Rudy Salo serves as counsel on a broad range of community impact financings involving governmental entities, transportation systems, educational institutions, cultural institutions and entertainment venues. His practice includes advising lenders in structuring various lending facilities throughout California and the United States, often involving real estate or other collateral. He also has experience advising new mobility companies.
I have significant experience representing commercial banks in providing credit and liquidity facilities in support of tax-exempt and taxable municipal securities, as well as representing those banks in the direct purchase of privately placed debt and the negotiation of revolving credit agreements and other lending solutions. I also advise on the various real estate issues that arise in connection with transactions that use real estate as collateral. I have represented numerous banks throughout the country in such transactions, including in California, Nevada, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, Arizona, Oregon and New Mexico.
My work also involves financings related to transportation, including significant experience in funding transportation projects with a variety of funding sources. These projects include serving as underwriter’s counsel on numerous Bay Area Toll Authority toll road financings; serving as disclosure counsel to the State of Nevada in connection with its highway revenue bonds; representing the San Mateo County Express Lanes Joint Powers Authority in connection with the financing of the Highway 101 Express Lanes Project; representing banks in providing credit facilities and loans to various transit agencies, including the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the San Diego Regional Transportation Commission, Victor Valley Transit Authority and the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority; representing the USDOT as a lender in the financing of the extension of the 91 Express Lanes into Riverside County, California; the Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Orange Line extension to Dallas-Fort Worth Airport; the financial restructuring of the South Bay Expressway (State Road 125) toll road in Southern California upon its emergence from bankruptcy; and the sale and financing of the sale of State Road 125 to the San Diego Association of Governments.
I have significant experience in both short- and long-term financings for school districts, community college districts, private schools and universities throughout the country. These financings include serving as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, disclosure counsel and lender’s counsel in the issuance of general obligation and revenue bonds as well as direct placements/loans.
I see changes needed in how to finance transportation projects throughout the country, including the infrastructure needed to accommodate driverless car technology. I also see continuing opportunities for municipalities and nonprofits to combine a variety of private, local, statewide and federal funding sources to progress various public improvement projects, including the expansion of the use of bank facilities.
Forbes | April 06, 2022
Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this article discussing the future of transportation needs, and whether record-setting gas prices could help break our reliance on combustible-engine cars and end our dependency on personal vehicles.
Forbes | February 28, 2022
Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this article on how the future of flying cars could really take off if we start planning now for the infrastructure that will enable this future mode of transportation.
The Bond Buyer | January 11, 2022
This article on the biggest concerns facing the public finance industry in 2022 quotes Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo for his outlook on possibly seeing much more taxable debt related to infrastructure, depending on whether interest rates go up and by how much.
Forbes | December 30, 2021
Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this article on how the broadband infrastructure funding that’s included in the recently signed bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will accelerate the future of mobility. Rudy also discusses the potential legal issues, including privacy and data security, that will need to be addressed before new transportation technologies such as driverless cars become mainstream.
Forbes | August 31, 2021
Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this article on how transportation has impacted Lake Tahoe and the current evacuation due to the largescale Caldor Fire and other climate change-related events.
Forbes | June 30, 2021
Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this column on four transportation-related pivots during the pandemic that should be permanently adopted, in part for their benefits to the environment, as well as for repurposing our time and priorities.
The Bond Buyer | April 29, 2021
This article, on the California School Finance Authority’s borrowing program created to help school districts manage pandemic-driven budget deferrals, mentions NP as disclosure counsel for notes issued in March and April for elementary, high school, and community college districts. Los Angeles partners Rudy Salo and Dan Deaton, and San Francisco partners Travis Gibbs and Graham Beck, all of the Project Finance & Public Finance group, advised CSFA in this deal. Update: New York Bankruptcy & Restructuring partner Robert Christmas also advised CSFA in this deal.
Forbes | April 14, 2021
Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this article that explores electric vehicle adoption, shifting housing trends, and the future of public transportation.
Forbes | February 08, 2021
Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this article on how a continued dominance of the gas tax as the primary source for federal and state transportation funding—amid the rise of electric vehicles—raises questions for the future of U.S. infrastructure.
Forbes | October 27, 2020
This contributed article by Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo discusses how the results of national and statewide elections could have major impacts on the future of ride-sharing and infrastructure.
The Bond Buyer | October 26, 2020
This article on The Bond Buyer’s California Public Finance Conference Monday, which focused on how climate change will affect investors and rating agencies, quotes Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo on the impact of Exxon Mobil’s litigation against California issuers on municipal markets.
Forbes | October 14, 2020
Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo contributed this article that examines the pandemic’s impact on transportation, as well as the resulting conversation about the future of mobility and its environmental impact.
Forbes | July 31, 2020
In this contributed article, Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo discusses how COVID-19 and the forced work-from-home experiment may have permanently changed the future of cities as the epicenters of the economy.
Rockefeller Institute of Government | July 07, 2020
In this article on how COVID-19 could impact transit funding, Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo is quoted for his outlook on ridership in the Bay Area.
Forbes | March 31, 2020
The latest contributed column from Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo looks at how the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic could alter the infrastructure and transportation landscapes.
Forbes | February 01, 2020
Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo focuses his latest contributed column on several mobility-related takeaways from CES 2020, including the latest developments in autonomous vehicle adoption.
Forbes | January 16, 2020
In his latest contributed column for Forbes, Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo explains how the coming wave of Baby Boomer retirements could change transportation habits and land-use trends.
Forbes | December 19, 2019
Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo authored this column about how a dearth of affordable housing close to public transit stops is one of the biggest factors contributing to a drop in L.A. transit ridership.
Forbes | November 21, 2019
Los Angeles Project Finance & Public Finance partner Rudy Salo, in his latest column for Forbes, breaks down the impact of California’s new “independent contractor” law, which makes ride-hailing workers, on-demand delivery drivers and others eligible for the same wages and benefits available to full-time employees.
Forbes | October 10, 2019
Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo wrote this contributed article looking at how Americans’ views on autonomous vehicles may be shaped by pop-culture experiences of the past.
Forbes | September 19, 2019
Los Angeles Project Finance and Public Finance partner Rudy Salo, a new regular contributor to Forbes, writes about the benefits of relying on public transportation for your daily commute.
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., magna cum laude
California
Arabic
Spanish
Rudy Salo is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, a board member the Arab American Lawyers of Southern California and the American Bar Association.
