial institutions in her corporate and finance practice, structuring and documenting both taxable letter of credit enhanced debt offerings and commercial finance transactions. Her work includes transactions negotiation and documentation, commercial lending, and federal and state regulatory compliance work for lending institutions.

Ann’s active participation as a member and Past President of the National Association of Bond Lawyers Board of Directors provides regular opportunities to meet with municipal finance regulatory leaders at the IRS, Treasury, the SEC and the MSRB, as well as municipal market organizations like SIFMA, GFOA, NAST and NASACT to discuss and comment on a wide range of topics, such as the recent MSRB request for ESG comments.

“With a successful public finance transaction, a state gets its roads fixed, seniors receive essential services, or a school district receives the resources it needs. It is tremendously rewarding to see how the work I do manifests itself in making communities better.”
    • University of Michigan, J.D., cum laude
    • Michigan State University, B.A., with high honors

  • Bar Admissions

    • Michigan, 1989
    • Wisconsin, 2022

    • Named a Michigan Leading Lawyer in Public Finance by Chambers USA, 2024

    • Named "Lawyer of the Year" by The Best Lawyers in America® for Corporate Law, 2012, 2017, 2020, 2024

    • Recognized in Michigan Super Lawyers® for Bonds/Government Finance and Business/Corporate, 2008-Present

    • Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for Corporate and Public Finance Law, 2007-2024

    • Named to the 2019 class of "Women in the Law" by Michigan Lawyer's Weekly

    • Named a Michigan Leading Lawyer in the area of Public Finance Law by the Leading Lawyers Network, 2014-2017

    • Named "Lawyer of the Year" for Public Finance Law by Best Lawyers® 2013

    • Part of the Dykema team that served as lead counsel to the syndicate of 14 investment banking firms that were underwriters on the transaction named The Bond Buyer's 2012 Deal of the Year

    • American College of Bond Counsel, Regular Fellow
    • Citizens Research Council
    • Ingham County Bar Association
    • State Bar of Michigan

    • Wisconsin Bar Association

    • Past President, National Association of Bond Lawyers

    • Past Chair of the Annual Bond Attorneys' Workshop, National Association of Bond Lawyers

    • Government Finance Officers Association
    • Michigan Women in Finance, Past President
    • Michigan Bar Foundation, Fellow

Contact

Lansing517-374-9146

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