Securities Law for Municipal Finance Advisors: A Compilation.(Review)

Doty, Robert W.

Sacramento, California: American Governmental Financial Services Company, 2000, 2001. (1,000 pp; 3 Volumes)

Investment banking firms and other financial entities often undertake diverse roles in municipal financing transactions. Although there is no commonly accepted legal definition of financial advisor, when a financial firm goes beyond the role of an underwriter in a competitive or negotiated offering it often is referred to as a financial advisor. To the extent that these financial entities render advice, courts may find that they have certain duties and obligations. However, it often is difficult for issuers and their advisors to determine exactly when such duties arise, and exactly what the obligations may be.

Securities Law for Municipal Finance Advisors: A Compilation is a practical reference tool, which collects and organizes primary source materials (MSRB and SEC releases and court materials) relevant to questions about the duties of financial advisors. The greatest value of the Compilation to the user, and what sets it apart from other collections of source material, is its organizational structure, which permits users to easily find relevant materials. Doty's exhaustive compilation of source material might have been overwhelming to the user without his thoughtful use of six different research aids: 1) the Alphabetical Table, which lists documents based on the key parties involved; 2) the Subject Table, which lists documents by subject matter; 3) the Words & Phrases Index, which references documents alphabetically by selected significant words or phrases that are contained within those documents; 4) the Name Groups list, which references documents alphabetically based on certain recognizable firm or individua l names; 5) cross-referencing, which is provided at the end of material summaries as well as other places throughout the compilation; and 6) the Introduction, which is a narrative description of the basic types of duties that have been articulated for financial advisors.

To facilitate efficient yet effective use of the Compilation, it is organized so that the user is immersed in progressive levels of detail. Therefore, Volume I of the Compilation begins with an Introduction, which provides a basic summary of the duties that might arise for financial advisors. The Introduction contains footnotes that ...