Robert Doty


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Robert Doty, CIPFA (Certified Independent Public Finance Advisor), is President of American Governmental Financial Services Company (AGFS), a private firm located in Sacramento, California. Mr. Doty has been involved for decades in the finance industry as a financial advisor, special consultant, investment banker, and bond and securities lawyer. In the process, he has participated in the successful completion of billions of dollars of municipal finance and corporate finance transactions, including representations benefiting more than 150 governmental entities in approximately two dozen states. He has worked with a substantial diversity of credit types in the market for municipal bonds and other municipal securities, as well as numerous corporate credits.

Mr. Doty is a Certified Independent Public Finance Advisor through the National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors (NAIPFA). He is Vice President of NAIPFA, a member of NAIPFA's Board of Directors, and Chair of its Public Affairs Committee. He represents NAIPFA on the Muni Council, a group of approximately 20 national associations from across the municipal securities market developing improvements in municipal bonds market practices.

Mr. Doty has served during his career in the following additional roles with national municipal securities market organizations--

  • Government Finance Officers Association
    • General Counsel
    • Member, Disclosure Task Force

  • International Municipal Lawyers Association
    • Chair, Vice Chair and Recorder, Section on Taxation, Economic Development and Finance
    • Recorder, Associate Members Department

  • National Federation of Municipal Analysts
    • Member Board of Governors and Executive Committee
    • Chair, Certificate Committee
    • Member, Industry Practices Committee
    • Member, Drafting Task Force for Revisions to RECOMMENDED BEST PRACTICES IN DISCLOSURE FOR LAND SECURED DEBT TRANSACTIONS

  • Southern Municipal Finance Society
    • Chair
    • Member, Board of Directors

  • National Association of Bond Lawyers, Member, Special Committee on Securities Law and Disclosure
  • American Bar Association
    • Section of State and Local Government Law
    • Section of Business Law, Vice Chair, Subcommittee on Municipal and Governmental Obligations

  • Municipal Finance Journal
    • Member, Editorial Board
    • Designated Continuing Author, Columns on Municipal Securities Law and Disclosure Developments

  • Muni Council, Chair, Security Committee

Mr. Doty has received the following awards from national associations in the municipal securities market--

  • National Federation of Municipal Analysts, MUNICIPAL INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTION AWARD
  • International Municipal Lawyers Association, MOST OUTSTANDING ASSOCIATE MEMBER AWARD

Mr. Doty is a nationally and regionally recognized authority on public finance, and in particular, aspects of the municipal bonds market relating to municipal securities law, municipal disclosure, fiduciary duties, and roles and responsibilities of parties. He served issuers for two decades in the development of municipal securities disclosure guidelines and procedures for disclosure in connection with municipal bonds and other municipal securities transactions. He has provided municipal bond expert witness services and other consulting services to lawyers in more than 100 matters.

Mr. Doty is the author and co-author of several books and chapters and over 70 articles on municipal bonds, corporate finance, and related subjects, including seminal works on municipal securities law and municipal securities disclosure, as well as publications on fiduciary duties and roles and responsibilities of parties in municipal bond offerings and other municipal securities transactions. Mr. Doty's writings have been cited approvingly by the Securities and Exchange Commission and in judicial decisions on municipal securities law. He has served in principal drafting roles for the following national and regional market guidance--

  • FINANCING PROCEDURES CHECKLISTS (International Municipal Lawyers Association, Exposure Draft 2007) (Principal Drafter)
  • GUIDELINES FOR LEASES AND CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION (California Debt Advisory Commission, 1993) (Coordinator and Principal Drafter for the Project Team)
  • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES (Government Finance Officers Association, 1991 edition) (a principal drafter)
  • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES (Government Finance Officers Association, 1988 edition) (a principal drafter)
  • DISCLOSURE ROLES OF COUNSEL IN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES OFFERINGS (Section of Urban, State and Local Government Law of the American Bar Association, 1987), sponsored by Subcommittee on Municipal and Governmental Obligations, Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities, Section of Corporation, Banking and Business Law, American Bar Association; Section of Urban, State and Local Government Law, American Bar Association; and Committee on Federal Securities Law, National Association of Bond Lawyers (Reporter and Coordinator)
  • OFFICIAL STATEMENTS FOR OFFERINGS OF SECURITIES BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS-EXAMPLES AND GUIDELINES (Government Finance Officers Association, 1981) (a principal drafter)
  • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR OFFERINGS OF SECURITIES BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (Government Finance Officers Association, 1979 revision) (a principal drafter)
  • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR OFFERINGS OF SECURITIES BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (Government Finance Officers Association, 1976 original version) (a principal drafter)
  • GUIDELINES FOR USE BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF YEARLY INFORMATION STATEMENTS AND OTHER CURRENT INFORMATION (Government Finance Officers Association, 1979) (a principal drafter)
  • PROCEDURAL STATEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES (Government Finance Officers Association, 1978) (a principal drafter)
  • TENTATIVE DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPERS, a precursor for the California Debt Advisory Commission's 1996 Guidelines

