Experience As An Expert Municipal Bond Witness

Robert Doty has participated in more than 160 municipal and corporate securities matters in three dozen states, and has testified as a finance industry expert witness in depositions and at trial approximately 80 times. He has consulted with lawyers in approximately three dozen states.

Active Participation in Municipal Bond Market Organizations: Mr. Doty has served during his career in the following roles with national municipal securities market organizations —

    • National Federation of Municipal Analysts
      • Member Board of Governors and Executive Committee
      • Chair, Certificate Committee
      • Member, Disclosure Committees
      • Member, Industry Practices Committee

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

    • International Municipal Lawyers Association
      • Co-Chair, Section on Economic Development/Finance and Securities
      • Recorder, Associate Members Department

    • 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

    • National Association of Independent Public Finance Advisors (now the National Association of Municipal Advisors)
      • Vice President
      • Member, Board of Directors
      • Chair, Public Affairs Committee
      • Representative, Muni Council

    • Municipal Finance Journal
      • Member, Editorial Board
      • Author, Articles on Municipal Securities Law and Disclosure Developments

    • Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
      • Member, Professional Qualifications Advisory Committee
      • Subject Matter Expert for MSRB’s eLearning initiative

    • Muni Council
      • Chair, Security Committee

Memberships: Mr. Doty’s professional memberships include: National Federation of Municipal Analysts (member emeritus), the Municipal Analysts Group of New York (member emeritus), and the American Association of Individual Investors.

Prior to his retirement, he was a member of the Government Finance Officers Association (Associate Member); the American Bar Association;
the International Municipal Lawyers Association (Associate Member); the National Association of Bond Lawyers (Associate Member); and the Securities Experts Roundtable.

Mr. Doty is licensed as an attorney by bar regulatory associations or authorities in Maryland, the District of Columbia,
California (inactive); New York (inactive), Texas (inactive) and Ohio (inactive).

Awards: 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


Publications
: Mr. Doty is the author and co-author of several books and chapters and over 80 articles on municipal bonds, corporate finance, and related subjects, including seminal works on municipal securities law and regulation and municipal securities disclosure and due diligence and later publications on municipal fiduciary duties and roles and responsibilities of parties in municipal bond offerings and other municipal securities transactions. Mr. Doty’s writings have been cited favorably by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and in several judicial decisions on municipal securities law.

Among other publications, Mr. Doty is the author of EXPANDING MUNICIPAL SECURITIES ENFORCEMENT: PROFOUND CHANGES FOR ISSUERS & OFFICIALS (International Municipal Lawyers Association 2016), which discusses the Securities and Exchange Commission’s more aggressive enforcement approach to municipal issuers, issuer officials and other municipal securities market participants from 2013 to 2016, and THE BLOOMBERG VISUAL GUIDE TO MUNICIPAL BONDS (John Wiley & Sons and Bloomberg Press, 2012). The latter book, which includes contributions from a number of market specialists, is directed to explaining in plain English to retail investors, and market participants seeking to expand their knowledge of municipal finance, the diversity and complexity of municipal securities, a variety of municipal securities structures, and why traditional municipal securities are sound, while pointing out certain market sectors that offer greater rewards and greater risks, and considerations and sources of information for investors. THE BLOOMBERG VISUAL GUIDE TO MUNICIPAL BONDS is available at Amazon.com, and John Wiley & Sons.

Mr. Doty also is the author of MUNICIPAL SECURITIES LAW & PRACTICE: REGULATION, DISCLOSURE AND ENFORCEMENT (Bloomberg BNA 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018). The publication discusses the pattern of securities regulation in the municipal securities market and enforcement actions over the past 45 years.

Participation in Preparation of Market Guidance: Mr. Doty has participated with industry committees in the preparation of the following authoritative and recognized national and regional market guidance —

    • RECOMMENDED BEST PRACTICES IN DISCLOSURE FOR CHARTER SCHOOL DEBT OFFERINGS (PRIMARY OFFERING & CONTINUING DISCLOSURE) (National Federation of Municipal Analysts, 2017)

    • WHITE PAPER ON THE DISCLOSURE OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN MUNICIPAL FINANCE TRANSACTIONS (National Federation of Municipal Analysts, 2015)

    • WHITE PAPER ON EXPERT WORK PRODUCTS (National Federation of Municipal Analysts, 2011)

    • FINANCING PROCEDURES CHECKLISTS (International Municipal Lawyers Association, Exposure Draft 2007)

    • TENTATIVE DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPERS, a precursor for the California Debt Advisory Commission’s 1996 Guidelines

    • GUIDELINES FOR LEASES AND CERTIFICATES OF PARTICIPATION (California Debt Advisory Commission, 1993) (Coordinator and Principal Drafter for the Project Team, with State agency staff)

    • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES (Government Finance Officers Association, 1991 edition)

    • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES (Government Finance Officers Association, 1988 edition)

    • DISCLOSURE ROLES OF COUNSEL IN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SECURITIES OFFERINGS (Section of Urban, State and Local Government Law of the American Bar Association, 1st ed., 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)

    • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR OFFERINGS OF SECURITIES BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (Government Finance Officers Association, 1979 revision)

    • GUIDELINES FOR USE BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF YEARLY INFORMATION STATEMENTS AND OTHER CURRENT INFORMATION (Government Finance Officers Association, 1979)

    • PROCEDURAL STATEMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES (Government Finance Officers Association, 1978)

    • DISCLOSURE GUIDELINES FOR OFFERINGS OF SECURITIES BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (Government Finance Officers Association, 1976 original version)

Frequent Speaking on Municipal Bond Market Issues: As described in Mr. Doty’s Curriculum Vitae linked at the top of this web page, 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.

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. His 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 published papers on financing techniques 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 World Jurist Association’s 22nd Biennial Congress in Shanghai to present financing concepts to approximately 1,000 delegates, including Supreme Court Justices, from the United States and approximately 45 other countries.

Education: Mr. Doty received his law degree from Harvard Law School. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston, with honors, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Mr. Doty taught at the University of Houston Law School and Creighton Law School, between the two institutions, municipal finance law (a course he developed), securities law, advanced securities law, corporation law, advanced corporation law (business planning), partnerships and agency, professional responsibility, and a seminar on preparation of registration statements under federal securities law (a seminar he developed).

AGFS® is a registered trademark of Robert W. Doty.