Building trust and strong personal relationships with the people and organizations who hire me constitutes an important part of my practice. Once I understand their goals and ambitions, I can better help them decide whether potential risks of deals and other transactional strategies are worth taking in the larger context of their long-term plans. I always go into negotiations with a strong understanding of each side's primary needs and objectives.
Raymond “Rusty” Russell guides clients in the areas of corporate law, commercial transactions, school law, public finance, new markets tax credits, economic development and banking.
Rusty has assisted companies with several billion dollars in secured financing transactions, especially relating to oil and gas exploration and production assets. He has represented both buyers and sellers in numerous company acquisitions and sales as well as significant asset acquisitions and sales.
He counsels entities in significant mergers and acquisitions, new entity formations, contracts, company governance and structuring matters, commercial and bidding disputes, lending transactions and general corporate matters. Rusty often steps in when companies need guidance on high-stakes, multi-million dollar disputes and regulatory matters and offers creative solutions to diffuse these situations.
Additionally, Rusty helps governmental/public entities and private developers navigate the various issues that arise in economic development projects. He draws on his years of experience, strong communication skills and his extensive network of close professional relationships to bring people together and help economic development projects evolve from promising ideas to tangible realities that benefit the community.
Frequently representing Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, Rusty also advises substantial private, local and regional companies, as well as many nonprofit entities, including university and private foundations. He has structured, drafted and negotiated significant contracts, including those used for national platforms of some of the largest corporations in the nation.
In his work for several public and private schools and universities, Rusty handles bond issuances and other public finance matters, public bidding, school governance matters and contracts. He directs public schools, municipalities and universities on financial, securities and tax matters relating to the issuance of securities, including drafting official statements.
Rusty has served in the States of Alabama and Mississippi as bond counsel on hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-exempt and taxable bonds and has acted as underwriter's counsel on several hundred million dollars of tax-exempt and taxable bond issues. He also co-authored the Bonds-Public Finance chapter of the Encyclopedia of Mississippi Law.
Education
Bar Admissions
Areas of Practice
Acknowledgements
- Top 40 Under 40 - Mississippi Business Journal
- Appreciation Award of Total Dedication - The Pro Bono Program
- Leadership Mississippi - Class of 2009
- Rankin County Chamber of Commerce - Leadership Rankin
- Best Lawyers® - Corporate Law
Professional Affiliations & Memberships
- American Bar Association, Business Section
- Mississippi Council of School Attorneys
- National Council of School Attorneys
- Hinds County Bar Association
- Mississippi State Bar Association, Business Section
- Alabama State Bar
- Mobile County Bar Association
- National Association of Bond Lawyers
- Mississippi Secretary of State’s Committee on Business Reform – LLCs and Partnerships
- Southern Economic Development Council
- Tennessee Bar Association
News
Energy Financings
- Represented an oil and gas exploration and production company in $1.5 billion first and second lien loan facilities, as well as subsequent supplementation of those facilities. Work on the matter included advice regarding the loan structure for Alabama mortgage tax purposes and providing collateral opinions in Alabama and Mississippi.
- Represented an oil and gas exploration and production company in an approximately $1 billion first and second lien loan facility, including advice on structure for Alabama mortgage tax and providing collateral opinions in Alabama.
- Represented an oil and gas exploration company regarding significant loan facilities and amendments for several acquisitions, including advice on structure relating to Alabama mortgage tax. Our team also provided collateral opinions in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
- Represented a broad group of energy exploration and production companies in similar matters, as well as numerous companies in other industries in significant financing facilities requiring legal opinions in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee as well as in Louisiana, Texas and Florida.
- Represented timber lenders, purchasers and sellers in large timber transactions in multiple states regarding required financing opinions and related matters and structuring.
Economic Development Projects
- Represented a timber company affiliate with economic development incentives and agreements, including incentives for construction of infrastructure, cash incentives and tax abatements, for a $100 million lumber manufacturing facility and a bond issue for, among other things, abatement of certain construction related taxes.
- Represented a City in negotiation of economic development incentives for location of super-distribution center for a major national retailer in connection with local international port facilities.
- Represented a County with economic development incentives and related project requirements for the location of an approximately $3 billion manufacturing facility with 1,000+ high paying jobs.
- Represented a City in economic development negotiations and related agreements for location of warehousing and distribution parks to expand international port and rail utilization and capabilities in global market.
- Represented a City in negotiating economic development incentives and agreements in global competition for the expansion/development of an aerospace manufacturing company.
- Represented numerous other companies, cities and in significant and unique economic development projects.
Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions
- Represented owner in the sale of $100,000,000 lumber manufacturing facility.
Represented owner in restructuring, sale and rollover of equity in approximately $200,000,000 insurance company group. - Represented owner in sale of company, intellectual property rights and related assets in a communications infrastructure company.
- Represented a bank in the acquisition of approximately $185,000,000 portfolio of tax-exempt bond/public finance obligations.
Bonds and Public Finance
- Served as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, issuer’s counsel or borrower’s counsel on a number of bond issues for the acquisition or construction of public facilities and/or facilities involved in economic development projects or refinancing of same.
- Served as bond counsel in the issuance of $42,000,000 tax exempt bonds for construction of new facilities for a community college.
- Served as bond counsel in the issuance of bonds for construction of $100,000,000 lumber manufacturing facility.
- Served as bond counsel in issuance of bonds for a number of public school districts and construction of facilities.
- "Top 5 Things You Should Know about Qualified School Construction Bonds Now", Adams and Reese Client Alert, June 2009