Mr. Doty has participated in a wide variety of activities related to municipal securities transactions, including the issuance of municipal bonds, notes, leases, certificates of participation and other municipal securities for many types of local governmental securities issuers; workouts of defaulted municipal bonds and other troubled municipal securities issues; tender offers; and federal and state enforcement investigations. The governmental entities benefited by Mr. Doty include cities, multi-state interlocal agencies, water and wastewater agencies, counties, schools, assessment districts, special taxing districts, authorities, colleges, public utilities, state agencies, joint powers or joint action agencies, power authorities, and recreation and park, public utility, community service and other forms of special agencies and districts.

Mr. Doty was selected as one of a five-member United States delegation formed by the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and by the National Committee on United States-China Relations to consult with officials of the Peoples Republic of China and of the Cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, together with academicians and interested professionals in the PRC, as to the potential functioning of a municipal securities market in the PRC. Mr. Doty's role as a member of the delegation was to discuss legal and financial aspects of, and disclosure and due diligence mechanisms for, formation of a municipal securities market for financing environmental infrastructure in the PRC. Following that activity, Mr. Doty consulted with universities, companies and governmental agencies in the PRC, and prepared papers for publication on financing techniques available under Chinese law.

Mr. Doty also served as Co-Chair, with The Honorable Gui Minjie, Vice Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, of the Securities Law Panel at the 22nd Biennial Congress of the World Jurist Association held in Beijing and Shanghai. The Congress was attended by approximately 1,000 delegates, including Supreme Court Justices, from the United States and approximately 45 other countries.

Mr. Doty serves frequently as Chair and speaker at national and regional conferences regarding municipal bonds and other municipal securities transactions, including among them, from the late 1980s into this century, the ANNUAL INSTITUTES ON MUNICIPAL FINANCE sponsored by the Practising Law Institute in New York. He has served as a consultant to financial advisors and lawyers on a variety of matters relating to municipal finance, municipal securities law, municipal disclosure, fiduciary duties, and roles and responsibilities of parties. His representations include engagements by legal counsel to municipal bond and other municipal securities issuers, underwriters, bond counsel, trustees, investors and governmental enforcement agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the California Department of Corporations, the Office of the California Attorney General, a United States Attorney, a District Attorney, and a special investigative subcommittee of the New Mexico House of Representatives.

When appropriate, Mr. Doty has served as a municipal securities expert witness. He has testified as an expert on the finance industry in federal courts in Kentucky and Illinois, and state courts in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia; before Administrative Law Judges of the Securities and Exchange Commission; before arbitration panels of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority; and by video before the special investigative Subcommittee of the New Mexico House of Representatives.

Mr. Doty received his Ll.B. from Harvard Law School. He is a member of The State Bar of California (and its Public Law. Section); has memberships in the legal bars of New York, the District of Columbia, Texas and Ohio (inactive); is a member of the American Bar Association (Sections of Business Law and State and Local Government Law); and is an associate member of the International Municipal Lawyers Association and the National Association of Bond Lawyers.

For additional information regarding Mr. Doty's experience, background, publications and speaking activities relating to municipal finance, see the pdf file accompanying this web page. Mr. Doty provides consulting services for lawyers, bridging the financial and legal arenas. In litigation contexts, Mr. Doty has provided consulting and municipal bond expert witness services in more than 100 matters. A listing of representations is available upon request.


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Robert W. Doty, President
American Governmental Financial Services (AGFS)
1721 Eastern Avenue, Suite 4
Sacramento, CA 95864-1745
Phone: (916) 483-7378
Fax: (916) 483-7565
E-mail:
http://www.agfs.com
Robert W. Doty, President - American Governmental Financial Services